How To Strip My Egyptian Mouthbrooder?

[guppy_man]

i don't know if you have read my previous posts on these fish, but my female has been holding for over 10days now, and ive looked at her and i can see that there are fry moving around in there.

I want to keep these fry, so how would i go about stripping her of her fry?
once the fry are caught i will move the fry to there own filtered 5gal tank.

 

[nukeonekitty]

You are going to want to catch them mom, put her in the 5 gallon. When she spits out the fry, you remove the mother and there you have it.

 

[guppy_man]

simple then i thought that if the fry get startled the female will call the fry back in

 

[jayjay]

Well, I wouldn't say that's the normal way to strip a female.

Look here and here.

 

[fishfishfish]

i used a ?shishcabob? scewer and held the mom in my hand and used the scewer to open the mouth and the babies swam free.have to di it in the water though.i got all the fry.be very careful.

 

[guppy_man]

thanks jayjay, after reading that i dont think i am going to strip her yet, because it says to strip them around 3-4 weeks, my female has been holding for nearlly 2 weeks, so i think ill wait a few more days yet

 

[fry_lover]

Hey this aint personal guys, but this all sounds a bit barbaric to me,

I say, leave it to nature, if you get no fry, you get no fry.....

Please dont get defensive here, all i am saying it "sounds" barbaric, i speak from complete ignorance as i havent kept mouthbrooders, but i am sure you open minded and tolerant peeps wont mind me putting my initial opinion...

To hold a fish and force its mouth open, thats just bizarre to me.... i cant be persuaded otherwise perhaps peeps...........

 

[jayjay]

The thing is, if you do it correctly it shouldn't be too bad fry lover. If you want to get fry and keep fry though, some people have to do this. Also when a fish is slowly starving and not spitting the fry what do you do then? Sit and watch the fish slowly get weaker and get picked on or help it out a little?

Guppy man, the fish in question were different species though?

 

[guppy_man]

yes i realised that they were a little bigger if i do decide to strip my female, how long would you say to wait?, i will have to be very delicate, their mouths are so small compared to a frontosea and lab.

ill keep you updated on how she is doing anyway, thanks for the replies

she is getting quite thin though i hope she does ok

 

[fry_lover]

thanks Jay-Jay for nice reply, you never know when peeps on here may get over defensive

I see that point, but what happens in the wild then? how comes such fish are starving themselves in home aquaria if they mouthbrooders? Sorry to detract from thread, am a fairly experienced fish keeper, just not in Mouth Brooders

If the fish is suffering then i can see the validity, but simply to get fry, i still think "barbaric" as we dont really keep fish to force them to behave in certain ways but thanks for giving me more info, i dont mean to judge peeps, its just my feeling about it

 

[jayjay]

In the wild, the fish are in huge lakes that they can easily get away from other fish to release the fry, unlike it tanks where they often don't feel safe. Also on for getting the fish you can look at this way, say 20 fish being eaten and possible one dying or stressing one fish for a small amount of time. Also by taking the fry people can supply others and not have to take fish from the wild, if the fish aren't breeding normally.

Guppy man, I have no experience with these fish, though I am considering getting some, so either do a little reading or do a little trial and error. Though even if you do remove the fry at an earlier stage you just look after them a while longer, so if I was doing it I would probably remove them earlier rather than later, then after a few attempts try and narrow it down to a certain time to do it each time.


Hope that all sort of makes sense?

 

[guppy_man]

while watching the football match, wales and N ireland , i thought about this and have decided to try stripping the female later on, when she is in the net should i just simply pull the bottom lip down carefully, and the fry should swim out?
and if no fry swim out what is plan b?

thanks again

 

[fishfishfish]

the fry will swim out she wont like it though.she'll try to suck em back up or close her mouth so dont be too gentle and give in to her every move.

 

[guppy_man]

well today decided to try and strip the female, (its not easy) i done exactly as you said and only got around 6 of a possible 30.
this took around 3 mins, she was kept in the water while being stripped, she still has more in her mouth, but i let her go back in the tank, and now she seems to be franticaly looking around the tank, is this normal?, is she looking for her babies or is she a little stressed?

i have turned the lights offf in the tank, which may help.


and answers will be grateful

 

[fishfishfish]

she is just stressed.try re-stripping in about 5 days and see if you get more.