To Strip Or Not To Strip

[Fish Guy]

I was wondering if I could get everyones opinion on stripping their mouth brooding africans. I have kept various mouthbrooders in the past and presently keeping White Labs and Demasoni. I stripped one female lab a few months ago and the fry are still doing well and growing steady. But I had to take out a huge load of rock to even catch her. But I have also have taken the approach of letting nature take its course. There are always females holding in the tank and I have spotted at least one white lab fry darting around. I have lots of rocks in the tank and a lot of small rock piles for the fry to hide in during their early stages. But I wish I could get to see just a few more fry to survive.
So I always face the decision of tearing apart my 75g with lots of rock in it to catch the female or let the female be and let her take care of her fry for as long as she can.

 

[Tizer]

Bigger net?

 

[eggo]

it all depends on the circumstances and if your comfortable handling fish my Cynotilapia Afra 'Chiwindi' females dont spit early enough so i have to stip them myself, the last time i stripped her one of the fry had a spinal issue has the fry get cramped in a small space,

i to have the same problem with 60-70kg of ocean rock to remove to catch my fish but i feel it is all worth it when you see the new fry swimming around in there new tank

also it lets me give the tank substrate a good clean when all the rocks have been removed it's is a labour of love

i will probably be stripping my tank tomorrow has my auratus has spawned for a second time, this time i caught it on video with the female laying eggs and picking them up in her mouth and the male fertilizing them with his anal fin

i have over 100 fry at the moment i have had to buy 2 tanks a fry tank and a grow on tank

 

[saz326]

The only reason I strip my fish is when the female is ill or injured and really ought to be eating more. They tend not to get the nutrition they need when they have a face full of babies. And then they soon get back to breeding even if they are sick. They go on til the bitter end!

But remember that your tanks will surely get overstocked if you "save" all your babies in grow out tanks.

 

[eggo]

will start to move them on my first batch of auratus are a inch+ so will start advertizing these first, the other fry i have are Cynotilapia Afra 'Chiwindi', Metriaclima Patricki 'Jalo Reef', Labidochromis Caeruleus and the Melanochromis auratus is holding again