ITS time to strip lol

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

no no boys settle lol

my female protomelas has been holding for 12 days and its almost time to strip her they have bred before but ive never striped them so can someone "walk me through it" like
1)
2)
3) etc

that would be choice oh also if they still have their egg sacks theirs no need to feed them yet am i right????

cheers

[scholar]

Stripping is recommended only if the female is way orver due and is in danger of dying.

Otherwise there is no advantage to stripping. it could damage the mother and the babies. You can easily damage the jaw.

Now, a greedy commercial breeder may do so in the hope of getting another batch from her two weeks sooner. But I doubt that the female will be ready to spwn any sooner. It could even be later.

[valerie]

I agree, you don't need to strip if there isn't a problem. I once strip accidentally when i was moving my holding female to a 10g, she spat some babies into the net and the rest came out when i dunked her head in and outof the water.

If you need to strip for health reasons i found this article helpful as it shows each step http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/stripping.php Most people if they are stripping wait untill after 3 weeks if they are doing it to get the fry. And some people strip after 3-4 weeks if their female isn't spitting or looks skinny.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

ive been advised to do it around 14 days for my red empress cause she seems to get picked on by the otopharanx so is 14 days good or not??

[Verse914]

Stripping is not "ONLY" recommended if the female or fry are in danger. And it has nothing to do with greedy breeders either.

Dragon didnt ask for a lesson in religion or morals, just on how to strip.


Now, back onto the topic...


Dragon,
The link that Valerie posted with the article from Cichlid-Forum is a great step-by-step how-to and should be what your looking for. I wouldnt strip till 14-15 days depending on your tank temp. Good luck!

[scholar]

Well, we are not being moralistic at all. You can go ahead and kabob your female!

We are just stating the risks. the articles is full of warnings about the damage to the mouth, turning the light off in the main tank to let the female to hide and rest after the stress of stripping and so on. Even though, this is a six inch frontosa with a huge mouth. Also Frontosa's fries are much bigger and can handle the ordeal better.

You go ahead and do what you choose to do. We have given fair warnings. :(

If you can isolate the mom or the harrasser. that's the best solution

[Verse914]

yes you are being moralistic. By saying "Now a greedy commercial breeder may do so..." your stating your opinion and what you think to be true.

And now for the other side of this argument...

If stripped correctly, its actually better for the female for a couple of reasons. First, she wont have to go a month of starvation, and secondly you dont have to remove her to spit(stress), and then reintroduce her back into the tank(even more stress). If its an aggressive tank(tropheus or mbuna for ex.) its hard for a female to be reintroduced. Its much easier for the female to handle one to two minutes(max) of stress instead of a month of hunger and then getting rmoved back and forth into different tanks. Cyprichromis are very simple to strip. You cant really call it stripping because all you really have to do is net them and theyll spit the fry right there. So that will cut theyre starvation time down 3 weeks for about 10 seconds of stress...

And your assumption is incorrect about a female taking even longer for them to spawn if stripped. Its much faster for her to get ready to spawn when stripped correctly. She can fatten up in a couple weeks to spawn again, instead of starving for a month, and another month to get ready again.

[scholar]

Well, well, as a confirmed amoralist, can I still think and say what I think? Or as long as I am thinking different than you, I am a moralist. And what is wrong in being a moralist anyway (which I am not)?

This is a forum. Where people ask questions and others answer them by saying what they think is the tight way to go. I personnaly would not mind if you (Verse914), Dragon_Lord_Tia, or the whole aquarists would strip at 12 days.

I just stated what I know is good fish keeping. You are welcomed to your standards. I could be very wrong. Maybe the nature is wrong. All africanners should be stripped after 12 days. maybe all human females should be stripped after 7 months and be spared the difficulty of the last trimester. The birth would be easier on them.

Relax. Dragon_Lord_Tia has heard the arguments from three persons. He will choose his standards. and, I wish Dragon_Lord_Tia, the fries and the female red empress the best of life! :)

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well i need to strip her for a few reasons
1) he is getting thin
2)i want to get he nice and healthy again
3)the otophanranx it harrasing her
4)i want to see her swiming happly instead of being picked on etc

but if it will injure her in any way i might put her into a fish trap till its time for her to release them her self???

[scholar]

Why take a chance! If you do not have to. :)

I have a female Salusi who is overdue. And she just let the first fry out. I hope that the rest will come out by tommorrow. And I can start feeding her well as her reward. :)

[valerie]

This is a bit off topic but i have heard that if you strip a female they will have a hard time holding to term after. I know it woldnt' happen if you jsut stripped her once or twice but if this female was always stripped and then left to hold would she be able to? I remember hearing comments about this(on another board) and wondered if it is true.

[scholar]

Nine halthy fries are exploring their new habitat. Mom is in the hospital for R&R and eating happilly, peas and 100% spriluna are the starters.

In 2-3 days depending how eager she is to get back into the main area. She will be out. She is Ok to get back to themain area of the tank. However, I like to slowly feed her back upto normal diet and then double diet for a few days to compensate for the brooding!

Mom, fries and grandpa are all happy and healthy!@ :)

[Verse914]

Originally posted by valerie
This is a bit off topic but i have heard that if you strip a female they will have a hard time holding to term after. I know it woldnt' happen if you jsut stripped her once or twice but if this female was always stripped and then left to hold would she be able to? I remember hearing comments about this(on another board) and wondered if it is true. In my case, this is not true. I had to strip some females for about 6 months continously due to lack of tank space, but after that I acquired more tanks, and let her spit naturally...none of them every had holding problems.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well i have a few predator fish in their livingstonii etc and they will snap the fry up with any chance so shold i strip or not

[Verse914]

Thats up to you. If you want to keep the fry, then strip or remove the female. If not, just let her spit in the tank and the other fish will take care of them.

[scholar]

Most people have a 5g tank for hospital or nursery. I have built in with plexiglass a seperate area in the main tank. it serves as hospital and R&R . While the fish rests and maintains interaction with the rest of the fish. iI also by chance bought a a hanging box twice the size the fish stores use to bag the fish. The mom goes in there to spit. the fries are too small for the hospital area and will and do get into the main tank.

Note that the holding box does not circulate water with the tank. So I do 50% water change daily with the tank. Since it is .7 gallons. half of it is no problem.

This has worked well for me.

Verse hasa good suggestion. if you do not want the fries. let nature takes it course. Assuming that you want the babies. then move the female to where you will raise the fries and let her release. Feed the mom well for 2-4 days and return her to the main tank. have plenty of little rock for the fry to hide from mom. Some females would eat the fry.

If you choose to strip, the later the better.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well i decided to strip and i did it last night i got 13 fry i lost a few the the venustus and to my supprise they are free swimming and eating fry food they are in a guppy breeder tank with a super fine mesh to stop them from going threw to the main tank i was supprise about 20 3mm fish could fit in her mouth they must have sardiens(spelling???) in their blood lol

[Verse914]

lol. Yeah, its amazing how many they can hold in their mouths. I got 53 fry out of my 3 1/2" WC A. kandeensis. She had double of what my 3 1/2" WC A. stuart. Blue Neon Undu females had.

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well today i got home from work to find the n.venustus sitting in their enclosure having tea somehow the lid came off and he got in their dont know how it come 1inch out of the water so now ive got no fry left so im setting up a 2ft tank for the next time she spawns she can go natural and release the fry when she is happy

[Verse914]

man, that sucks. But yeah, theyll always find a way somehow.

better luck next time!

[scholar]

The key to havinga 10g tank for hospital or nursery is to have an additional small filter running in the big tank. then you just transfer it to the 10g with the fish, and you are cycled and done. :)

Sorry to hear about the fry. :(

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well the other female is now holding so i better get going with the 20 gallon tank

[scholar]

Well, as a non-stripper, I like to report that I had to induce release.

Becasue I normally get one batch every one month. Suddenly I have 6 out of seven females delivering every week. for sixe weeks in a row.

the way I did was to oput the female socolofi in a net and take her out of water and return her. every time one fry escaped. I thought this was harmless enough, and i had to get the nursery ready for the next female and she was over due by three days. Itried the same thing with my female saulosi. But she held the fry. SO I let her release on het own. I did not push her. Half of her fry is out today and she will be done by tommorrow morning.

Next monday the last female will be due. She is a mixed tangerine female Johhani. the Daddy is saulosi. I hope the kids will be pretty. Pls do not tell me about hybrids. I need to feed the present release well. SO they can go into the 10G fry tankwith the other two batches. The first two batches are traded away. :)

So I have three batches and one to come. I think I have to work on selling 35 fry. Since the first 12 are traded. :)