How do you catch your holding female mbuna?

yhbae

yhbae

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Aug 5, 2003
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I used to have a devil of a time catching the holding female for stripping. I had to remove massive amount of rocks from the tank in order to catch without over stressing her. It really is a messy process. I was always thinking "how do others do this?"

So how do you do it?
 
With our tanks most of the caves are created with big round rocks with slate pieces placed over them. We usually have to take out all the slate pieces (which really isn't too big of a deal when you do it frequently enough, maybe about 5-7 pieces of slate in each tank). We use two big nets - one net to chase the fish into the other net.

May I ask why you strip the mother of her fry? We've tried that once and will never do it again. We tried the "funnel method" which is supposed to be one of the least stressful ways and it seemed really uncomfortable for her, almost seemed like she was suffocating. IMO you're better off letting them spit on their own in a seperate holding/fry tank, no need to stress the fish out over an extra 2 or 3 fry you'll get by stripping them.
 
Actually I don't have the tank anymore - this was few years ago. :) But I am looking forward to setup new ones soon.

Yes I could simply move them to the separate tank, but still the challenge of catching it is there... That was my main problem. I did have many many heavy rocks in the tank though...
 
You can also try catching them at night after their lights are off for about an hour. Before you shut the lights off open the tank lid and place the net inside of the tank. Then after they're resting you can try catching them. I've personally never done it this way but someone on another forum does this all the time.
 
I made a plastic divider, and i herd her to one end and block it off and net her, i put the holding fish in the QT tank and let her release them on her own, when there all released, after a couple good meals i plop her back into the main tank. Water parameters are identical......:)
 
M Boona, I tried that technique. Unfortunately I had too much rock so it still didn't give me enough room to catch. I guess it was stupid of me to put that much rock in the tank... Looked nice at least. :)
 
Weezer said:
I made a plastic divider, and i herd her to one end and block it off and net her, i put the holding fish in the QT tank and let her release them on her own, when there all released, after a couple good meals i plop her back into the main tank. Water parameters are identical......:)
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That's actually a good idea... May try that on the new tank...

I also remembered why I stripped in some cases. I think I saw the females getting so thin and there were some theories that it is actually beneficial to strip earlier. Not sure if there's any truth in this.
 
yhbae said:
That's actually a good idea... May try that on the new tank...

I also remembered why I stripped in some cases. I think I saw the females getting so thin and there were some theories that it is actually beneficial to strip earlier. Not sure if there's any truth in this.
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Our yellow held for almost 6 weeks in the main tank, probably to protect them from the bigger fish,but in the qt tank she holds them for about 4 weeks..........:)
 
Weezer said:
Our yellow held for almost 6 weeks in the main tank, probably to protect them from the bigger fish,but in the qt tank she holds them for about 4 weeks..........:)
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Nice... so that is probably a better way to go.

I still remember when my first ever mbuna (P Acei) was holding. She became thinner and thinner... She looked like a dried fish!
 
Ahh yes the whole tank full of rock and catching cichlids, whew i hate thinking about it, but at any rate weezer is right on track with that method aye, and less frustrating..

The big issue would to leave an area empty of rock to provide that divider a chance..
 
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