How to strip a female African Cichlid!!!

well, here is what i do.... when i first notice the female holding, i write down the date. i don't take her out of the main tank because when you re-introduce her to the main tank, she has lost her place in the pecking order and could get beat up pretty bad or killed (this has happened to me). i wait about 18 days from the day i noticed her holding and then i strip her. to strip her, i net her out, and place her in a breeding box. i grab her in my hand really gently (you don't want to sqeeze her gills or her eyes... the eyes are really sensitive) but you want to hold her firmly enough so she can't escape from your grip. i then use the curved end of an unfolded paper clip to pry her mouth open and release the fry into the breeder box. make sure to get all the fry out (sometimes it seems that they are all out but they are not. to make sure, i hold her mouth open and look down inside it to be positive. if you don't get them all out, she will continue to hold the fry she has left over and still won't be eating. she could end up holding them long enough to starve to death (this has happened to me although unlikely). i will strip a female tonight and record it and post on my channel so you can see it for yourself. thanks for inquiring and feel free to ask any other questions. i have no problem giving advice on fish breeding. adam and kristi

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• stripping
• female
• african
• cichlid
• peacock
• lake
• malawi
• fry
• babies
• fish
• aulonocara
• mbuna
• breeding
• tank

[SuperLadybug143]

well my fry servive in a breeder if they are not free swiming or do i need to tumble them ?

[greenearthlawns]

@SuperLadybug143 do they have tails and eyes yet? or just eggs?

[jaill2hell]

hi pls need ur help... i just notice today that one of my females has eggs in her moth when shoud i strip her? pls help me my specie is Aulonocara gertrudae

[greenearthlawns]

@jaill2hell

If you know that it is recent and has not been more than 2 weeks, then wait about 14 days before you strip her... you can usually tell if they have hatched as the throat of the female will become darker and you can see the eyes of the fry through her mouth sometimes... once they have hatched it is safe to strip her, even if you can still see the egg sac on the fry as long as the tails are hatched they should survive, you dont need top feed them if they have a large egg sac either.

[AvatarKid4]

Ya thanks for the reply she spit them out so i will have to wait i thought see would eat them but that was the first time she had eggs now i know what to do thanks....

[greenearthlawns]

@AvatarKid4 well, you can also use a straw to suck the eggs up if she spits them out and put them in an egg tumbler.  this will duplicate what she does in nature and the eggs will hatch in the tumbler instead of in her mouth. you can look up on line how to make a home-made egg tumbler.

[toyomica]

I took my cichlid eggs too early so will the eggs survive or not because they are still an egg

[jaycal75]

How the heck did you catch her so quick? Sometimes it takes me an hour

[Pugsbooboo]

Awesome video!

[rohithkaushikrsk]

very nice.. thanks! could you kindly upload, if you have, any video of dolphin stripping??

[95mnbvcxz95]

Hi great cichlid vids do u know which African cichlid produces the the most fry thanks

[Firebelliedkid]

Because I don't when it started holding

[Firebelliedkid]

I see a African cichlid at the store that's holding but I don't no when to strip it

[SuperLadybug143]

they are free swiming i dont have the money to get a differnt tank and the fry i did strip got sucked thru the breeder box what could i do so that does not happen?