Stripping Malawi Fry - New Article

Dear all,

Didihno has very kindly provided us an article giving us his recipe to Strip Malawi Fry.

You can find it by following this link : Stripping Malawi Fry

Thank you Didihno !

Valerie

No problem Valerie, I hope its of use to someone!
Could you or one of the other mods please fix the spelling errors in the title?
Also why was the word 'teens' deleted, but 'arse' remained?

I wanted to write back the last time stripping a female of her fry was mentioned but there was so much happening on the Forum, so I PM’d the person asking a question about it instead. I am not trying to start an argument but I feel this needs to be said.

I have been keeping Malawi’s about 14 years now and have never stripped a female of her fry. They will spit them out when they are ready and I would only recommend stripping if she goes over 4 weeks, this could nearly always be a very young mother with no experience.

I am glad I have never had to strip a female of her fry, the only people who really strip females are the commercial breeders, which none of us are. Even this is barbaric in my opinion, I would not recommend anybody to start this procedure.

Normally I leave the female with the fry for about a week so she can get some easy feeding to help build her back up before reintroducing her to the main tank. If you put in some hiding places the fry can hide if they feel threatened or if you feel happier you can return the female earlier. It’s best if you move around some of the rocks etc around, and or reintroduce her after lights out she then has a better chance to settle back in.

Just something to think about, would anybody like their wife or their girlfriend brought into hospital and then have your child forcibly removed from her when she is only six months pregnant.

In the home aquarium environment fish are not afforded the same space they get in the wild,therefore females can hold to term relatively unstressed.Holding females can be harassed and suffer irreparable damage if left holding too long in a stocked tank.If a separate tank can be provided then there is no reason to strip,I agree with this.

I am not the biggest fan of stripping,but if it relieves my fish (which I take care of to an obsessive level) of any stress then I do it.I also only strip when I know the fry are fully developed and will not suffer.

I can see why some would think it is barbaric.Then again some think keeping fish in aquariums is barbaric.

In my experiences females spit the fry in the net they were caught in.I have only had to strip a few times using a smooth plastic teabag stirrer and a plastic sweet tub to float the mother in.


An interesting video showing the process.


www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/stripping.php

Although I'm not keeping Africans at the moment, I had been just up to Christmas for a couple of years and I've tried everything suggested in books or online to keep the fry alive BUT..........

The only way to keep fry alive, unless you have an empty/spare tank handy is to strip the female and keep the fry safe for a couple of weeks. The cave thing saves about 1 in 50 fry but on the plus side; lazy people love it and are happy with the 2 fry that could've been 50................

Try stripping before you decide! This is painless for all concerned and all you need is a floating livebearer chamber and a toothpick to open the bottom jaw. Only open it for a second or 3 because if they don't try to get out, they aren't ready!

Tom,
Ideally of course I would love to have a zillion tanks to leave each holding mother in until she was ready to spit.
This is just not practical though, and leaving her in a boisterous malawi community is just not feasible if you want to keep the fry and very unsafe for the mother, who WILL be pestered to death IME.
Stripping is safer for all concerned.

Hi Didinho
A well written and witty (as always) article and having seen your set-up i know how interested and dedicated you are to the good health of all your fish, so the following is in no way intended as a criticism of your methods.(most of which i have used in the past)
But the question of stripping brooding mothers or leaving to full term has been argued about
for as long as i can remember. All commercial breeders do strip brooding mothers, (sometimes within a few days) to maximise fry production (even reliable mothers swallow the odd egg or fry) and to get females back on the treadmill quickly. Tropheus breeders generally strip eggs or fry because of the real danger (aggression to any reintroduction) of removing individuals from the colony even for a short period. However some non commercial tropheus keepers leave brooders in situ in a single species tank and allow them to release in their own time. (most young will survive as the adults are strict herbivores.)
I have seen first time cyprichromis mothers refuse to release fry if isolated, preferring to die. Again these fish are best kept in a species tank colony and although not veggies there is very little fry predation.
Most malawi hap mothers will release eggs or fry when netted wheras mbuna and most tang mouthbrooders are very reluctant to part with their precious cargo and will keep them safe for up to four weeks or even longer in some cases. Anyway in conclusion, I would avoid forcibly removing eggs or fry from a brooding female mbuna ( i remove them to a small tank at 21 days, and allow them to release at their leisure)and with haps I net them and place in a bucket at 21 days where they immediately spit perfectly formed young.(the adult is returned to her original tank, unless her condition is poor)It is important to remember most mouthbrooders continue to feed to a greater or lesser degree while holding.
Finally again thanks to didinho for his interesting article on a complex subject and i hope others write in with their views and reccomendations on the above, as it is through debate that we all learn.
Derek