43 replies to this topic

[00 Electric 00]

Floaty...... Yeah i dont use them i would need a spare 2ft tank if i want to put the female in it to spit naturally. Thats why i have to milk the fry cause of no room maz.

THe reason i dont use floatys cause my mum would make me take them out cause they look bad in a tank which she shows friends.

[Mazimbwe]

Ok Electric, I know what you mean about asthetics.

What if you piont out to your Mum that she, and her mates, may be able to get a look at the fry going in and out of the mothers mouth. If they are prepared to put up with a slightly ugly container in the tank(plus if you put the Floaty to the rear of the tank so the light is futher forward, they are pretty hard to see).
One other tactic you can try on your Mum is to give her all the goss on the entire process. This way she get's to sound real smart to all her mates when she tells them what the tub is for!!

[Sith]

I find people are just as interested in the babies as the adults as they are so small, espically if your dealing with malawis that colour up early. Tell me if tank space is an issue, how is it not an issue when you strip?

You still have to put the fry somewhere, unless your using a "floaty" or whatever to keep them in anyway, theres no harm in putting a mum in a fry tank to spit. Ive never had a mother swallow during the move process into a nursery tank, at times due to lack of space i even have a few mothers in a nursery at once and havent had a problem with them eating each others fry.

Of course maybe im just lucky so far, but as long as im willing to be bothered to catch the mothers they do fine with the move and the fry are fast growing in their own tank where i can feed them more often.. Of course at times i get lazy and cant be bothered catching the mothers and they end up spitting in the main tank, sure not as many survive but its great to see the few that do dart in and out of the tinest cracks in the rocks.

Seeing a cm fish swimming around in a tank full of adults is quite amusing, also gives our visiters something else to see. Having your fish breed is one of the most rewarding parts of the hobby, and lets face it a 2ft tank doesnt cost much, you can even pick them up for free from time to time.. Well ive rambled enought, with probably no point made.

Edited by: Sith at: 11/1/03 6:54 pm

[Anita ozfish]

No Sith, you asked exactly what I was going to. Scott, where do you put your fry/eggs when you strip?? Surely the parent can go there as well?? Seeing you don't use fl;oaties, I guess you would have a tank??
Sith, I have had 2 females in the same tank as well when I have run out of space and at one time I had a female Dimi comp pick up all the fry from the first female who had spat a few days earlier. Boy, was that a BIG mouthful
I still stand by what I said earlier though about 'trendy'. Why would a newbie ask a question titled "how soon can I milk my fish?" I see this way too often on so many boards - not just this one and I think we need to let people know that they don't 'have to' milk all the time - it's really an option as a 'last resort.'

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.

[00 Electric 00]

Ok Anita i will spread the word dont need to strip

But with the fry i normally have like 4 different yellow parents holding and a electric blue holding i strip them all into a 2ft with a aquaclear150.

Maz I might try your idea see how it goes thanx

[me]

this is one of those happy threads that makes me wanna cry!
i love you guys!

[Anita ozfish]

Oh, you big sook Blake

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.

[calvus75]

Hey Folks,

I'm a STRIPPER in most cases.

I had to strip a young mum (~5cm TL) yesterday because her little ones were skinny as.

IMO nature takes care of parental abilities for the most part and nurture plays a very marginal role (in fish anyhow ). In my experience stripped fish have held full term within their first attempts at breeding - blows the nurture theory out of the water (just my 2 cents).

I'd agree that newbs should at least witness and experienced keeper do the business first before attempting to mangle the jaws of their new mums - something the society should consider perhaps (milk a mum night ) ???



p

[00 Electric 00]

Hey calvus remeber me????

Gimmie my fish

Edited by: 00 Electric 00  at: 11/3/03 10:31 pm

[calvus75]

Hey electric,

mind your manners and you might get MY fish! d

actually come and get it dude - i caught it yesterday for you.

p

[jayrock2508]

ive been milking mouthbrooders for 7 years now,and ive found that if u leave them to carry full term,they either spit or swallow,to make room 4 the growwing fry.the most ive got from a milk was 38.(yellow that is)no way i would have got that if i didnt milk.my older girls just spit as soon as i open their mouths.

[Anita ozfish]

Jay, that's not a lot mate - full term yellows of mine have come through with over 50 fry at a time. My max mouthful was Dimis that counted to well over 120.
I once did comparisons with a prolific Tropheus breeder who always milked his girls. Over a period of 12 months, we ended up with approximately the same number of fry - the difference was negligible. He thought he would get more by milking and I thought I would get more by letting them spit naturally.

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.

[jayrock2508]

thats cool,ok youve got me thinkin,cos i would rather not have to milk em.did you do growth comparison?cos my theory is that my fry have easy access to food once released.

Edited by: jayrock2508 at: 11/4/03 3:11 pm

[Anita ozfish]

no, we didn't do sizes mainly because my girls would always be eating anyway while they were holding.

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.

[Barca888]

Once again im off topic but my lab has had her lil ones in her mouth for over 3 weeks (maybe more). How long is too long? ;\

Im getting impatient with her as she is by her self.

[Anita ozfish]

If it's her first mouthful, she will probably go a bit longer - depends on the fish. Give her a bit of food - I find this always coaxes them to spit when the time is close and they start getting hungry
Irregardless though, yellows hold on to those eggs like grim death

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.

[00 Electric 00]

Yeah yellows first even second time they are a little over protective... Sometimes they hold them for like 4 weeks and the fry are weak and few die. But after there 2nd time they normally work it out and its all good. You cant get everything right the first time

the 2nd time when mine spat them in a 2ft she was so hungry she ate them all

But i let it go and she never did it again as long as i feed her after she spits.

[Barca888]

This is her third time, 2nd time in a seperate tank and first time by herself in a seperate tank. She seems to beg to the front of the glass alot ill try giving her some grub

tanks

[saudukar]

I just looked at this topic agian.

It just occured to me that the process of removing young from mouthbrooding cichlids is called stripping.

There are fish that are "milked" but lets just say it doesnt have anything to do with the mouth part of the fish. But it is everything to do with producing babies.

The word milking could be used to describe the action of dispelling something from the body. But "milking" is an already existing term for expelling "milt" from male specimens and is done in fish farms where large spawning groups converge.

Heres me picturing some nasty senario incorporating cichlids "mouths" and "milt".

hahah

[Anita ozfish]

electral@bigpond.com | web | Sydney, Australia.