Sorry I came in so late on this topic, but my active "African Era" ended 13 years ago when I mover to an area with a soft acid water supply. Prior to this move I lived for 15 year in a hard alkaline water area and the water was just about right for rifts straight out of the tap. The point is, we were 'milking/stripping' mouth brooding cichlids 28 years ago ! Not as recent trend I wouldn't think.
Try using a plactic wash bottle as used in science labs etc.. Fill the bottle from the tank. Catch and hold the carrying female dorsal into tha palm of the hand. hold the head head between forefinger and thumb keeping the gills closed, use soft platic tip of the nossle to press the lower jaw down and flush the mothers mouth over the fry tank. With practise take less than 30 seconds and is 100% effective;- no fry left behind so the female can rejoin the school and start feeding straight away.
I demonstrated this method to the guys on a fish farm in Florida back in the seventies. Easy as, you should have seen the look on thier faces ! them with all thier Hi Tech gear and methods.
Alan
Edited by: Alan Caboolture at: 11/11/03 5:38 pm