When to strip?

[JDogg]

ok i left for vacation on July 3rd, and as far as i could tell, no one was holding, i returned July 8th to find one of my Cynotilapia afra is now holding. it is my intention to try and strip her, i do not want eggs though, i want to make sure i get free swimming fry.

so... how long should i wait until i attempt to strip her? all i know is she started holding some time between the 3rd and the 8th.

i do not want her to spit in the tank she is in now, my lab did that and all the fry became lunch for the other fish

you can look at my 75 gallon Malawi set-up to see tank mates

thanks

[Fishyfanatic]

I would remove her and put her in a seperate tank. Stripping should be done as a last resort. She will be less stressed being seperated and will more likely spit sooner. If you provide many small hiding spaces for fry, even if they do spit in the tank you should have quite a few survivors. We have at least 30 fry in our 150 that haven't been eaten because of small hiding places that only the fry can fit. Right now we have coconut huts with smaller openings so only fry can get inside

[Voodoo Chilli]

I agree with Finatic. A separate "nursery tank" helps avoid the stress of stripping (something I never liked to do when I was heavily into breeding a couple of years ago) and it also provides the female a chance to get her strength back up before going into the main tank. (Carrying around a mouthful of eggs and/or fry doesn't allow for much in the way of eating.)

[Zagz]

That is what I have done in the past. I have never had to strip my cichlids when they have been in a separate tank. I usually put them into their tank about 2 weeks into holding.