# I stripped my first Petrochromis ...



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

Yes, the title says it all ... I stripped my first Petrochromis.

I got my group of 20 Petrochromis Famula "Nyanza Lac" on 2008-12-09. I traded in a whack of Tropheus Duboisi "Karilani" that I had already sold off the adult colony, achieved my BAP (Breeder Award Program) for the species, etc. Anyway, I paid more for these fish than people in Toronto or Vancouver would likely have to pay, but the local market is not exactly teeming with "Petros", so I didn't mind.

Tonight, after much frustration of being unable to find "egg tumblers" locally, I set out to make my own from a corner filter box (yes, those corner filters! Old school, baby!) borrowing upon the idea of another local hobbyist. Borrowing, **** I plain copied him.  I've included some pictures of this "egg tumbler" below - and it actually works!

So, 57 days after acquiring my colony, I stripped two females; one had 10 eggs consisting of nine wigglers plus a "bad" egg, and the other female had 12 eggs with only eyes, but no tail or significant body structure. If this all goes through like I hope it does, that will be 21 fry from two females - a nice beginning with this species!

My aquascaping leaves much to be desired beyond some Texas Holey Rock and flower pots caves, so I will save the fish photography for another day - sorry! But, here's the pictures of the corner filter *** egg tumbler. Please click the thumbnails to load the full size JPEG images in a new browser window.

Please click the thumbnails to open the full size JPEG in a new browser window ... P.S. The eggs were not "stripped" until late this evening; the "tumbler" was empty in this photo.


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

For those who were not sure where the eggs "sat" ...



And they are moving, but I am not sure if I should be looking for "rolling" or "bouncing"... currently I get rolling. I've only got Â½ of a Hagen Elite 802 air pump connected to the tumbler ... so I could always hook both pump outlets using a T-connector to get both to go to the tumbler ... but I was thinking that might be too much movement?


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## Mobius1230 (Sep 22, 2008)

cool. thanks for sharing


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

Please look at this new image ... some eggs from the second female have this white "cap" to them (egg in bullseye centre of image) - what does that cap mean? It seems to be present on the spot where the body has grown out already on the more mature eggs.



This is *not* at all like the "white egg" I removed last night (and had asked about on this thread).


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## Mobius1230 (Sep 22, 2008)

maybe the head/tail forming?


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

Are the eggs actually tumbling? Those ridges are less than desirable I would think.

It's great you are having breeding already and viable eggs.


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

I don't know when these fish spawned exactly, but it seems that the first female I stripped from, who I had 9 wigglers and 1 white egg, well I lost one wiggler but 8 of them seem to be doing OK ... but, the bad news ... all 12 eggs from the second female seemed to be "fungus" this morning (after I came home from the night shift.

I removed all 12 of those eggs and put them into my Lophiobagrus (Bullhead Catfish) setup for extra protein snacks.  Well, here's hoping I can at least raise out these 8, and next time I am going to wait until it seems as though her face will explode. I think the mother of the wigglers (female #1) was holding for maybe 15 - 20 days?

*IrkedCitizen*: A local raised four batches of some sort of Mbuna in the same contraption and he reported success, which is what inspired me - that, and the lack of "polished" egg tumblers in this area.


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## ApexPredator (Jan 12, 2004)

Sorry for the bad news. I was going to say a white cap means they are going to fungus but you witnessed that first hand.

I usually like to let my fish hold for 7-12 days before stripping but thats just me. The survival rate seems to be better at that point for some reason.


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

Four of eight wigglers now fungused and died; I think I didn't catch the first "bad" batch in time and now it spread. I think I'm going to skip tumbling eggs and just go back to stripped fully developed fry and raise them in breeder nets like I used to do with my Tropheus Duboisi.


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## andybt1984 (Sep 13, 2006)

In the past I have put wrigglers in a hand net and put another net round them with an airstone underneath, this worked everytime with Mbuna so I can't really see it being any different for Petros.


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## markw (Feb 20, 2004)

Did you try any methelene blue in the tumblers? I add a drop and it seems to help reduce the fungus on the eggs. I also tried dried alder buds. It is a natural remedy that some swear by. Looks like a nice tumbler you have. good luck!


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

While out of the country for the last eight days, I knew I had a female holding again. I let her hold until her buccal cavity was black from the outside ... stripped her tonight and got ... 15 (yes, fifteen!) fry! I am going to get a breeder net setup here, then time for bed. It's been a long day. Snorkelling with saltwater fish in the Riviera Maya was the highlight of my week! These are fully developed juveniles, not eggs, wigglers, etc.! Woohoo!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

The person who I got my Famula Chimba from had a single female spit 40 fry.


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

eklikewhoa: My group isn't quite full grown so I now have something to look forward to, based on your comment.


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## bossfish (Jun 1, 2005)

congradulations! :thumb:


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