# First time to strip was today. All I have to say is: WOW!



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

I did my first strip today. Tropheus Duboisi Karilani, got 12 from one female; other two females I tried were still eggs, no fry. Amazingly, they took their eggs back in their mouth when I left them to rest in the net (not swallowed) and are still "bulging" now back in with the colony.

I've heard people talk about 10+ fry from one Tropheus, but seeing as I always let them spit, I usually only got about 25% that amount after the fact. These 12 are now in a breeder net in the growout, to protect them for now from their older siblings. What an amazing sight to see fry after fry come out of her mouth! I didn't think it was going to stop!


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

*Correction*: 13 fry. It seems the girl had one last one to spit, which I just saw her do in the main colony! I tipped the Texas Holey Rock the fry went under, promptly netted it, and added it to the breeder net in the growout.

_So, in fact she had 13 children! She must be oh-so proud!_


----------



## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

nice...great feeling huh?... :wink:


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

*JordanRoda*: I thought on previous occasions when people quoted amount of fry from one female: "No Way, Impossible!" I just said that because I had never stripped. It appears my fish have been "mass producing" all along and someone's been eating them. My suspicions are with the Synodontis Lucipinnis as I have watched my colony not even bat an eye at the smallest of fry swimming past their faces. I think the Lucipinnis are going bye-bye shortly anyway.


----------



## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

thats wierd u say that, since i got 8 more petricola/lucipinnis seems like my t-dubs have stop breeding all together...had only 1 till last year...but i love my cats... :-?


----------



## flashg (Oct 5, 2007)

BrownBullhead said:


> I did my first strip today. Tropheus Duboisi Karilani, got 12 from one female; other two females I tried were still eggs, no fry. Amazingly, they took their eggs back in their mouth when I left them to rest in the net (not swallowed) and are still "bulging" now back in with the colony.
> 
> I've heard people talk about 10+ fry from one Tropheus, but seeing as I always let them spit, I usually only got about 25% that amount after the fact. These 12 are now in a breeder net in the growout, to protect them for now from their older siblings. What an amazing sight to see fry after fry come out of her mouth! I didn't think it was going to stop!


Nice dude... IT is a great feeling to get baby trophs... Also I have had a few of my bigger moliros spit 16 fry in one drop on multiple occasions. :thumb:


----------



## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

most i had was 7 babies...16 sure is alot...


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

I have the two girls I mentioned who are definitely holding some eggs that appear bright yellow/orange and healthy, and about 3 more girls who are possibly holding, so I think in 14 days or so I will try round two of stripping.


----------



## flashg (Oct 5, 2007)

BrownBullhead said:


> I have the two girls I mentioned who are definitely holding some eggs that appear bright yellow/orange and healthy, and about 3 more girls who are possibly holding, so I think in 14 days or so I will try round two of stripping.


How old are they? You might just keep getting more and more fry... You're a breedin' fool, which in my book means a "Cool Cat" 8)


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

*FlashG*: I bought them as "adults" colony but I know they have grown slightly since I bought them in January 2007, particularly a couple of the males.


----------



## flashg (Oct 5, 2007)

Sounds like you got a good breeding spell on your hands... Last time my moliros bred in waves like you are talking about... I ended up with 80 fry... I sold them for pretty cheap, but it still payed for my colony. :wink: Good luck my friend! Sounds like you don't need it though. :thumb:


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

I pulled couple more females today; one was yellow eggs with tails, so quickly she went back in the colony. The other girl, I got 9 from her. And, I did a recount of my one from last night, and it was 14, not 13. So I have 23 fry in a breeder net, in the growout, to protect from their older siblings for now.

_The little ones are also eating New Life Spectrum (NLS) "Small Fish Formula" 0.5 mm pellet. They've had 3 meals in the last 24 hours; well, batch #1 has had 3 meals, the newbies maybe just one, if they're lucky. _


----------



## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

good stuff...keep the babies coming...I crush nls for my babies... :thumb:


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

*JordanRoda*: So far, they don't seem to mind lipping on the pellets until it softens.

I actually found another two stragglers in the main colony, so now should be 25 fry in the breeder net. All I hope is they grow enough to let out with their older siblings by 2-3 weeks from now as that is when I estimate I will have more females to strip.

I may have to look at trading / selling some of the older ones to make space (80 gallon growout) to keep things from getting too insane.  I had about 48 Ã- 1.5"+ in January but I sold 20 to a local hobbyist, and lost 6 or 8 to bloat in April 2008.


----------



## geoff_tropheus (Feb 13, 2003)

I stripped mpimbwe females for the first time ever, I even had a friend come over to do so because I had never done it.

From 4 females, we stripped out 56 fry. I was really suprised because at most I ever seen spit was about a dozen.

I guess some just get eaten faster than others.

Also when we stripped couple still had eggsacks, and the larger more robust guys ate them.
So be somewhat careful if the fry still has eggsacks on them.


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

geoff_tropheus said:


> I was really suprised because at most I ever seen spit was about a dozen...Also when we stripped couple still had eggsacks, and the larger more robust guys ate them. So be somewhat careful if the fry still has eggsacks on them.


 this is good advice for those who raise fry in tumblers, as well as those who prefer to let the female spit in her own time. IME, fry from larger variants (annectens, mpimbwe, duboisi, etc) will begin to eat 'anything/everything' as soon as their development allows them to. i learned this lesson watching a tumbler of 8 egg sacked annectens reduce themselves to 3 within a week. now, i move them into a Q tank, with some added moss for hiding spots, as soon as they have faces.


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

My attempts at pictures were less than perfect, quite a bit less. So, I shot a quick little video with the same camera, and this didn't turn out too bad. You're not going to pick out facial features on the guys in this video, but it gives you an idea how small they are 3 days out of Mother's Mouth.

Click any of the thumbnails below to launch the YouTube video clip.


----------



## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

Did you make that breeder net?

I have a female Duboisi that has been holding now for 28 days. She should be about ready to spit them. Plus I have two more females holding. I need to get one of those nets or make it.


----------



## Zane (Feb 14, 2008)

You can get them at wal-mart for $3.
Caution, sac fry(if any) can get sucked right thru the mesh by mature fish.
And not thru in one piece either.
But they work great otherwise.
Well, if bubbles get under them somehow they will try to float also.
A closed lid fixes that.


----------

