# How to strip a young mbuna without hurting her...



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

So, I'm a very meticulous person. I have very steady hands and have worked with very small items (I made tools for the aerospace industry where the tolerance is +/-.0001 and have made tools as small as .005). But I'd have to say stripping a young (2.5") cichlid is pretty difficult.

I've stripped 2 out of my 3 female saulosi's 2 times each. They seem a little disoriented at first, but they recover a few hours after the ordeal. Well, my smallest female held for her first time. So I went to strip her yesterday after I stripped another just before her. But when I went to release her into the tank, she didn't dart away like the others usually do. In fact, she didn't dart away at all. I kept her up to the spray bar in hopes of the fresh oxygen rich water rejuvenating her, but to no avail.

I let her go and she ever so slowly swam away, and when I fed the main tank, she swam slowly to food and did indeed eat, but I noticed that for some reason, the others picked on her more then usual and she didn't react as quickly as she should. Well, this morning she was dead.

In hindsight, I should have noticed her slow recovery and put her in a hospital tank, but I only have my grow-out that is now stuffed with 35 fry.

Has anyone gone thru the same thing? Or am I just a poor caretaker?


----------



## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Are your hands wet when you strip the fish? I use dentist tools to strip my mouthbrooders, and I try to keep them submerged. When I have to strip a more difficult fish like my Eretmodus, I sometimes hold him in a coarse net and submerge him in water. All in all the process only takes me about 3 min start to finish. I've never noticed any of my fish appearing woozy.


----------



## MCKP (Aug 17, 2009)

When I stripped my female yellow lab, I stripped her into a breeder net and put her in the fry tank for a couple days so she could recover and eat again - the babies were fine in the net for a few days.... then when I put her in the main tank again, She was well fed and no one even noticed her and then the babies went into their tank!


----------



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Yeah, I have no idea where to get dentist tools, I used the end of my Mechanical Pencil. My hands were wet and I did dunk her head in and out of water. It took about 3-5 minutes. Its hard to get her little mouth to open and stay open and to shake out the fry lodged in her throat... :?

Anyway, I've made up my mind that I won't strip my females again til they're 3" or over. 1) because I didn't set out to be a full time breeder, and 2) I hope they will be more robust and hardier at that age... :roll:


----------



## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

I have a couple of shoe-box type clear rubbermaids that I use for stripping female cichlids.

I fill the rubbermaid about 2/3 full of water (from the tank with the female in it), catch the fish in a good sized net, wet my hands and (hilding the fish head down in the rubbermaid in the net) dunk the fish's head in the water and use a toothpick or twistie to open her mouth.

Don't overthink it 

Matt


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'm uncomfortable doing it too, but I haven't much practice. My females seem to want to hold on to the fry more than the ones in the video, LOL. I find a tiny hamster syringe filled with tank water used to (a) pry open her mouth, and (b) squirt in water to flush the fry out works best.


----------



## Cognition (Oct 14, 2009)

thats a great idea... so long box of toothpicks, hellow hamster syringe


----------



## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

I use a dental tool from the toothpaste isle in Walmart. I net the mom, put her in a shallow cake pan filled with tank water. With wet hands I grab her with her head sticking out of the thumb index finger part of my hand and open her mouth with the dental tool (the whole fish is under water the whole time). I take my time as she can breathe since she is underwater. If she has a stubborn fry or two I very gently pump her gills with my thumb and index finger. (WARNING!!! do not let female fish go in cake pan with fry! She will pick them back up and make all your hard work worthless, lol) If they still wont come out, I just let her keep them and she usually spits them later that day. I loose a few but get most of them. Sounds like you had your female out of water too long? Make sure they can breathe the whole time unless you are sure that you can be rather quick to strip.


----------



## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

ladybugzcrunch said:


> I use a dental tool from the toothpaste isle in Walmart. I net the mom, put her in a shallow cake pan filled with tank water. With wet hands I grab her with her head sticking out of the thumb index finger part of my hand and open her mouth with the dental tool (the whole fish is under water the whole time). I take my time as she can breathe since she is underwater. If she has a stubborn fry or two I very gently pump her gills with my thumb and index finger. (WARNING!!! do not let female fish go in cake pan with fry! She will pick them back up and make all your hard work worthless, lol) If they still wont come out, I just let her keep them and she usually spits them later that day. I loose a few but get most of them. Sounds like you had your female out of water too long? Make sure they can breathe the whole time unless you are sure that you can be rather quick to strip.


Fish can survive a long time out of water, at least 5 minutes. I wouldn't suspect this is necessarily the case.


----------



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the replies! And thanks *DJ* for the tip! If I change my mind on stripping (good chance), I will try the "hamster" syringe method. Now were to find a Hamster syringe....?? 

I think what may have killed her is I "opened" her mouth too wide. Or somehow damaged something as I used my Mechanical Pencil to open her mouth. 

Anyhoo, that's what happen when you use "human methods" to force an otherwise natural process. Lesson learnt. I would just let them spit, but I don't want the tank chalk full of dead fry here and there (behind background, under rocks, in my canister, etc, etc). Hopefully my 3 syno multi's will be efficient in eating them all up..... a very natural process...


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Pet shop. It's for medicating any small animal, like squirting medicine in their mouths.


----------



## josmoloco (Aug 23, 2008)

I have stripped dozens of cichlids, ranging from 6" red zebras. down to 1.5 inch salousi. With the smallest, I use a small plastic "toenail tool", anything over 2.5 inches I ever so gently squeeze below the eyes, thus opening the mouth, at th same time gently moving the fish back and forth constantly underwater. Works every time, no injuries or swallowing so far.......


----------



## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

different take on the hamster syringe








wife's first time and still under 20seconds :wink: faster if you know what your doing
http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd84 ... tstrip.flv


----------



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Hey! Thanks for the replies guys...

*bulldogg7*, I wish it went that smoothly and I wish my saulosi was that big... Unfortunately, with smaller sized fishes, hunched over a 10gal with a herniated disc, and the absence of extraction tools as the ones mentioned, things didn't go like that... 

If I strip a female again, I'll make sure to have a few more tools up my sleave...

Thanks again guys!


----------



## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

It is actually possible to strip a mouthbrooder without holding the mouth open; it's also difficult to explain. I've stripped fish as small as a 1.75" male _Betta channoides_ without harm (he bred again the next week), and I've got big hands.

Obviously the hands must be wet. The fish is cupped in the hand with the head sticking outward between the thumb and forefinger. While holding the head downward in a container of water GENTLY hold the gill covers CLOSED, and use the forefinger of the opposite hand to apply a stroking pressure to the chin, going from the bridge between the gills toward the mouth. The real tricky part is applying enough pressure to force the tongue up and the mouth open - but not too much. Doing this will cause the mouth to open *reflexively*, so that you do not risk damaging the joints by forcing the jaw down. The skill is in positioning the fish so that you can apply the pressure properly without overdoing it.

The fish is also out of the water for a much shorter time than usual. Takes me about 30 seconds from picking up the female to seeing the first fry/eggs fall out. I usually stroke the chin 2-3 times to get all of the fry, total time takes a little over a minute. I recently dusted off those skills to strip a small female "Zebra Obliquidens" who had free swimming fry but was reluctant to let them out on their own. Three days of recovery in her own tank, she was back in the big tank with the male and had another brood 4 days later.

One of these days I may make a demo tape of it if I can find some one to do the video work.


----------



## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Chromedome52 said:


> _Betta channoides_


 :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling:


----------



## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

Dwarfpike, don't waste the drool. I was never able to get the eggs to hatch artificially, and he always ate them before they hatched. I still wonder if he was infertile, or if there was something I could have done.

I got some really bad video of them spawning once, put a clip on YouTube here.


----------



## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Nice!! Pretty lil bettas. How soft was your water? Pretty fish, but I'd be disappointed if I couldn't get them to breed ... so I can sympathize.


----------

