# Cyprichromis Leptosoma



## @nt!x (Feb 9, 2009)

How long do Cyprichromis Leptosoma hold there eggs? I need to know when to strip her. :fish:


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

@nt!x said:


> How long do Cyprichromis Leptosoma hold there eggs? I need to know when to strip her. :fish:


Not sure how long but you will notice the egg sacs disappear. I would wait a week after they dissappear.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I breed them. You can strip after 18 days if that is what you are wondering. They will be free-swimming but if you let them spit, they will hold longer.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

I strip between 17-23 days, with the best results at around 21 days.


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## Timbothediver (Jul 11, 2009)

I breed these beaufitul fish. You can strip them around the 17/18 days point. But I dont strip them at all. I find letting them hold the fry themselves untill they are ready benefits the parent. I have had some excellent fry numbers, so I prefer to let nature take its course.


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## daniel4832 (May 8, 2004)

DON'T strip them, let them spit naturally, much better for the female and her fry. I use the little plastic 6" X 4" breeding boxes, in the same tank as they came from.
I also leave the female in with the fry for the first week before putting her back into the tank. It gives me a chance to feed her up, before the males start chasing her again!
I have five females holding, make that four, one spit out 10 fry this morning!!!
Thanks,
Daniel


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## Timbothediver (Jul 11, 2009)

Yes Daniel I agree with you completely. The female benefits from this so much. I get her fed and conditioned before she goes back with the gang!! I wonder where this stripping craze came from- I think it is partly impatience and partly maybe even greed, to get as much out of your fish as quickly as possible. Remember what happens in nature. Shouldnt we be trying to replicate this in our aquariums??


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## @nt!x (Feb 9, 2009)

ok I put her in my fry tank all by herself. Is this alright?


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## daniel4832 (May 8, 2004)

That will work! After she spits her fry give her a week to recover before putting her back in the main tank. Let us know how it turns out.
I agree that it is a combination of impatience, and greed that has caused this stripping craze. I can understand with a rare and expensive fish to maybe strip once, but after that let nature take it's course and let the fish learn to carry her fry, it's so much better for the fish in the long term!!!
Thanks,
Daniel


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I thought isolating a female cyp would cause her way more stress than stripping her? Because she needs to be with her school?


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

It has been my experience with my WC cyps that stripping is safe, minimally invasive, and that my females recover more quickly than when I let them hold past term. They are netted once and returned to the tank in less than a minute to rejoin their protective school. If I leave my cyps to spit naturally, they wait too long and I have skinny females and non-viable fry. I suspect that is because they do not find a suitably safe corner for their fry.

My TR F1 cyps are better at breeding, holding, and spitting in their tank. But in either case, separating a cyp from the school has seemingly caused much more stress than stripping ever did.

This is my own experience, and I do not feel that I have any right to make ethical judgements on hobbyists who chose the best way for their own fish. :thumb:


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## daniel4832 (May 8, 2004)

I have found that once a breeding group get established, I would have multiply females holding at the same time, and if moved to a separate tank they form their own little school. I now use the little breeding boxes so as not to have to set up another tank (I have over 50) plus I usually put two females in each box. I believe the stress is less by removing them from the attention of the males. In the lake, the holding females move away from the main school and foam a school of just holding females. Just trying to get as close to the way they do it in the wild! These two ways have worked well for me over the decades.
Thanks, 
Daniel


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## @nt!x (Feb 9, 2009)

She spit four babies. One was dead on the bottom of the tank. Do all the babies usually make it? It was the same size as the others. I cant believe how big they are.

I put her back in the main tank. There are other Similis fry in there I didn't want her to eat.

Thanks for the info everyone.


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

What kind of breeder boxes are you referring to, Daniel?


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## daniel4832 (May 8, 2004)

I use the Lg breeder boxes from JehnCo, they hook on the front of one of my 75 Gal tanks.
I now have three of the five females have spit their fry, one dead fry out of twenty three.
Thanks,
Daniel


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

Thanks!


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## goldoccie21 (Jun 15, 2008)

get a syringe from the feed store without a needle, it makes it so much easier to strip a female.
and if you let them hold till they are happy to spit they will get really concave bellies. 
and people who are greedy and want to get the most bang of fry will strip the eggs to tumble.
and you can strip when the bucal cavity is black. and the fry will and can eat when they have a tiny bit of egg yolk left.


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