Baby Catching

[saz326]

Is there a tried and tested technique of catching up either Mum before fry are spat, or catching fry once they are out and about..

I Vaguely remember seeing a thing called a "fish trap" but has anyone ever used one..?

Basically - is it just a case of tearing the tank down to get at fry?


Sarah

 

[willowstwin]

What do you have that's ready to drop? From what I've read when I was going to breed my guppies, I would get a breeding net (a big cube netted box thing you put in the tank) with mum in it, until she drops the fry. Then you take mum out (so she doesn't eat them) and either move the fry to a nursery tank, or leave them in the net until them get a little bigger so they can fend for themselves

 

[RossC]

Is there a tried and tested technique of catching up either Mum before fry are spat, or catching fry once they are out and about..

I Vaguely remember seeing a thing called a "fish trap" but has anyone ever used one..?

Basically - is it just a case of tearing the tank down to get at fry?


Sarah

Id suggest a birthing/breeding box, the net covered ones are the best in my opinion and fairly cheap too off ebay. Just put the mother in their when you think she's ready to drop and the fry will fall safely not the bottom compartment.

Heres the one I got for less than £5

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

If you want to do it properly imo you should catch the female and place her in a seperate tank. She'll drop fry after a couple of weeks. That way the fry have a nice little tan to grow up in, much easier to monitor feeding.
The breeding net is a good idea, but id seperate them entirely because civhlids are pretty rough. And they will bite at the net, they may even jump in and eat the babies.

 

[saz326]

What do you have that's ready to drop?

I dont have any about to drop at the moment. I am just aware that at some stage I am going to have a sickly Mbuna and he/she will be a pain in the proverbial to catch with all those rocks around. I figured a few people may have had experience with catching mums to be, and I could use the same technique with a sickly fishie...

edited~: I should really have just asked the correct question - How do you catch up a sick Mbuna? But I was initially put off from posting this as people would have been asking me what was wrong with my fish and trying to help.

You helpful lot you.

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Fair enough, i just rip the tank apart to reduce the stress of 40 minutes messing around with the net.

 

[Squidward]

I have never tried this myself, but have read about it on a specialist forum.

If you have small fry in the tank that you want to get out, put in a dark glass bottle with a narrow neck.The fry will be drawn to the darkness and apparent safety of the bottle.
After a few hours, put your hand over the opening of the bottle, remove from the tank, and slowly introduce into a second fry tank.
May need to be repeated a few times until you have most of them.