# Succesfully stripped 6 babies from my yellow lab!



## Jgray152 (Jan 16, 2007)

I have had 2 yellow labs for about 5 years or so and the female is always getting pregnent but I have never been able to see any babies since she either swallows them or she releases them and they get eaten.

So today I figured, is the day I will have successful babies from her. I decided to strip her of them and I was able to get 6. She might have 1 or 2 more but she wouldn't let me go any further so I put her back in the tank and she will do what she wants with them if she has more. 

So I now have 6 more yellow labs and I may keep some but give others to a fish store. maybe for a trade?


----------



## Jgray152 (Jan 16, 2007)

Ok so I have 2 left that seem to be healthy. The others died shortly. Maybe I miss calculated the time she was holding them.


----------



## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Sorry for the losses.  

Did the fry have visible yolk sacks?


----------



## Jgray152 (Jan 16, 2007)

Im not to sure. I didn't see any sacks. They just looked like regular baby fish.

I think what migh thave killed them was stress. I put them in a large baby net in the tank with the adults, which naturally, 2 of the adults kept picking at the net.


----------



## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Yeah, those net things are a 'no go' with these type of fish (larger fish will suck them right through the mesh). 

For success you typically want a grow out tank containing just fry (and preferably fry of equivalent size if you eventually begin to rear multiple broods...small juvies are capable of cannibalizing tiny fry). A 10gal can work for a while, but ideally you'll want something a little bigger (particularly if you have a bunch of fry, i.e., 30+).

Alternatively you can ensure you have LOTS of hiding spots and crevices for new fry to take refuge in within the main tank. They'll live off of scraps of food the adult fish miss, and if they're lucky the can grow up in the main tank.

In both circumstances you may want to cover your filter intakes with some sort of material (mesh, stocking, etc) to prevent the fry from being drawn in.


----------



## Jgray152 (Jan 16, 2007)

Well today I was looking at my tank and I looked at the 2 babies in the net and noticed they doubled in size and thinking, cool so they are healthy.

I then noticed at one of my rock formations I made, this tiny little fish swimming around in the main tank, I was like, holy crap another baby!

SO naturally I freeked out and started to rip apart the rock formation only to spend about 20min trying to catch this one little fry. I then started to put the rocks back together and saw another fry, I though maybe the one I caught got out of the net some how but nope, it was another fry. Took me about the same amount of time to get him. They are just a little smaller then the fry that were in the net.

So I now have 4 fry. After replacing the rocks, I then started to rearrange the rocks on the left side of the tank only to notice a small fry in there too! I left him there since I did not want to rip apart that rock formation. The way I have the rocks laid out and stacked on top of each other, there are 1 million places for them to hide. I just don't know how they will do when they get bigger and need bigger hidding spots.

SO I guess I have a total of 5 fry. The 3 I located in the tank may have been extra the femal still had in her mouth while I was stripping her.



> Yeah, those net things are a 'no go' with these type of fish (larger fish will suck them right through the mesh).


I changed the net to a straining net you can find for straning your own milk such a coconut milk or almond milk. So the holes are so tiny you almost can't even see them. I did put my small sword plant in the net so they all hide in that.

Unfortunatly I don't have a spare tank at the moment so I will have to make do with what I got.


----------

