[Linka]

There is an ongoing discussion on a norwegian forum about stripping female malawis. So I want to know how u feel about stripping malaws.

I strip some of my malawi females. Just because they get between 50-100 fry and the space in the mouth is limited so many of them get crocked tails and have to be put down.
I also have a seperate tank for holding females so they can spit by them self.

What is your thoughts about stripping females? Is it unethical or do u think it`s ok?

 

[Laurel]

I'm curious as to the argument of it being unethical!

 

[Joea]

There has been some pretty heated debates here about whether stripping is ethical or not, a search will yield several past discussions. In many cases, European members feel that it's unnatural and wrong, whereas most North American members seem to have no problem with it at all.

There is an unfounded belief that fry stripped from a female won't gain the instinctive know-how to carry eggs to term and spit naturally. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of scientific data to back that theory up.

As far as the "not natural" argument, I always found that to carry no weight at all when you consider that keeping these fish in a glass box in your living room is about as far from natural as you can get. The stress that a female would endure from 10 minutes of stripping can't possibly compare to weeks of harassment that she'll endure from being left in a confined space such as a fish tank.

There are practical reasons for stripping and if you are producing clutch after clutch of healthy, viable fry, and the female continually breeds with success, I see no problem with it.

 

[Linka]

I think u make a good point Joea.

I think that in the end it`s up to eatch aquarist to deside if they wanna strip the female or not. And even if u do strip some females it doesn`t mean that u have to do it all the time.
I strip some of my females cause I wanna have surviving fry and since our hobby doesne`t exactly make us money I see no harm in selling surviving fry to buy equiptment and food that our fishes need.

The debate around stripping fry in my norwegian forum came from the video in this forum. The one that shows how to strip female malawis. I personally learned a lot from this video.