# Cichlid catching tips



## Lipticlear (Sep 24, 2010)

Hi everyone, I have a couple questions about breeding cichlids and how to catch them. Currently my white top hara's are starting to breed. They have bred once before, and only one small baby was seen after the female spat. My issue is that my 50 gallon aquarium is set up with 70 lbs of lava rock (no plants). None of the babies survived the last batch as I believe the other fish in the tank ate them. 

So I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to catch the mother so I can move her to a nursery tank once she is holding. I really don't want to tear down all the lava rock to catch her if possible. Does anyone have any tips or tricks? I know.... It's a bit of a strange question. Cheers!


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

I usually end up tearing down my tank....which I do once a week anyways for WC. You could try having an area that you can segregate. Use some nets to chase her into the area and then decrease the size of the area till she is catchable. So have the rock set up 2/3 and 1/3. Chase her into the 1/3 end and then have an open area fenced off to chase her into. Like cutting a calf from the herd.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

Some members have suggested waiting a couple of hours after light out and then trying to catch the female while she is still half a sleep. Assuming she doesn't sleep in the rocks.
--
Paul


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

I tear my tanks down to catch em. huge pain... 

I've been meaning to try catching them at night after lights out. I've looked at the tank at night, and after turning the lights on it takes a few minutes for the fish to becaome fully aware. The only problem you have is the Lava rock. I had the same problem initially. I've cut back on the rock, and bought some bigger peices to make life easier when tearing the tank apart...


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Hmmm well, 5 years expereince in LFS has helped me...

Are you using 2 nets? need one in each hand. Essential.


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## Lipticlear (Sep 24, 2010)

Yeah the problem with the lights out thing, is that I can never see the fish at all. They all have hiding places that are almost totally out of sight. It is not a bad idea though. Maybe I take out some of the rock, like the top layer, and then do the lights out thing.

I can use 2 nets, but there are too many hiding places. The rocks are stacked up, and against the back glass, so they can all just bolt to the back of the tank and I can't get at them.

So sounds like there is not really any way to do this without at least some tear down, or re-arrangement. Here is a pic of the aquarium:


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

lol, yeah... welcome to the world of the random tear downs to catch cichlids!

That looks eerily familiar. except when i started i tried to save a little money by buying TONS of smaller peices and stacking it up. for a display tank no biggie. but then i started breeding... and it became a BIG problem. so I had to get much bigger pieces to make tear downs easier. I still hate tearing it down...


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## Lipticlear (Sep 24, 2010)

It will suck, but I can probably get away with only taking out about 10 pieces. Anyway, thanks everyone for your responses. Cheers!


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

That's an easy tank to tear down.... 

I've almost doubled the amount of rock/structure work in mine since this pic.....lol


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

I like the idea of those resin cast hollow "cichlid rocks". No only do they not displace a lot of water like most rocks do, but when you scare a cichlid you are trying to catch into hiding, you just grab the rock with them inside it. They look pretty natural, so the biggest downside is their cost, and the amount you would need to do a whole tank with them. the opening holes may not be big enough for many species too.


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## Car2n (Jun 7, 2011)

You are more than welcome to practice with my tank. 
The trick is to use as many nets as you can and cordon off an area.
150gal 48x24x30 with 120lbs Caribsea Primo Reef rock. There is so many places to hide it's crazy. There's about 6 inches of clear space behind that rock to the back glass.
.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Beautiful Car tank! oops, I mean, beautiful Tank Car!

Its an all male tank? Love the live plants in there. Swords, ferns, anubias, hygro?


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## Car2n (Jun 7, 2011)

Thanks, that about sums it up. All males except two VC10's.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Any fish named after an aircraft is cool by me!


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## Lipticlear (Sep 24, 2010)

Well apparently I am going to have to figure this out rather quickly. I got home from work today and one of my females is holding!!! Got the HOB filter running to get the bacteria all ready. Any tips on how soon I should catch her and move her to the 10 gallon nursing tank?


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

What I used to do for setting up a small tank like that was to take water from the main display and put it into the holding tank with a sponge filter I kept going in the main display all the time. This way when you transfer the female your not really shocking her because its the same water and with the sponge filter continually running it will full of good stuff. This probably doesn't help you know but a good plan for the future anyways!

The sponge filters can be ugly but if you hide them behind a rock or something you will forget its there eventually. The only thing I would suggest is that when you have the sponge filter in with the babies tear the filter apart every so often as I used to get fry in the sponge tube some how..May have just been my luck but you never know.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

How about catching them during feeding time? wouldn't they all come up? Get a big net and put some food in it


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## Lipticlear (Sep 24, 2010)

While feeding wont work. Cichlids are mouth brooders so when they are holding eggs or fry, they don't eat, at least very much. Might work for others though.

Tristan, that is kind of what I did, but with a hang on back filter instead of a sponge filter. I have a sponge fitted nicely on the intake to prevent sucking up any fry once she spits.

So I caught her last night. Ended up having to tear down the entire top layer of rocks and then used one hand to here her into a corner where I had my other hand using a net. Got a little lucky and she pretty much swam right into it. She laid the eggs and was holding on December 1st, so I figure I will probably have fry within a week or two. 

Hopefully everything goes well, and she spits a good batch!! I am a little concerned as my parents are in town for Christmas, so I will be spending a lot of time at my brothers place. Just worried she might end up eating the fry or that they die as I am not around to feed them. Bad timing I guess. Anyway, thanks everyone for the tips!


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

If you are concerned about missing the fry....just strip her now.


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