Your methods will stress the fish and take longer. Just use the length of a tooth pick to hold the mouth open and move the fish under water up and down to flush water through its gills to release the eggs.

In general the fry are released after about 3 weeks, they are fully formed with the yolk sac still present at about 10-14 days.

You can raise the eggs in an egg tumbler (google for details) but generally it is best to let mum raise the eggs and only strip after about 2 weeks when the fry are fully formed.

how do you raise the eggs and how long till they hatch

The very first fish is holding eggs only.

in the first part of the video are the fry coming out or are the eggs.

Usually you should be able to see actuall fry in the mouth just by looking at it you just have to squint and look carefully

how do you know if the fish is holding the fry in their mouth????

If you could also use a turkey baister instead of a saringe.

Thanks you so much for the help!

They do not eat when they are holding fry. Don’t be worried, if the female is of normal health they can go 3-4 weeks without food.
If the fry you stripped can move around, most of them should survive if you keep them separated from the other fish (but still in the same tank).

I was very worried as my cichlid wouldn’t feed with the fry in her mouth.
I stripped my cichlid just then but the fry have a lot of yolk, is there a chance they’ll survive?
Also i don’t know if i got all the fry out, will she start feeding again if there is still fry in her mouth?

The stress experienced by the fish depends on how quick and experienced the person is. Usually the stress is minimal as the fish is held gently and it’s over pretty quickly. I’d say it’s less stress than the fish being chased around the tank by other fish.

This is a great video, thank so much. Was just wondering – is this stressful for the mother??

For Malawi cichlids it’s the female that holds.
Most people prefer to strip after at least 2 weeks. By then the fry should be almost full swimming with only a little bit of yolk left.
If you strip early you have make sure there is sufficient water flow around the fry (but not too much!) to minimise the chance of mold developing on the yolk.

great video.
i stripped my cichlid just a couple weeks ago.
is it to early to strip the fry when they still have their yolk(or whatever its called)?
also is it the male or female that holds the fry?