i have 2 pair of cypts in a 29 gallon with tons of shells and 5 very small ornatipinnis shellies ide like to be able to raiseat least some of the cypt babies do i have to strip her t obe able to get even a few of the fry?

Sorry I didnt see this to reply earlier.

Cyps are pretty cool parents. I cant speak for everyone elses experiences, but I have had 6 varients, and in all cases they bred, 7 fry was the max from any single spawn. The average seemed to be 3-6 fry at a time. The parents never ate their young. Its pretty amazing to see them start schooling with the parents around about a half inch in size. (if you have ever seen neon tetras schooling together, a nice large bunch of schooling cyps is equally as amazing and will make you really see the true beauty and schooling behavior of this fish) The female will carry so long that when she spits, its not unlikely that these will be the longest (nose to tail) fry that you have seen such a small fish carry. I think in your case the other occupants wont eat the fry. So you can let them spit naturally and not have to strip. Dont be suprised, but they can definitely hold longer than three weeks!!

Now you didnt specify the species- so I dont know if you have the jumbo varients or the normal. (jumbo's can get 6" or better. Regular will be around 3.5-4.5". In either species, due to their very fragile jaw structure, I never wanted to consider stripping mine. (I also have the moral issue against stripping these days)

I you really want to strip, try encouraging them to spit instead- cyps will spit very, very easily. Try and hold off until the mom has carried for at least three weeks, then simply net them, and put the mom in a pail. In many instances they will spit right in the net. If not, try it again later in the week.

If you decide to put the fry in a fry tank- be careful. They are delicate and I would suggest using only water from the original tank. They are sensitive to water changes, so try not to do any water changes on them for at least three weeks after transfer- but thats just been my experiences. (I did water changes by adding water from the parents tank) Most of the time I let them spit and kept the fry in the parent tank.

Hope that helps
Let us know how you make out Tres Bien!

I wouldnt strip them, cyps are wonderful parents and normally spit very well.

Les, that was very cool. I had no idea you had that much experience with cyps. I learned a thing or two myself.

Mongo, Im not all to into tangs these days, but I still loved my cyps. Very cool schooling fish- when you have enough of them

So, tell us what you decided to do. Did you go ahead and strip the females or leave them to spit in the tank they are in?