How to get holding female out from a large tank?

I have 2 females: one chailosi and one gallireya female holding in my 150 Gallon Tank. I witnessed the mating dance of the two so I know that these fry will be the same species. How do I get these females out of the tank without turning the tank upside down? Will these fish get weak and slow after 3 weeks of holding so I can easily catch them then?

either when the light is out or my luck. i always have to take the tank apart. this is why most breeders do not decerate thier tanks. good luck.

i would say the little trap you made but a holding female will not eat for the most part so this will not really work. if she will come close to the surface while feeding you could swoop in like a bird with a net and get her. stresses the fish out tho.

Put them to sleep for about and hour and get a net and flashlight and see if you can get her that way. When they are asleep its very easy to net them and seems to be pretty stress free for the most part.

Patience lots and lots of patience....I was breeding tropheus in a 140g and I use 2 big nets. The technique is to leave the nets inside for a couple of minutes so they don't get spooked by it. Then slowly shepherd and corral the target fish. No jerking or chasing movement.

LOL..Yeah, the trap that I made with the floating breeding net and the empty container did not work on these holding females. I tried the swooping hawk method, but I am way to slow for these fish. Fish went in hiding even before I could lift my fish net

Fern wrote:

Put them to sleep for about and hour and get a net and flashlight and see if you can get her that way. When they are asleep its very easy to net them and seems to be pretty stress free for the most part.

That is a good idea. I'll try and see if this works.

That's how I catch holding mooris in my 8 foot long tank! Usually you have 10-15 minutes till they become fully awake and if you haven't gotten them by that time give it up for the night and try again the next night.
I wish you luck!!!

khrister wrote:

Patience lots and lots of patience....I was breeding tropheus in a 140g and I use 2 big nets. The technique is to leave the nets inside for a couple of minutes so they don't get spooked by it. Then slowly shepherd and corral the target fish. No jerking or chasing movement.

I do the same thing, but it also helps to catch them when they are trying to sleep, its almost like there frozen for a few seconds.

I do like Fern sometimes. Get them when they are sleeping.

Patience is key.

This is a good method because several of the cichlids were very easy to catch. Unfortunately, the main one I was trying to catch was sleeping inside the rocks. I guess I will try again another night.

If she keeps sleeping in the rocks you may need to dismantle her sleeping spot.......

Mr Miaggi method - use your chopsticks..

Finally got her...Took me three days of chasing her around for 30 minutes each. I guess she finally got tired from not eating and all the running that she was pretty easy to catch. Now lets hope that she has a lot of Gallireya Fry in her mouth

Good Luck! I have only had to fish out of a 75 gallon so far. I think that would be a tough task. Fishing fry out would be even worse, though.

We always just go in after them..