Low stress way to remove fry?

[Captmicha]

My Rainbow cichlids had a bunch of fry and they're free swimming now. But there's no market here for them and they're not a rare species.

Is there a way to remove fry without stressing the mom? She's very protective and I don't want to stress her.

[bdmminer]

The lowest stress way that I have found to remove free swimmers from a pair is to use a siphon hose into a bucket to collect the fry. Get as many as you can out the first time. If you have to go in a couple more times that's no big deal but it is less stressful than a net in the tank. She may attack the hose a bit but I wouldn't worry to much.

I then net the babies from the bucket into a growout tank and raise them up. Even if their isn't a market you can always use a couple more fish.

I hope this helps

[Mike Wise]

I use a bottle trap. There are many discussions about how to make and use them on the internet.

[Bas Pels]

a little every day would be the best, and a bottle trap does that.

if the trap is kept too long in the tank, the fry in the trap may die. As you are not going to raise them, this might be not too much of a problem, but you might want to keep seeing this from any young children