I use both methods for mine. I let them hold their first spawn and see how they deal with them.

I left my 4" Ngara Acei hold for 2weeks then stripped, got about 30/40 off her

I was amazed with my P. Nyererei 'Python Red' female. She is not even 3" and when I stripped her after 2wks around 40/50 fry swam out, 40/50!!!

S. Fryeri left for a weeks and a half then stripped, she had about 13 which still had small egg sacs so tumbled them for a week until they had gone.

P. Igniopinnis left for 2wks also and then stripped, she had around 13.

However with my L. Dardennii, she hardly holds more then 5-6 days so I strip the eggs after a few days and tumble them.

nice....so what do you use to tumble them, ive never seen anything for sale?

I made my own which is from part of an undergravel filter. Just the tube that the powerhead connects too and the plastic bit where it attaches to the undergravel section. Put a bit of netting over the end and then just stick an airstone down the tube near the bottom where the eggs are. The bubbles rising just makes the eggs bounce slightly. Probs haven't explained that very well .

A lot of people just put the eggs in a sieve and have an airstone underneath and the bubbles coming through the sieve make them move slightly. Simple but effective.

Probably sounds like a nieve question, but how do you go about stripping fry from the parent fish, what is the best way??

You just catch the female and then very carefully push down her bottom jaw and submerge her head in the water of a container. Then the fry should just swim out. Just obviously make sure she aint out of he water for too long. You can push her bottom jaw down and look in her mouth to see if there is any left.

__________________
8' x 2' x 2' - Piece of Ocean.
6' x 2' x 18" - Wild Caught Zaire 'Moba' Frontosa
4' x 2' x 20" - Malawi
4' x 22" x 18" - Malawi + Victoria
4' x 18" x 18" - Breeding Cuban Cichlids.
Trigon 190 - Paratilapia Polleni
30" x 1' x 1' - Hospital Tank
2' x 1' x 1' - Tropical

and

7x - 1' and 2' cichlid fry tanks

Thanks Slash, I will try it on my Egyptians when they are carrying next

No problem, didn't know if I explained it very well . Always a good idea to open the mouth first to check to see if the fry have consumed their egg sacks, not a problem if they have tiny ones. Have caught some females and found they still have quite big eggs sacks so I've left them for another week or so.

__________________
8' x 2' x 2' - Piece of Ocean.
6' x 2' x 18" - Wild Caught Zaire 'Moba' Frontosa
4' x 2' x 20" - Malawi
4' x 22" x 18" - Malawi + Victoria
4' x 18" x 18" - Breeding Cuban Cichlids.
Trigon 190 - Paratilapia Polleni
30" x 1' x 1' - Hospital Tank
2' x 1' x 1' - Tropical

and

7x - 1' and 2' cichlid fry tanks

Is it a widely used method of getting best fry yield or is it frowned upon by others?

A bit of both, I have always done it but there are a lot of people who like to let the females spit the fry when she and they are ready naturally. Also depends on the fish, I know have to do it if I want fry off some of my fish as they dont hold them for very long, either eating or spitting them after a few days of spawing.

__________________
8' x 2' x 2' - Piece of Ocean.
6' x 2' x 18" - Wild Caught Zaire 'Moba' Frontosa
4' x 2' x 20" - Malawi
4' x 22" x 18" - Malawi + Victoria
4' x 18" x 18" - Breeding Cuban Cichlids.
Trigon 190 - Paratilapia Polleni
30" x 1' x 1' - Hospital Tank
2' x 1' x 1' - Tropical

and

7x - 1' and 2' cichlid fry tanks

Thanks for your advice Slash, I think I will give it a go like I said and it will be interesting to see how many fry I gat from the egyptian, as when I last let nature take its course, I only got 4 fry