Viable as in free swimming Ron. Sorry I wasn't more clear. From what I read evolution has allowed this fish to go without eating with little to no effect on the mother. So I was just thinking that she would spawn again faster if she were stripped and I guess that's really where my question was headed as to the practice of doing it. If you aren't trying to get a faster spawn turn around or if that's not in fact the result, I wondered what the purpose was. (In stripping during the egg stage) so say people that strip their fish see spawning again in 3 months. If I allow that fish to hold will that result in a 2 month spawn after fry release or 3 months from fry release. Does my question make sense?