similar boat here. My labs usually only leave me with 1 keeper at a time. Once i noticed 3 fry, but i came home from work and only found 1 left. Actually i only found him becuase my electric blue johanni kept dive bombing the cave, and i went to see what he was going after and low and behold. The most in my 8+ years of cichlid keeping was 5 at once, with 2 that survived. I havent stripped or removed them, just let them naturally let them go in the 55 gal, and see who survives. Afraid of removing the holder, letting them spit them out, and being suck with 5 baby yellow labs, that i cant do anything with
Did this with a pair of convics, that screwed me for 4 years. I have 3 dozen or so i need to get rid of.