Kribensis breeding?

[Ivy king]

Hi,
I recently got some kribensis (1 male 2 female) any way my question is that are they trying to breed as 1of my female kribensis ended up dead I think she was killed by the other kribs as she had a chunk missing out of her stomach, but the other 2 were nowhere to be seen I looked and looked and then I saw them poke their heads out from a bit of drift wood I then noticed all of the sand hand been moved from around it and the females belly had gone purple rather then red and she was sort of shimmying at the male and would dart back under the drift wood and he followed her is this a sign that they are trying to breed?

 

[Colin_T]

Pelvicachromis kribensis and their relatives should only be kept in prs otherwise the 3rd fish usually gets killed. But if the water is good and the fish are fed a varied diet then they are probably breeding. They lay eggs in a cave and they hatch after about a week. The babies will be free swimming when they hatch and the parents look after them.

The babies will eat newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms as soon as they hatch.

 

[Ivy king]

Pelvicachromis kribensis and their relatives should only be kept in prs otherwise the 3rd fish usually gets killed. But if the water is good and the fish are fed a varied diet then they are probably breeding. They lay eggs in a cave and they hatch after about a week. The babies will be free swimming when they hatch and the parents look after them.

The babies will eat newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms as soon as they hatch.

Thanks for the advise I'll keep an eye out for the babies as she still hasn't left the bit of drift wood not even for her favourite food of brineshrimp

 

[Ivy king]

Update on the kribs the male has cleared out another piece of drift wood and the female keeps switching between the two could this be that she hasn't decided where she wants to lay her eggs yet?? I'm a little confuse as I thought they would pick one and this is where they would stay correct me if I'm wrong, also is my temp to high or to low for them its currently sat at 27oc

 

[Colin_T]

27C is fine for them but they will breed when the water is anywhere between 24-30C.

They might have eggs already but they move the babies to a new spot each day to reduce the risk of predators finding them. Alternatively they are still making up their mind where they want to lay.

 

[Ivy king]

That would explain it then i didn't know they moved their eggs. I should have looked into it a bit more before I got them, however I was told they were hard to breed that's why I got them, never mind thanks for the help.

 

[Colin_T]

They don't move the eggs, but they do move the babies. The eggs get attached to a hard surface and remain there until they hatch. When they hatch the parents move the babies.

All cichlids are easy to breed. Have 1 male and 1 female and give them clean water and food and they do the rest.

 

[Ivy king]

Aren't the babies free swimming though as soon as they have hatched? As I haven't seen any.

 

[Colin_T]

Some cichlids are free swimming when they hatch but others hatch after a couple of days and are called wrigglers because they sit in the gravel and wiggle about for a couple of days after they hatch. then they use their yolk sack up and start swimming. I can't remember if Kribensis are free swimming when they hatch or if they hatch early and have a wriggler stage.

 

[Ivy king]

Some cichlids are free swimming when they hatch but others hatch after a couple of days and are called wrigglers because they sit in the gravel and wiggle about for a couple of days after they hatch. then they use their yolk sack up and start swimming. I can't remember if Kribensis are free swimming when they hatch or if they hatch early and have a wriggler stage.

Some cichlids are free swimming when they hatch but others hatch after a couple of days and are called wrigglers because they sit in the gravel and wiggle about for a couple of days after they hatch. then they use their yolk sack up and start swimming. I can't remember if Kribensis are free swimming when they hatch or if they hatch early and have a wriggler stage.

ok I'll keep a look out for them

 

[Essjay]

Kribs hatch into wrigglers.
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pelvicachromis-pulcher/