Aggressive krib

[Squirrelbuddies]

Ever since I've relocated my male krib to the "wellness" tank to recover from whatever is wrong with him (internal parasites?), my female has been out of control. She gets aggressive now at feeding time. Chases the congos around and especially chases the upside down cats as they are half her size.

She never used to do this. Actually, the male krib used to chase her around. It's like now that he's out of the picture she can be a total wench.

I thought kribs were rather peaceful and only became aggressive when breading.

Should I get another male for the tank? I'm not sure how long it's going to take for the other one to recover.

Also, it's interesting, ever since they've been separated, her colors have improved tremendously. She's become a very beautiful fish. She was very pale and washed out looking when the male was in the tank.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Bueller? Bueller??

 

[Ferris]

Bueller? Bueller??

I think its just a case of suddenly being top dog, either that or boredom. I'm not convinced Kribs do well alone, I think getting another male may be a bit hasty though, hopefully the other one will recover and things can get back to normal. If things are really bad, a temporary divider will fix the problem.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Thanks for the reply!

I will wait for the male to recover - which I hope is soon. He's not eating at all - but his colors and fins still look good. He's in a 5 gallon tank (with plastic plants and hiding places) that I'm treating with metronidazole.

I just wish he'd eat. I've tried live brine shrimp, all kinds of flakes, pellets and wafers. He gets excited when he sees the food and then backs away from it like he's afraid.

He actually tried to eat the brine shrimp but would keep spitting them out. Why is this? Any ideas on how to get him to eat?

 

[Ferris]

In my experience, if a fish won't eat the thing that tempts them the most is normal tropical flake. Not always the reccommended diet for many fish but they don't seem to know that! . Try a run of the mill flake food and see how you get on, once he's feeding normally again, switch to a varied diet. May also take some time in this case, he may need to settle after the move to the hospital tank.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Yes, I have some "junk food" on hand. These flakes are to fish like Doritos are to a 2 year old!

Anyway, I tried feeding some to him and he got excited. But as soon as he'd eat a flake he'd spit it back out and then back away from the flake like he's scared of it.

I feel so badly for him. He's getting smaller and his color is starting to pale.

It's weird, in thinking back to when this all started -- I was feeding freeze dried blood worms and he latched on to one which was a little big for him (he's young and only 2 inches, if that). It was like he was choking on it - but never spit it back out. The next day was when he started hiding under the driftwood and would only come out to chase the female away. He also stopped coming up to the surface to eat with the others and just plain stopped eating all together - although he'd defend any food which dropped near him - just wouldn't eat it.

I suppose this could be a coincidence....I just don't know what else to do to get him to eat.