Dither Fish

[JohnRossDele]

hi, im about to breed kribs (i bought a proven pair and put them in my 240 litre rio until it is cycled) i've read that u have to have dither fish so the female dosent go all teritorial and kill the male, any ideas?
i've heard that danios work, but i dont really like the look of them for some reason, any thing else, would neons be too small and just get beat up?

Thanks
~JRD~

 

[LauraFrog]

I would think that neons would get the chomp, yes.

I've heard of loads of people breeding kribs without dithers... I can't think why you'd need them actually, this would not reduce female-male aggression IMO. Usually dither fish are used for display purposes (not breeding) when the fish in question is shy, and will not come out unless it sees that there is no danger (ie small fish moving around comfortably, which would hide if there was a predator.

 

[mattbond]

when i had kribs, they reduced my shoal of 12 neons to 5

id reccommend some of the less aggressive barbs, like the checker barbs or the odessas?

they do beat up cories aswell, your gona need some sturdy cleaners

 

[indigoj]

what are the actual dimensions of the tank?

Any fast fish around 2-3" long would work but if I'm right your tank is squarish? May not be enough swimming length for many faster fish.

 

[JohnRossDele]

what about cherry barbs, look cool, fast swimmers most of the time, around 2-3'', probably wont eat fry so would they work? Length:53.5 Breadth:42.5 Height:48.5 (cm)

 

[LauraFrog]

Probably too small. The kribs will beat up anything that small. TBH I don't think you need dither fish at all, I think they will cause more problems than they solve.

 

[JohnRossDele]

ok no dither fish for me then thanks laura and indigoj

 

[mattbond]

you know you say you dont like danios? have you seen some of the newer ones? like the glowlight danios or the rose danios? theyre pretty cool and would be good dithers?

 

[JohnRossDele]

you know you say you dont like danios? have you seen some of the newer ones? like the glowlight danios or the rose danios? theyre pretty cool and would be good dithers?

yeah theyre probably the ones that i would choose if i REALLY had to get danios for my tank, probably hard to get my hands on though