Do Kribs Kill And Eat Guppies?

[Jozlyn]

Do Kribs kill and eat Guppies? One of my guppies has vanished. I read on a different web site that they see guppies as snacks, is this true?

 

[CFC]

Yes, like nearly all Cichlids they will catch and eat anything that they can fit into their mouths and that includes any smaller tankmates.

 

[Jozlyn]

There's not a chance the missing guppy could've fit in either of their mouths!

 

[jimw13uk]

maybe not - but if they kill it and then strip it you may eventually find some bits - but i've seen a Krib take out a Glass Catfish and then only reason I knew he'd eaten it was cos the Krib was swimming round for a few hours with its tail sticking out its mouth.
You've got a pair of Kribs as well - are they a breeding pair - cos if they are then everything is in danger of being done over

 

[CFC]

There's not a chance the missing guppy could've fit in either of their mouths!

Was it a super sized guppy or are your kribs unusually small?

Dont be decieved by the size that fishes mouths "appear" to be, what you can see from the outside is only about half the size they can actually open up to, the skin around the mouth of most Cichlids is very flexible and can stretch to accomidate foods a quarter their own body size and even up to half with relative ease, once the food is in the mouth it is quickly reduced to a pulp by the pharnegal teeth set back in the throat which act like a set of mill stones to grind the food down before it reaches the stomach.

Average sized kribs can easily eat average size guppies and tetras.

 

[Jozlyn]

Damn it, I researched these guys really well, I thought, it wasn't till I was trying to find info on breeding after I got them that I found that they like to eat guppies.

The only other tank I can move them too is the "girls" tank, I have one female guppy in there, if I move 4 boys in, she'll be dead too. Maybe if I just move my favourite it'll be okay.

Edit > Ohh and to the Mod' who moved this post, I put it in TFC for a reason, more people go in there and you get answers faster!

There's not a chance the missing guppy could've fit in either of their mouths!

Was it a super sized guppy or are your kribs unusually small?

Dont be decieved by the size that fishes mouths "appear" to be, what you can see from the outside is only about half the size they can actually open up to, the skin around the mouth of most Cichlids is very flexible and can stretch to accomidate foods a quarter their own body size and even up to half with relative ease, once the food is in the mouth it is quickly reduced to a pulp by the pharnegal teeth set back in the throat which act like a set of mill stones to grind the food down before it reaches the stomach.

Average sized kribs can easily eat average size guppies and tetras.

OMG, then that means all the guppies are in danger. The neon's have Neon Tetra Disease, will this infect the Kribs if they eat them? The guppy was full grown around 5cm without tail and the Krib's are full grown too.

 

[Jozlyn]

maybe not - but if they kill it and then strip it you may eventually find some bits - but i've seen a Krib take out a Glass Catfish and then only reason I knew he'd eaten it was cos the Krib was swimming round for a few hours with its tail sticking out its mouth.
You've got a pair of Kribs as well - are they a breeding pair - cos if they are then everything is in danger of being done over

Yes, I bought them specifically as a breeding pair. Their colours are magnificent and I've spotted both the male and femal shimmying at each other!

 

[Jozlyn]

OMG I've been so stupid

I really thought I was doing ok. Only one website that I looked at mentioned guppy snacks

 

[CFC]

Damn it, I researched these guys really well, I thought, it wasn't till I was trying to find info on breeding after I got them that I found that they like to eat guppies.

The only other tank I can move them too is the "girls" tank, I have one female guppy in there, if I move 4 boys in, she'll be dead too. Maybe if I just move my favourite it'll be okay.

Edit > Ohh and to the Mod' who moved this post, I put it in TFC for a reason, more people go in there and you get answers faster!

We have dedicated sections for a reason, not so that people can decide to post wherever they please because they feel it might get more traffic. Putting posts in the right areas means that the right people see the post so you get the best answers, one good answer is worth 100 useless ones. It also makes it easier for people to find the information they want when using the search function, if you want to research kribs you localise your search to the African Cichlids section, if this post was in Tropical Chat then it wouldnt come up on the search and the information within it would be lost to the searcher.

maybe not - but if they kill it and then strip it you may eventually find some bits - but i've seen a Krib take out a Glass Catfish and then only reason I knew he'd eaten it was cos the Krib was swimming round for a few hours with its tail sticking out its mouth.
You've got a pair of Kribs as well - are they a breeding pair - cos if they are then everything is in danger of being done over

Yes, I bought them specifically as a breeding pair. Their colours are magnificent and I've spotted both the male and femal shimmying at each other!

If you have a breeding pair of kribs in a community tank then pretty soon it will be a kribensis species tank, once they have eggs or fry in their cave that male is going to unleash hell on your tank.

 

[Jozlyn]

But all of my research told me that they would be ok. So long as there were dither fish i.e. Neons for them to take their agression out on.

So if they eat the Neon's are they going to get sick? Research on this tells me that they wont, but now I'm not ready to trust my research.

CFC your advice is well appreciated. I really would appreciate some more. I have an Angel, 1 Dwarf Neon Gourami (with Dwarf Neon Gourami Iridovirus) 2 female mollies, 8 (sick) Neon's, 2 BN Catfish and 4 Guppies in the tank with them, apart form the Neon's and guppies is anyone else in danger?

CFC I understand your position on moving posts and it's perfectly understandable, but I have posted in specific sections and simply not got any response at all, even with a "Bump", that was why I posted in the TFC in the first place, and it worked you've responded! I have no problem with the Mod's moving posts at all, I'm just trying, like everyone else to get an answer. You're absolutely right when you say "one good answer is worth 100 useless ones" but sometimes it's hard even to get one answer when you post in the less "popular" sections.

 

[jimw13uk]

ok - so you have a pair of Breeding Kribs that sound liek they are getting "fresh" with each other at the mo

EVERYTHING in your tank is possibly in for a beating - My breeding Kribs took on my 7"severum , a 5" Firemouth and a 12" plec.
they will attack antyhing if it gets anywhere near their breeding cave

 

[Jozlyn]

And I was worried about the BN Catfish eating their eggs! Research isn't worth diddly squat

 

[jimw13uk]

as they are a breeding pair have you got another tank ready cos once the fry are about you may need to move them out of the main tank due to the male Krib getting frisky again , which can cause problems if the fry are still around and the female isnt interested in his advances.

 

[Jozlyn]

I have a 22lt that I plan to use for new fry. I had planned to move the female and fry to this tank when they were free swimming. To stop any further breeding and aggression, unfortunately the filter for this is still cycling, I figured that I had a couple of weeks, enough time to cycle the new tank.

But even tho my research told me otherwise, it looks like I'm going to have to move the pair of them before they kill everyone. God, I could just scream, I thought I'd reasearched them well and that I had everything in place. Even the pinned topic in here doesn't say that they're that aggressive that they're going to kill everyone else in the tank.

I've just moved my favourite male guppy into the female/fry grown out/birth tank. He's shaking like a leaf in a breeze, he's not too happy.

 

[jimw13uk]

Kribs do get very aggressive when they are protecting their breeding cave and Fry. They dont go looking for trouble they are just happy to take anything on (regardless of size) if it comes into their territory.
I would use some of your water at water change time and take it from your main tank into your cycling tank and can you get some of the medium out of your established tank filter and put it into your smaller tank filter - that will really kick start the cycle and you should be good to go quite quickly