Female Kribensis!

[Alia]

Wel, I bought a female krib -- I hope it's a female! It is actually not fully adult yet and they are pretty plain as juveniles, but I know there were males and females together in the tank because the (more mature) males were in full breeding color and the two bigger ones were behaving very territorially.

The smaller kribs looked terrified, clinging to the sides of the tank. I told the guy they should break them up into separate tanks so they wouldn't be so terrorized. He just smiled. Humor the customers. Luckily, there weren't many and they were cheap ($2.45 -- I paid $8.00 for my male at another store! Should've waited, I guess! ) so I'm sure they won't last long.

I looked her over pretty good before I let her out of the bag, and I'm pretty sure it's a she. She's cowering in a sideways pot right now in my ten gallon. It's probably better the male doesn't get to see her just yet, since she's still jailbait and all. Now I really have to get the cabinet that I'm going to put my new tank on so I can start setting it up.

OMG, they had the most adorable puffers, there, too. I think they were the spotted kind, but I have to go back and take another look. I am definitely going to have to check into a species tank of those once I get my krib itch scratched. Pufferpack is such a treasure trove of puffer-knowledge, we can't let that go to waste!

They had a kuhli loach, too, so of course that got me thinking about the snail plague that I am starting to have again (those @#*% things are so resiliant, aren't they?). I may have to go back for that loach. New fishies, new fishies . . .

 

[Pufferpack]

....more fishies, need more tanks, got more tanks, need more fish, got more fishies, need more tanks, more fish, more tanks, more fish, more, more, more..... ...Welcome to the wonderful world of MTS

...if the Puffers are Green spotted they are probably BW ...had to put something constructive in my post

 

[Jamnog]

im not shure on this but can you tell some kribs by the shape of thir fins as well as the colour. see if you can spot any differences in the fins i am probably wrong but it doesnt hurt to have a look.

edit : they will hide when introduced to a new tank it takes a few days to get used to surroundings and water chem.

 

[Pufferpack]

Jamnog is correct, the males dorsal fin is more pointed and flows farther back towards the tail than the females. If you want to see the colors brighten up feed them a piece of cucumber or zucchini, ours love it and when they are happy their colors are more vibrant


Jamnog ... why is the crab in your Avitar hiding under a pile of Cow Pies?

 

[Jamnog]

those arent cow pies those are rocks lol anyways i guess they do look like cow pies if you want to be shure of the sex of the fish it might be best to wait as its much easyer to tell by the comour tho i have three and i still cant tell mine.

 

[Alia]

ROTFLMAO, Puffer! More fishies, more tanks . . . Family getting very worried.

Thanks, guys! I was looking for the shorter, less pointed dorsal fin and the more rounded tail, but the guy at the lfs told the guy that was waiting on me just to get me one that didn't have the spot on the dorsal fin (my male has this, but I had never heard it was universal -- maybe only males can have it, but not all do??)

Anyway, I went to a few sites when I came home and found a couple that mentioned the "egg" spot. I'm still not absolutely certain it's a she, but time will tell. If it turns out it isn't, I will make them get me one.

It's so funny, you read these things that say it is easy to sex this fish, just look for such and such and so and so, and there you are scratching your head, especially when they are young.

And with kribs, because of the pH thing, the whole group can be all one sex -- but not when they are in breeding color, right? When I bought my male, there wasn't a pink belly in the whole tank, not one, and there were a lot of fish. This was different -- only maybe seven fish? But the two biggest had the spot and the bright colors. So there you go.

I have put zucchini in my tank twice and the fish unanimously avoided it. But I was at PetSmart one day and I noticed they had put slices (just like I do) in many of the tanks and the fish were tearing it up. Are my fish retarded? What am I doing wrong?

As for the Puffers, not ready for them yet (probably all sold already, anyway), but I will definitely consult you Pufferpack, before I embark on that adventure. I read that the spotted were BW but could be kept in FW as juveniles, and don't the fish stores love that? I'm ok with doing a BW tank if those are the right fish for me, but we can leave all that for another day.

 

[Jamnog]

now im confused you mean the grvid spot?i would have thaught that only as female could have one of those but im no expert and i thaught they got them when they where pregnant or something oh well perhaps your male is female or perhaps ... i dont know

 

[Pufferpack]

I have put zucchini in my tank twice and the fish unanimously avoided it. But I was at PetSmart one day and I noticed they had put slices (just like I do) in many of the tanks and the fish were tearing it up. Are my fish retarded?

...they just don't recognise it as food yet, if they don't twig to it soon try rubbing some of their regular food into the slice, once they take a bite they will love it

now im confused you mean the grvid spot?i would have thaught that only as female could have one of those but im no expert and i thaught they got them when they where pregnant or something oh well perhaps your male is female or perhaps ... i dont know

Quite a few cichlids show small egg shaped spots on their bottom fin, which is one way (not too reliable I understand) of telling male from female...females 0 or 1 spot, males 2 or more, but I didn't think the Kribs showed egg spots.

 

[Alia]

you mean the grvid spot?

Quite a few cichlids show small egg shaped spots on their bottom fin, which is one way (not too reliable I understand) of telling male from female...females 0 or 1 spot, males 2 or more, but I didn't think the Kribs showed egg spots.

I'm sorry, I'm not deliberately being confusing. Perhaps egg spot is not the right description. It looks like one, but it is on the dorsal fin, not the anal fin, and the two fish in the tank that looked most like mine had it (as does mine). Here is a link to my fish's photo so you can see the spot I'm talking about.

My male krib

...they just don't recognise it as food yet, if they don't twig to it soon try rubbing some of their regular food into the slice, once they take a bite they will love it

Maybe it's just too darned big? They don't seem to like big food of any kind. I tried pinching off tiny bits of spinach and they seemed to give that more of a shot -- though they still looked pretty skeptical)