Help! Female Krib Is Attacking The Male!

[CASIN0]

Hi guys
 
I was scouting around the internet and found this forum and thought I would see if you can help me.
 
I bought a male and female krib a couple of days ago. I built a little cave using a cermaic flower pot and covered it will small pieces of slate ( the slate was put in to please my eye rather then the fish).
 
The female krib has a pink belly, so I beleive she is ready to spawn. The only issue is that she chases the male off whenever he gets close to the bottom of the tank. She has taken small bits out of his tail already. He is looking pale, most likely from stress.
 
The female sits in my make-shift cave, while the male is forced to hide from her. They are both roughly the same size. The male is very slightly bigger.
 
my tank contains a variety of community fish, barbs, neons other tetras etc and is 60 lires in size.
 
Will my kribs fall in love or is the female going to execute her male suitor?
 
I also heard that they make a bond? Could my female have made a bond with another fish in the shop and now will not accept another male?
 
Help!?

 

[Chad]

Kribs are commonly aggressive at mating time.
 
Just to check...are you sure they are a pair and not two of the same sex? Just have to check to be sure.
 
I suggest, if you can, add something tall, like plants, fake or real, for the male to hide behind.
 
The female can be quite aggressive. I've kept kribs and never had the female kill the male even when she roughs him up. I find a hiding place like mentioned above worked for my kribs.

 

[CASIN0]

Well I'm pretty sure they are male and female, due to the female having a larger and pink in colour belly. The male is just grey. The guy in the shop assured me they were male and female (Not that I always beleive them) Also the dorsal fins are different. Having browsed the internet for sexing the fish I'm about 80% sure I have a male and female.

 

[Chad]

Okay, just checking as sometimes it can be a little difficult. For example the below is a male.

http/www.aboutfishonline.com/articles/kribensis.html

 

[CASIN0]

I wish mine was that pretty. Do they devolep more colours with age?

 

[Chad]

They should color up during mating.

 

[CASIN0]

Picture of the alleged male. Not a very good pic but hopefully you can sex him from that.

and the alleged female

 

[Lunar Jetman]

How big is your tank? Females will be smaller with a rounded belly that turns more reddy/pink at breeding time.

The photo in my signature is a pair. Female at the top and male at the bottom.

 

[CASIN0]

Its 60 litres.

 

[TallTree01]

The bare minimum is 20 gallons for Kribs. 30 gallons is preferred.

 

[Chad]

From your picture they are definitely a male female pair with the male being the one in the upper part of the photo. The tail gives it away.
 
TallTree is right, tank size is going to matter here. They are in a tank half as big as it should be for their behavior. Until you are able to upgrade (which obviously I recommend) my suggestion about dividing an area with tall plants or wood is your best bet. He needs a place to run to that will block him from her view.

 

[CASIN0]

Thanks for the help. I have just turned a piece of bogwood over which has confused her and allowed him to go to the bottom to sift through the gravel. Hopefully changing her territory will help.

 

[Chad]

Yes that should for a little while but I do feel more will be needed long term. They are wonderful fish, do breed in the aquarium, and provide a great show piece for the owner. Very worth keeping. I loved my kribs. I had never seen them before and was wandering the tanks at one of our larger shops when I saw a pair they had gotten in on trade. They were selling them for $5 each which was a great deal on them. A bit of research and then I picked them up!

 

[CASIN0]

Sounds the same as me. I saw then the other day and had never seen them before. Do you think they will ever get on? Is this normal behaviour?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Whether they will ever get on is a lottery, sometimes these things work out and other time "world war three" breaks out! Sometimes if you definitely want a pair of Kribs, it pays to watch the store tank over a few days/weeks, looking out for two Kribs forcing all the other Kribs/tankmates into one corner or side of the tank. It is quit common to see the submissive Kribs unusually hanging out in a top corner of the tank.
 
If you have not already, give each Krib a cave in opposite diagonal corners, with your bogwood and any other plants/ornaments making a line-of-sight boundary across the other other diagonal to a greater extent, out of sight is often out of mind.
 
But as said already, a typical ~60cm long tank really needs upgrading ASAP, a minimum of a 90x030x30cm tank would be far better (even longer if you intend to house the Kribs with tankmates that will not take much punishment if/when the Kribs breed).