Help With Krib Fry

[hensonc4098]

Hey guys!

We have a pair of Kribensis who have a rock cave in a fairly small but well stocked community aquarium. We had noticed that they were very territorial about their cave and wouldn't let any other fish near and wondered if they had bred however, literally 5 minutes ago, I looked and there was the male Krib with about 40 fry underneath him!
They look very young - they are only about 3mm in total length however this is my first Krib breeding and I am unsure what to do.
Currently the male and female are being extremely protective of their young, chasing off our silver dollars, tetras and anything else that will come in reach of them. We have a small plastic floating breeding trap thing which is about 12.5cm wide by 7.5cm high by 7cm deep. Should we try to net the fry and put them in here? Our only concern is that we hurt them in the mesh of the net as they are so small.
Also, we have a sheet of perspex which we could use to separate the tank with but this would not leave much room for our other fish
My dad says we could get a small plastic tank and heater to put them + the adults in if that would be better but we wouldn't be able to get that until tomorrow. Our silver dollars are driving them mad by stirring up the tank and blowing the fry about as they are prone to.

AHHHHH!!!!!

Stupid silver dollars! Idiot fish - never get any!

Also - should we feed them? We have livebearer liquifry but none of the egg-layer stuff. They seem to be feeding off if the bottom just now but I don't know if that's what they're doind or not as I would need a microscope to actually see for certain!

All help appretiated!

Claire

 

[wolfwolf]

Kribs are excellent and protective parents. There is no need to move the fry to another tank. That being said I am not there to see how badly the silver dollars are bothering them.

I fed mine baby brine shrimp and a powedered fry food. Put the food in a straw and gently blow it down to the fry. This will prevent other fish from snagging all of the food.

Congrats and good luck.

 

[hensonc4098]

Got the camera out - you can hardly see them they're so small!
Oh well

Thanks for the advice wolfwolf

They seem ok now. The silver dollars have settled down quite a bit. The only thing is that the female (? I don't know if it is or not lol ) seems to be trying to cough something up but can't - she half gets it out but it's like it's stuck or something because she sucks it in again. It's wierd.

Also, I think it was the male looked like he ate one of them I don't know if he did because he just sort of pecked at something underneath him which is all fry but I have only seen him doing it the once.

Oh well Happy holidays to me!

Claire

 

[wolfwolf]

The male probably did not eat one. The parents will collect the fry in their mouth for transport.

 

[kribensis12]

Nice!!!!!!!! They are great parents. Silver Dollars are great fish, just no with Kribensis. How big is your tank? Silver Dollars need a tank over 55 gallons( 300 L). Plus, they need to be in groups. They get HUGE. Congrats on the fry!

 

[hensonc4098]

Thanks again wolfwolf.

Thanks for your reply too, kribensis12. Our tank is only 50L with 3 silver dollars in that we have had for ages. I recently found on this website that they are supposed to get huge, but haven't due to the size of our tank. As it is my dads tank (I am 15), I tried talking to him about it but he says that they've been in there so long already they'll be fine, which I don't really agree with but there you go. Nothing I can do about it I know they REALLY shouldn't be in there but I can't persuade him that.

Just a quick (more ) couple of questions to put to you guys: The kribs are being great parents as predicted by you guys but they are so protective of their young that none of the other fish are getting much peace while they are out. They are a bit better today than they were yesterday though. Will this die down a bit so that they are protecive, but not quite chasing other fish constantly around the tank?
Also, do I need to feed them? They seem to be constantly feeding off of the bottom while they are out. If I do need to feed them, can I feed them livebearer liquifry as that is the one that I have at the moment from a platy breeding. If not I can get some either today or tomorrow.
Last one! In the top picture up ^ there ^ somewhere, is that the male or the female? I know it's not a very good pic but I think it's male and my dad thinks it's female. (It's my first pair of Kribs so I've got newbie-itus )

Thanks for all your help so far!

Claire

 

[skippy_49nz]

i find these kribs to be buggers when breeding, or really even just when mature, for harrassing other fish. I tend to keep just one pair together in a 60L tank if they are going to breed because they get aggressive. I find the fry basically take care of themselves for the most part. Some might feed them special fry foods, but I can't be bothered with that. They seem to grow painfully slowly, especially compared to the likes of jewels or convicts. The sure fire way to tell males from females is the shape of the tail. Females are kind of rounded and the males are diamond shaped. The body of the male will also be longer and the female will be more rounded.

 

[kribensis12]

The top pic is a female. The one on your avatar is a male. I'm 15 as well, so your not alone! I would tell him that they are stressing out your other fish. I would feed the fry whatever you have.

 

[hensonc4098]

Thanks for all your help guys (and girls )
ATM they seem ok with the other fish. They are staying towards the back of the tank just now and the other fish are just staying out of their way. Then late evening last night they moved them all back into their cave for the night. I will moniter them though and if they start being aggressive again, I will look at getting a cheap plastic tank and heater to put them in meantime.
Oh and thanks for the gender ID skippy_49nz and kribensis12. My dad was right! Damn!

Thank you anyway I will keep you guys up to date with any major happenings.

Claire

 

[kribensis12]

lol, no prob!

 

[hensonc4098]

Ok, back again

We've decided to move the Kirbs into a new tank of their own so hopefully they will breed more successfully than the above mentioned They went from about 100 fry to TODAY about 15 - each day their number is dwindling lol. I have persuaded my dad to let me get a rectangular tank 2 or 3 feet to put the Kribs in permanently so they have more peace however getting one in my area is proving difficult I've seen one on eBay that looks good though so I will show him it tonight and see what he says.

Anyway. Just wondering when we have them in the tank, bearing in mind that (hopefully ) there will be fry in there, what CUC should we have? ATM in our community tank we have a small plec, 2 albino corys and a loach who seem to do a good job but the loach especially tries to eat the remaining babies I was wondering about ottos or shrimp - something a bit different - but I'm not sure about compatability etc. with them.

Thoughts?

 

[kribensis12]

Honestly, a bristlenosed pleco is your best bet. Everything else you mentioned would get tortured.

 

[hensonc4098]

Ta kribensis12, will look into it.

Ummm... just looked though and it looks like mums just had a snack or something as I can't see any fry Oh well, all the more reason to get another tank for them to breed them properly.

Anyone have any 30-40L tanks for sale? I can't find one in my area second hand anywhere. Please let me know if you do

Claire

 

[kribensis12]

They may eat their fry the first couple times.

 

[gzylo]

I knew my couple breed and now there is around 50 - 70 free swimming tiny kribs in my community - they are guarded by parents - this is theirs 1st night out of coconut shell so tomorrow I might expect a loss in numbers


will keep u posted and ill try to get some pics




ps. if you move fry with parents to different tank now they probably will get eaten by parents - i think best bet is to move just fry at the moment 0 but i`m not an expert



Thanks
Bart