Kribensis Breeding Behavoir...

[A creature void of form]

Hello,

3 weeks ago, I established a 15G tank with 8 Tiger Barbs, 2 Oto's and 2 Kribensis Cichlids - 1 male and 1 female that had paired off nicely in my LFS and were displaying to each other. The tank was peaceful.

2 weeks ago, the Kribensis bred, and I had approximately 60 tiny fry. Almost immediately the Male Kribesis became very aggressive to all fish (except the Oto's), including the female Kribensis. The Tiger Barbs faired well, as they are very agile and avoided the lunges from the male, but the female was pursued relentlessly. She lost a lot of colour after 2 days of this and her tail was frayed. As I don't have another tank, I bought a quarantine box and put the female in there for a few days to recover. The female stayed there for 2 more days, while the male exhibited the same aggresive behaviour. The fry were fine. I added a lot more plants and caves, and let the female free. She pretty much just hid behind the filter, as the male hadn't changed.

1 week ago, the fry were gone. I imagine the Krib's devoured them, as I've heard this can happen with their first offspring. But here's the odd thing - the Male is now pale, morose and placid, while the female has regained her colour and is displaying to him again. Just a few hours after being intenesely bullied. The tank is again in a state of peace.

So! Is this process likely to repeat again and again, or will the Krib parents learn to be better...er...parents?

 

[celaeno]

either the male krib ate all of the fry, or more likely, they had help from the tiger barbs. if this is their first spawn, i wouldn't have expected them to be very good parents. they'll improve with each spawn. however, it is recommended to remove the male after a spawn, as males are known to sometimes eat the fry.

also, your tank is way too small for the number of fish you have to be living in there long-term. i suggest an upgrade to at least a 30g. also, the krib fry need space to grow, ie a grow out tank.

 

[Biulu]

This is quite common and I have similar experiences. To keep peace in my tank, and avoid the fry being eaten I removed the fry to an outgrow tank once they are free swimming without the parents. They do fine on their own.

 

[chic_at_40ft]

I was "just looking" at a local pet store when I wandered (pull of gravity - WAS NOT GOING TO BUY ANY NEW FISH) into the fish section. This particular store doesn't have a great selection so I felt I (and my pocket book) were relatively safe.

I witnessed something so tender and unexpected, two stunningly beautiful Kribensis who were doing their little "dance of love" where they swim side by side and quivver and then the "Ying Yang" movement. There was no question that these two were in love and the thought of someone buying one but not the other had my credit card falling out of my wallet.

I have been told that I am rather a nut when it comes to the fish, I name them, all of them. My first pair of Kribensis are Romeo and Juliet.

This was a new breed to me but reminded me of the Kilifish which I have been looking for for months now without luck.

I put them in my 55gal which is in my office and find that watching them brings me great joy, imagine 2 humans that much in love and the PDA! As a human I'm rather confident that if in public I was involved in PDA like Romeo and Juliet I'd be behind bars!

They quickly sorted out their turf, a fake rock with a pocket in it and underneath the rock there is a hole which is where I expect Juliette went to lay her eggs as suddenly she disappeared and I was panicked that she had become dinner for one of my other fish. The pet store where I purchased the love birds did not have them listed as cichlids, I was very surprised to find this site today and learn that information!

Their rock became covered with eggs and I tried desperately to keep the other fish in the tank from getting at them but knew that once they hatched I'd have to come up with some other solution to protect them and purchased a breeder pouch.

I then went out and purchased another tank thinking I'd give Romeo and Juliet their own home but we were unable to catch them, fast little buggars!

I recently went to another store, higher quality fish but much more expensive but again....just browsing. To my surprise they had a fresh stock of Kribensis and I purchased a male and a female. Named them Jada and Jordan based on the teenager who told me which was the male and which was the female.

Through this blog I realize the kid didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about. Now Jordan is the girl and Jada is the male, unfortunately it's too late to change their names but I think they'll handle the gender confusion quite nicely.

I thought (while I still believed Jordan was the male) that if I brought another male into the tank he'd tone done the highly aggressive behaviour of Jordan so while thinking I was buying another male I now find out that I've two females and one male. Fortunately Jada (albino Kribensis) seems to have taken a shine to Jadette or is it the other way around? They are cornered far from Jordan who is under the cave like rock formation and who rarely leaves her safety spot unless it's an opportunity to beat up the two other fish.

My plan is to wait for eggs to show up and then take whatever location they have chosen for breeding and put it into the breeder basket in an attempt to keep them from being Caviar for Jordan (or anyone else for that matter).

I figure I've a few weeks before any serious romance builds as I'm about to go for my first dive down in the Florida keys since a 200lb computer fell on me. I'm just hoping I'm back home before we have eggs as I have become enthralled with the breed and am seriously considering breeding them for the stores around my home.

Hubby is going to be thrilled with the introduction of yet another tank in the house but hey......he didn't really need to keep his underwear in the bedroom, I'll just wait for him to leave and move that cabinet to another room and replace it with the new tank.

I have learned a lot from all of the postings and am glad to have found this site. Hopefully I'll have enough room for a large colony.

Cheers,

chic_at_40ft