Kribensis Pair - Not A Pair!

[mrlewis1978]

Hi guys

I recently added a pair of kribensis to my community tank. They are quite young fish as fairly small. The problem is they dont seem to get on at all, let alone form a pair. Well actually one doesnt like the other one. There are no problems with any of the other fish in the tank, it is just the one kribensis does not seem to like the other kribensis. The one showing signs of aggression is the more colourful, while the duller fish seems to hide out the other ones way. If they other cross paths the more colourful fish chases the other at high speeds.

I know they are new to the tank (one week) so they will need to settle, but I havent noticed the one fish eat, even though ive tried feeding seperatley.

Anyone have any similar experiences or suggestions what to do?

Cheers

 

[lock77]

My tank was like a war zone for about a month after i got my 2, it got to the point where they were proper going at each other. I thought I had bought 2 males by mistake til i looked at some vids online. They eventually settled down and are now inseparable, they only problem now is they are tearing up my sand to make what i believe are nests.

You could turn any tank lights off during feeding to give the shy 1 a chance!

 

[mrlewis1978]

Thanks for your help. I was a little worried they may both be the same sex, but one is definately a lot more purple than the other. (not sure if male or female as I have read a lot of conflicting descriptions?!). Looks like they should be okay in a few weeks time, im in the process of building a slate cave so hopefully this will help too.

 

[parker313]

Female kribs get a very distinct purple spot on their belly. Also, the dorsal and anal fin of the male are significantly longer and pointier, while the females' are rounder and shorter. What you are describing sounds a lot like how my kribs acted and they paired and had fry without my doing anything to encourage or foster it. One of my ceramic tank decorations had a hole on the back and they used that as a cave.

 

[tmh0921]

This is fairly normal, mine beat each other up for about two weeks then paired off and have since spawned several times and are inseparable.

 

[mrlewis1978]

This is fairly normal, mine beat each other up for about two weeks then paired off and have since spawned several times and are inseparable.

Thanks everyone - I think its just going to be a waiting game for the next few weeks.

 

[peterclarke666]

This is fairly normal, mine beat each other up for about two weeks then paired off and have since spawned several times and are inseparable.

Thanks everyone - I think its just going to be a waiting game for the next few weeks.

hiya pal yeh cos there fairly young this will happen as the female wont wont to breed but the male will and will bully her into it .... im currently breeding 8 different stains of wild type pelvicachromis (kribensis) cos they are a pair bonding cichlid they need to develop a bond with each other before they settle down ...... one thing thats good to try is either seperate the male from the tank and let the female establish the tank as her territory or place a small mirror in the tank where the bully hangs around and this will distract him thinking theres another male in his tank

hope this helps