Kribensis

Matt The Knife · Feb 5, 2007

Hi
This morning I noticed about 25/30 really really small fish swimming around at the bottom of the tank. I noticed over the past week that both the male and female had been guarding a small cave I have in my tank but didnt think anything of it until i noticed the fry this morning. basically I dont really have a big tank and its already full. Has anyone got any tips on where I go from here? will they all survive and if so when can I start move them out the tank?

This is the first time any of my fish have had babies, so this is a new experience for me.

kribensis12 · Feb 5, 2007

The parents will take care of the babies and after about 2 weeks get a 10 gallon tank and put them in there and then give them a month and sell them to the lfs.

fishwatcher · Feb 5, 2007

Congrats! They are such cuties!!!
As for my experience, most will survive, depending on what kinds of other fish you have in there. Out of my first batch 20-28 are still doing well (hard to count when they're swimming around everywhere!). About 6 weeks after the first batch is born, expect them to be at it again. I now have another group of babies (these still swimming with their parents) to deal with. I have luckily found a lfs that will take the larger babies in for some credit now, and then the others once they get about an inch long. I am also taking the male back and am getting another female. That way I know we won't have to work at getting rid of fry again. I do love those babies though! So cool to watch them all!
Once they start swimming away from the parents you can remove them, but be careful as I've heard that taking them away too soon can cause the male to start wanting to mate again before the female is ready and it can get ugly.
If you can't house/get rid of the babies, you may want to consider doing what I'm doing, that way you can enjoy your fish without so much worry. There really is no way to make them not mate. They're like slick, wet bunny rabbits! :hyper:

Hope this helps!

guppy_man · Feb 5, 2007

The male and female will get very very protective over the fry, so expect some chasing and nipping from the kribs, to their tankmates.
Both male and female may even chase eachother, because male of female may want to take care of their fry on their own without the partner around, If you have another tank spare, and you want to keep the fry, id suggest sepparating the male so that they won't attack eachother.
if you decide to leave the pair together with the fry, DO NOT! take the fry away from the kribs too early, because if you do this, the male may want to breed again, when the female is not ready, this could end up with a dead female :sad: