Kribs Have Gone Shy

[ColR1948]

I have a breeding pair of Kribs, they were originally in a community tank.
They had fry and I managed to save 8 and put them in a small tank on their own, then I moved the breeding pair in to another small tank along with their coconut shell which has around 30+ eggs stuck in the roof.
Now they are in a tank by themselves with no other fish to worry about they hardly come out of the shell, the male is in there with the female most of the day.
I have kept the lights out and they start to come out when it is going dark, as soon I turn on the room lights they dart back in to the shell again.
I know they need time to settle but they have been in there now for 5 days, when will they get their confidence back to come out and swim freely, will it be if and when the new fry hatch?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm afraid to say the shy behaviour is typical of dwarf cichlids that have no reassuring tankmate "dithers" in the upper water to make them feel it is safe to come out and be seen.

I'm a fan of Steatocranus spp. cichlids, found in waters close to your Kribs, but very different in terms of water movement (my Steatocranus love turbulent waters as found in the massive Zaire/Congo River). My young duo of tinanti are seen all day long when in a community, but a couple of times this year I have had to seperate them into their own tank, for instance when they found nipping poor Hoplo Catfish fins/barbels a really fun game. Just like my new bonded pair of Steatocranus casuarius (offspring of my original "mum" and "dad") who had at least 3 fry last Friday and so had to be isolated for the safety of tankmates, both these cichlid duos became very secretive fish.

Kribs are a little less destructive with tankmates when they have fry compared to my Steatocranus, who have killed tankmates in two previous spawns in community tanks (including African Butterfly Fish; Golden Wonder Killifish; Pearl Danios; Humphead Glassfish), but to have tankmates that have a chance of surviving while being ditherfish, there are some important guidelines...

The tank should be a good size, at least 3- but ideally 4-foot, giving the dithers a chance to find somewhere to hang out without being attacked/killed
The tankmates should not be anything that may innocently get within ~15cm of the fry nursey bouncing along the tank floor with the parents, so forget floor dwellers like Corydoras and lower water schools such as the Rummynose Tetra complex.
Tankmates should be non-threatening to the fry but also of a good size, similar to the size of the male Krib, so that they should be able to soak up at attack or two without dying. Something that stays in the upper water is ideal, such as African Red Eye Tetra, but these tetra do need some room in a 4-foot tank. In a well designed hardscape with the Krib breeding cave in one corner, there is no reason why Yellow Congo Tetra (Alestopetersius caudalis) could not work in at least a 3-foot tank, but you must ensure there are at least 2 females per male of these to reduce the odds of infamous jousting flank injuries (I lost 9 of my 12 males two years ago, no amount of water changes with anti-bacterial meds was able to save fish covered in these horrendous flank wounds).

 

[ColR1948]

Hmm, everything you say fits in the the behavior before I moved them, they were out all the time, the male standing guard and chasing anything that came near, then the female too would chase away other fish, I had them with Corys, Tetra and 2 other smaller Kribs that got chased away.

Feeling sorry for them doing all that chasing I decided to put them on their own so it seems it was a slight mistake. I could at a pinch change a coldwater tank over to a tropical and move the Danios I have in there to another coldwater tank but would the move stress them out after not long moving them in to the tank they are in now.
The Danio tank is 3 meters long so could be better, I have some Red Eye Tetra and/or Black Phantom Tetra I could put in as dithers but they have got a bit large now as I've had them a while.

 

[ColR1948]

Taken the above advice, I moved the Kribs in to a 90 Litre tank, I have 5 x Danios as the dither fish.

I took their coconut shell with them but I noticed there was no eggs stuck to the inside roof, they were there when I first moved it from the community in to the small 24 Litre.
I treble checked the small tank after I moved them for any signs of fry but there wasn't any, could they have eaten the eggs after the first move, do they do that sort of thing?

Any way now they are in the bigger tank, I watched them exploring all the nooks and crannies, I left the lights off to let them settle in.

The 90 Litre is planted with lots of little hiding places plus a proper cave and their coconut shell so I'll see where they decide to set up home. I also noticed they did explore and not like last time they just made a quick dash for the shell and stayed there, so I think as suggested the dither fish was the key to their shyness.

 

[Tizer]

black neons make great dithers for kribs