Male Kribensis Attacking New Fish

[Carp4U]

I bought 6 cardinal tetras yesterday, my male krib who is the only krib in the tank would not leave them alone at all!!
He was nipping them, chasing them and didn't stop so i netted him and put him in a little plastic tank which is floating around in my tank if you know what i mean so he is still at same temp. I don't wana keep him in their too long, but don't want him to kill my new cardinals. After i while i released him and he was doing it again, the cardinals, most of which are quite small, were all separated, hiding and very stressed. So i caught him AGAIN (it took ages) and put him back in. He is ok in there and the cardinals are much more settled in this morning and all ok and shoaling together. How can i calm him down? Should i let him out or keep him in?

Answers pleasee!

 

[Repeat]

Do you by any chance have another tank? My jewels were beating on some new fish, but i had another tank to put them in so my solution was easy.

 

[kribensis12]

Of course he attacked them. They are small, bite sized, and they sswam in his territory. What size tank is it? Also, if you can, move him into another tank.

 

[Carp4U]

15 gallon
yeah but its coldwater and had goldfish in so no
my dad has a 23 gallon tropical but that has the other male krib which i had who attacked the krib i have now so thats an obvious no go!

 

[kribensis12]

Yeah. A coldwater tank for a Krib is a no-no. I would either buy him a sperate tank with a heater, or buy a heater for your tank, or give him away. Also, goldfish in a 15 g? Yeah, you might want to get them something along the lines of a 55g ( what kind of goldfish?). Also, tetra's dont like cold water either.

 

[Carp4U]

no, my tank is 15 gallon, my goldfish are in a 9 gallon

 

[kribensis12]

Im confused. But is the 15 g a coldwater aswell? I would think about rehomeing the goldfish.

 

[kim03333]

when i first got my tank i got 2 kribs and they were the only fish in it for a week or so, then i added some serpae tetras, one of the kribs didn't care much, but the other would pick on the tetras so much all 5 of them were kind of huddled in a corner and didn't really move much, everytime they did they got bullied. i was looking into alternative accomodation for them but after a few days they were more settled and they swam about more with the krib leaving them alone more. afew days later they were all getting along fine. about a month later, a firemouth cichlid is put in the tank. he's bigger than the krib, but this didn't stop her bullying him as she did the tetras. he's stay in the corner looking miserable. but again, it didn't take long to settle in and now they all get along fine.

you will probably find the same thing will happen for you. the krib is just cross cos he's got to share his home. depending on how aggressive the krib is i would give it a few more days and see if things improve

 

[Carp4U]

when i first got my tank i got 2 kribs and they were the only fish in it for a week or so, then i added some serpae tetras, one of the kribs didn't care much, but the other would pick on the tetras so much all 5 of them were kind of huddled in a corner and didn't really move much, everytime they did they got bullied. i was looking into alternative accomodation for them but after a few days they were more settled and they swam about more with the krib leaving them alone more. afew days later they were all getting along fine. about a month later, a firemouth cichlid is put in the tank. he's bigger than the krib, but this didn't stop her bullying him as she did the tetras. he's stay in the corner looking miserable. but again, it didn't take long to settle in and now they all get along fine.

you will probably find the same thing will happen for you. the krib is just cross cos he's got to share his home. depending on how aggressive the krib is i would give it a few more days and see if things improve

ok, well just to put you right, i released my krib last night, i thought that he would of calmed down and all would settle in. This morning, i saw 6, when the light came on at 10am and i got home at 4, only 2 of my cardinals were visible, one was floating, eaten in half, 3 are still missing presumed eaten, the krib is now goin back to shop!

Im confused. But is the 15 g a coldwater aswell? I would think about rehomeing the goldfish.

right then well look:

tropical with krib and tetras, 15 gallon
coldwater, with two goldfish, 9 gallon.

 

[kribensis12]

Told ya, he will kill them. To small. Dont return him, just make smarter choices in stocking.

 

[kim03333]

sorry to hear your fish got eaten. i didn't mean to offer you bad advice by suggesting that you leave them in the tank together, just wanted to let you know what happened in my experience. i honestly thought they'd be ok. i guess cardinals are much smaller than serpaes, which is why mine were ok. well anyway, i do appologise to you. hopefully you will got your stocking sorted soon