P. Kribensis "Moliwe"

[GaryE]

My favourite Pelvicachromis is kribensis, and Moliwe is my favourite location because of the colours the female shows. Next I'd put drachenfelsi Woure, and then P kribensis Lobe yellow. I liked subocellatus, both Moanda and Matadi, but they are heavier bodied than the Cameroon fish.

I found the Muyuka going around very similar to one of the Moliwe types, and there was a rumour they were transplants, after the original Muyuka had been lost to habitat destruction. That's unclear, but either way, they were nice.

 

[jimwg]

I have a pair of female kribs in my community tank. They live together in a faux human skull, sometimes they both look out the eye holes. They defend their skull from all interlopers. I don't know what species they are, every krib I've ever had from this area looks like them. My favorite fish. I had a breeding pair once had a bunch of fry. They ate some but some I was able to sell to LFS.

 

[anewbie]

I have a pair of female kribs in my community tank. They live together in a faux human skull, sometimes they both look out the eye holes. They defend their skull from all interlopers. I don't know what species they are, every krib I've ever had from this area looks like them. My favorite fish. I had a breeding pair once had a bunch of fry. They ate some but some I was able to sell to LFS.

This is interesting; I also have a couple of female kribs that have paired up. They have their corner of the tank they try to defend but alas the cave they would like to defend frequently has a clown loach twice their size and 4 times their mass sleeping in it. He just ignores them despite the ruckus they make

 

[kribensis12]

I have a pair of female kribs in my community tank. They live together in a faux human skull, sometimes they both look out the eye holes. They defend their skull from all interlopers. I don't know what species they are, every krib I've ever had from this area looks like them. My favorite fish. I had a breeding pair once had a bunch of fry. They ate some but some I was able to sell to LFS.

What you have is Pelvicachromis Pulcher - which is your common "krib". The ones that I am breeding are Pelvicachromis Kibensis "Moliwe" - which is a geographically specific variant. Here's picture (not mine, but mine look identical).

"Female"

"Male"

 

[Lynnzer]

Wow. If only I had another spare bedroom to kit out........
My 1st venture with Kribs netted me dozens of fry but having to keep them until they had grown enough to sell was a bit of a pain as I didn't have a large spare tank

 

[jimwg]

This is interesting; I also have a couple of female kribs that have paired up. They have their corner of the tank they try to defend but alas the cave they would like to defend frequently has a clown loach twice their size and 4 times their mass sleeping in it. He just ignores them despite the ruckus they make

My "Ladies" seem to be quite successful at defending their turf even against the large male turquoise rainbow fish that hates everybody.

 

[jimwg]

What you have is Pelvicachromis Kribensis - which is your common "krib". The ones that I am breeding are Pelvicachromis Kibensis "Moliwe" - which is a geographically specific variant. Here's picture (not mine, but mine look identical).

View attachment 158787
"Female"


View attachment 158788
"Male"

I think I like my commoners better. But these are still beautiful.

 

[GaryE]

What you have is Pelvicachromis Kribensis - which is your common "krib". The ones that I am breeding are Pelvicachromis Kibensis "Moliwe" - which is a geographically specific variant. Here's picture (not mine, but mine

I think you have an important typo there. The common 'krib' is Pelvicachromis pulcher. For years, P kribensis was sold as P taeniatus. Now, the Nigerian ones are taeniatus, and the Cameroon ones that were taeniatus are kribensis. Early importations were misidentified and the wrong names stuck. Here's a picture of one of my Moliwe pairs displaying prior to breeding.

 

[itiwhetu]

I've always had a soft spot for kribensis, but these are so cool. Love them.

 

[anewbie]

I liked my kribs but they had two issues. First you can't mix them sa cichlids; and 2nd they are too efficient at breeding.\

 

[GaryE]

I can't solve the overpopulation problem, but West African river Cichlids like kribs are way better than SA Cichlids anyway!

 

[anewbie]

I can't solve the overpopulation problem, but West African river Cichlids like kribs are way better than SA Cichlids anyway!

Well.... I think we can disagree there if no other reason than diversity - there just aren't enough west african river cichlid species to make things interesting.

 

[kribensis12]

I think you have an important typo there. The common 'krib' is Pelvicachromis pulcher. For years, P kribensis was sold as P taeniatus. Now, the Nigerian ones are taeniatus, and the Cameroon ones that were taeniatus are kribensis. Early importations were misidentified and the wrong names stuck. Here's a picture of one of my Moliwe pairs displaying prior to breeding.

Good catch, I don't know what I was thinking! Corrected!

I can't solve the overpopulation problem, but West African river Cichlids like kribs are way better than SA Cichlids anyway!

I don't think I can agree here. There are some very beautiful SA Cichlids - some of my favorites are apistogramma, firemouths, discus, angelfish etc.

Well.... I think we can disagree there if no other reason than diversity - there just aren't enough west african river cichlid species to make things interesting.

There is much more diversity than you might imagine. We just don't see a lot in the trade.

 

[GaryE]

Well.... I think we can disagree there if no other reason than diversity - there just aren't enough west african river cichlid species to make things interesting.

I like SA cichlids, and North Americans like firemouths are great fish too. But the diversity of western African river Cichlids is mind boggling. The commercial ties to get them to North American hobbyists aren't great. There is no market because people don't know what they'd be buying. But the fish exist and are very interesting indeed. Those Benitochromis - very nice small Cichlids found with P kribensis. I haven't seen one for sale for years.

 

[anewbie]

I like SA cichlids, and North Americans like firemouths are great fish too. But the diversity of western African river Cichlids is mind boggling. The commercial ties to get them to North American hobbyists aren't great. There is no market because people don't know what they'd be buying. But the fish exist and are very interesting indeed. Those Benitochromis - very nice small Cichlids found with P kribensis. I haven't seen one for sale for years.

But as someone who is shopping for fishes for an aquarium i can hardly consider fishes that are not availalbe. I can fill a 400 gallon tank with variety of sa fishes but it is much harder to do that with west african fishes and it is not wise to mix west african with sa....

By the way wetspot has several species of Benitochromis for sale but describe them as hard water fishes which seems to conflict with west african river fishes.