Please Help!

[pirate monkey]

About a week ago we added a male and female krib to our 24g with 2 dwarf gouramis (1 m, 1 f) and 5 tetras. They were in good condition and looked healthy. However over a few days the female has started hiding behind the thermometer or in a top corner apparently hiding from the male. But whenever he swims near she starts flirting with him! There are a few different caves for them to inhabit, but she doesn't seem interested. Also her fins have started to lose condition, especially her tail fin.

Then we noticed 2 days ago that our male dwarf gourami has a bit of a sore at the front of his dorsal fin, which I can only speculate is down to Mr Krib! Mr krib seems to like having ago at both the gouramis even when they're not really in his space.

Any suggestions - is it likely that the kribs aren't that into each other, should I see if the lfs will swap one?

 

[benniebru]

well kribs are African cichlids. and like any cichlid when they pair up in a tank it usually means problems for anyone else thats in with them

 

[kribensis12]

Well. I have had this happen before aswell. Obviously they arent either ready to breed, or the ,ale dosent like her. The only reason she is trying to flirt with him is because she want's to live by going with him( she might be interested awell) and to and she can breed. In my experince, the male wont ever accept the female. If he dosent like her, that wont change. Got any pic's? I fso, i could tell you if they are ready to breed. If they are, get a new male.

 

[pirate monkey]

He seems to pay her a lot of attention so I presumed she didn't like him, do I have that all wrong then? I will try and get some pics but I have to admit I'm still getting to grips with taking photos of them!!

It has been suggested that I remove the male for a while to let the female recover (I've never seen her eat anything) and then rearrange the tank before reintroducing him. Do you think that could help?

 

[pirate monkey]

ok I managed to get a picture of each. female is sat in corner by filter (she's either always their or hiding by thermometer).

Hope the pics are ok...

 

[kribensis12]

That could help, but if she wont eat, that isnt a good sign.

 

[pirate monkey]

I removed my male to the quarantine tank, female looking a lot happier at the moment and eating so will leave them like that for a while so she can settle better. My lfs suggested putting another female in but I thought that if there were 2 females the one that wasn't a pair would get bullied. what's the best advice regarding this?

 

[kribensis12]

Im glad she eating! If you put 2 female's in, one will get bullied when they pair off. Instead, you might want to try and get 6 or 7 zebra danio's to help ease aggression until they pair off.

 

[pirate monkey]

Thanks, yeah that's what I thought!. We have some silvertip and black neon tetra, will they not help instead of the danios?

Appreciate all your help kribensis12.

 

[kribensis12]

Your Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!! PM me anytime! You could use tetra's, but danio's are less likely to get eaten, they are hardier, and are dirt cheap. Do what ever you want, but you will lose some dither's either way.