karuna
Fish Fanatic
I have read in a few places that Kribs prefer a heavily planted tank so long as u provide them with an area that is more open for swimming, so as a gift i was given a large selection of tropical plants. For about a month my breeding pair were absolutely tickled pink and spent many hours chasing each other through the veritable jungle i had created.
However the problem is that they also were delighted by destroying any plants they could get a bite at and i witnessed on a few ocassions the female ripping whole blades and stems off with her mouth. So in the end i went from a densly planted tank to a more sparse arrangement and now 3 months later all that is left is one gigantic Amazon Sword Plant i was given that is too big and sturdy for them to touch.
Now, i would really hate to have to turn to plastic plants (i'm sick even thinking about the idea
) so does anyone have any ideas as to why they were so destructive. Do i just have a couple of particularly destructive kribs or was it because they felt they did not have sufficient food supplied by me and turned to eating the plants. I'm sure some of it was down to me concerning the water conditions as i have never had much long term success with plants in the past but i had just replaced the gravel with a specialist gravel designed to grow plants in and had made sure that i had added sufficient aquatic tropical plant fertilisers.
As i say i'm stuck, for most of my childhood i kept only coldwater fish and plants so i dont have much experience at all with tropical ones now that i have returned to keeping fish again. Any feedback would be much appreciated =)
EDIT: Maybe i should have put this in the Plant forums *Looks around suspiciously for lurking forum moderators* but i guess it will get warped if necessary. I still think it is a question that concerns the Kribs as much as my planting skillz (or lack of) as the Kribs seemed to do most of the damage. Also i forgot to add that the Krib Fry i had in the tank at the time seemed to enjoy taking pecks out of the smaller leaved and more delicate foliage.
However the problem is that they also were delighted by destroying any plants they could get a bite at and i witnessed on a few ocassions the female ripping whole blades and stems off with her mouth. So in the end i went from a densly planted tank to a more sparse arrangement and now 3 months later all that is left is one gigantic Amazon Sword Plant i was given that is too big and sturdy for them to touch.
Now, i would really hate to have to turn to plastic plants (i'm sick even thinking about the idea
) so does anyone have any ideas as to why they were so destructive. Do i just have a couple of particularly destructive kribs or was it because they felt they did not have sufficient food supplied by me and turned to eating the plants. I'm sure some of it was down to me concerning the water conditions as i have never had much long term success with plants in the past but i had just replaced the gravel with a specialist gravel designed to grow plants in and had made sure that i had added sufficient aquatic tropical plant fertilisers.As i say i'm stuck, for most of my childhood i kept only coldwater fish and plants so i dont have much experience at all with tropical ones now that i have returned to keeping fish again. Any feedback would be much appreciated =)
EDIT: Maybe i should have put this in the Plant forums *Looks around suspiciously for lurking forum moderators
* but i guess it will get warped if necessary. I still think it is a question that concerns the Kribs as much as my planting skillz (or lack of) as the Kribs seemed to do most of the damage. Also i forgot to add that the Krib Fry i had in the tank at the time seemed to enjoy taking pecks out of the smaller leaved and more delicate foliage.
