So, Its Stocking Time Again

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Mowbz

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I had a bit of a change around and not sure where to go now, could do with some advice if y'all dont mind :)

For those that know, i have a 4ft 75gal. It was holding 7 C. Panda's, about 1.5 inches, so pretty much fully grown now. There are also 5 Cherry Shrimp in with them. Ive now moved the Corys as i also wanted Kribs, so the Corys are now in a 20g 2ft tank, along with the Shrimp. I dont plan on adding to this tank, unless anyone by chance can think of something interesting that would go with them?

Im after ideas for the 4ft. Currently holds just 6 Kribs, 2m, 4f (Waiting for 2 to pair off, but the males are about 2inches, and females 1.5, so might have a little while to go yet) Had these for about a month now, no issues at all, happily feeding on Cichlid gold, crushed flake and BBS/BBW.

Contents,

5 Amazon Swords,
a ton of Java Moss (some going in the 2ft)
5 Fairly big Anubias
Tons of mopani root
Slate caves.

Temp is at 22'c, pH 7.2

What could i put in there now? I plan to have a fairly large group (25 ish) of tiger barbs or something similar, but im looking for something else....

Any ideas/critisisms welcome :)
 
It's a tough one. Kribensis can be pure evil when spawning/protecting fry so anything you include will have to be robust enough to withstand any attacks. Tiger Barbs would probably be a good choice imo, they can be fiesty themselves and are quick enough to get out of the way of any aggression being shown to them. Unsure what else you could stock, maybe with the sized shoal you're planning it would be pretty full anyway?
 
You should have said you were going Kribs, i've got 2 females and 5 males im trying to offload at the moment and you are not too far away from where i work at Wycombe. :eek:

My female is a proven mum and very good at it too, lost her mate a few months back when it crawled under a rock and died....literally :blink: the other males are her offspring while the female is new blood.

Tiger barbs are a nice choice, but they might predate on the Krib fry when they get around to it, depends how good the pair are when they get jiggy. I do miss my tigers :(

Rummynose would be fine as would most Rasbora and even neons. Its not the Kribs you have to be worried about really, they easily scare of dither fish when breeding, its the Tigers nipping other fish that you would need to concentrate on.
 
Cheers guys!

Not fussy on the predation of the fry for the first time around as ive never bred them so would probably let nature take its course for the first lot while i "watch and learn" and save the second, if im lucky enough to have fry!

I knew you had Kribs Tizer, but didnt know you were getting rid, gutted! :(

Would rather have taken a proven pair too, but these guys were offered for free bar my own petrol money, so i drove to get them. I have a friend and a LFS who would take some off me when two pair up. What would be the chances of yours working with mine? Too many? (looked at some in P@H, they were a bit raggedy around the fins, but at £6.50 for two, they seemd cheap, is this normal?)

Minnnt - Not exactly "planning" on 25, just unusure at the moment. I would be happy to sacrifice them as a species entirely, or perhaps drop to 15-18 if it meant i could have 1 other species in there, but as already said, its a tough one finding something!

I also need to get a new external before this, as my 1400lph only turns over 4.1x which is fine for the small amount i have currently, but i guess you might agree another one is needed, especially if i add a large group of something?
 
4.1x should be fine mate, i wouldnt be too concerned. If your pair are young then you could be waiting a while for any action but there is a very good chance they will hook up, Kribs dont seem to be as fussy as others! £6.50 isnt a bad price, problem with kribs is, once they start to breed they simply dont stop, its a never ending production line and with that, never ending agression in the tank. Deffinately fascinating to watch though!
 
Do you think it might be worth giving the Kribs the 20gal to themselves once they pair up and start breeding, and go back to community in the 75gal? I would have put kribs in the 20gal to start with if i thought it was going to be big enough as they grow out, but i just wasnt sure, so opted to move the smaller Corys in there instead.

If you think a 20gal will happily support the 6 Kribs until fully grown and paired off (im unsure :/ ) ill do that instead. Ill put all 6 in on their own, wait for two to pair off, rehome the rest, and then find them a small group of something to fill the top of the tank.

If its possible ill start it all at the weekend!

I wasnt sure 4.1x would be enough when planning to fully stock the 75, so i was considering adding another small external to give it a boost. I have a 900lph powerhead in there now too, just to push the water around a little quicker.
 
As a grow out, yeah 20 gals would allow growth, as for room for pairing and establishing territories with 6 fish, i think you would be hard pressed to actually see this happening and i dont "think" it would be very easy, a little bit close quarters...but i could be wrong. Unless you split them up, 1f and 2m in each tank, far more chances of it happening, have fun catching the odd one out when it does happen. :D

The corys should be fine in the large tank with them, just keep an eye on their fins. Just unloaded my Kribs at MA, i'm now Krib free yey!

Moss is great for feeding fry by the way, i used to put some decapped brine shimp eggs into water, let it soak, then suck it up in a pipette and squirt in into the moss. Would keep them amused for hours.
 
Brilliant, could try that!

Ill admit, i put the Kribs in the 75 with the Corys for a week as an "experiment" when they first came, and nothing happened. If anything the Corys were more bossy about space then the Kribs since they had been in there first, but i planned to split them up anyway. One of the females has a very slightly raggedy tail fin, but i assume thats from the slightly bigger males beating her up a bit! (Did this to "test the theory" having seen mixed reports)

They actually ate face to face and swam around together, picking up brine shrimp and tetra prima together, no issue. I was suprised considering what people have said about mixing the two, especially as i have Panda's so theyre not the biggest C's. The Kribs are all about twice the size or bigger. By the end of the week there was definate territory established, Corys had one end of the tank with the wood and moss, Kribs at the other with a few bits of wood, plants, moss and slate caves. Both chasing each other off if they strayed "over the line". (Its quite amusing to watch the 7 corys "come together" to fend off 1 nosey Krib!)

I decided to take them out as ive not kept either species before and thought it might not stay that way for long, hence the Corys going into the 20g. I dont class myself as "expereienced" enough to have continued that experiment, especially now the males are starting to actively chase the females a little more.

In terms of putting Kribs in the 20g, i was thinking putting all 6 in to see who pairs up. If i got one pair i would have left them in the 20g and re-homed the rest, i honestly didnt think of the possiblity of ending up with two pairs. Do you think a second pair in the 75 with the Corys back in would be ok? There would be nothing else on the floor of the tank, just 7 (would increase to 10ish) Corys, and the then paired Kribs.

Thanks again!
 
yeah im sure the corys will be ok, kribs really dont pay much attention to other fish until breeding and to be honest corys are just pretty daft, i've never seen my corys group up as a defence mechanism, i dont think they would even realise if they were being attacked, they are pretty dumb and just swim off then stupidly come back for more seconds later when they have forgotten they have been told off.

Well if it works, two pairs are better than one and it gives you the option of picking the pair that get the hang of it sooner and returning the other. I seriously wouldnt keep two breeding pairs unless you know you can shift the juvies, once they get going they dont stop :) Its then when you need to really put them in their own tank with a few dither fish like black neons or tiger barbs.
 
+1 on Tizer. Coryies are pretty well armoured and can withstand a fair old bit of attention from bigger, aggressive fish.
 
i've never seen my corys group up as a defence mechanism, i dont think they would even realise if they were being attacked,

You should have seen mine. It was amusing watchin them following the Krib back to his own cave, then going back to theirs!

Well if it works, two pairs are better than one and it gives you the option of picking the pair that get the hang of it sooner and returning the other. I seriously wouldnt keep two breeding pairs unless you know you can shift the juvies, once they get going they dont stop :) Its then when you need to really put them in their own tank with a few dither fish like black neons or tiger barbs.

I'm honestly not sure if i could to be honest and i dont have enough friends with tanks either to keep passing them off to! I suppose i could put them on here for postage money! Perhaps just the one breeding pair!
 

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