Update Since Got Kribs And More Barbs

[love cichlids]

If you remember had bought a female, male krib for my 45 gallon tank. Then added more tiger barbs and got some gold barbs. Now the question is : Since I bought the kribs the female has not allowed the male to swim around tank much, she chases him. I added a coconut cave and small flower pot for more hiding places, but the female has taken over all hiding places. Her territory is the WHOLE tank. The male sticks by the heater or the filter tube, on top of the tank, and no he is not sick, female won't let him be anywhere else. Should I take male back and try to get another and see what happens. It has been long enough that the male should have been able to take some of the tank as his own, or even be close to the female, but this hasn't happened at all. Worried male is not eating much or is stressed out all the time. What should I do???

 

[Lateral Line]

This is more a cichlid question then CC&A, I'll move it to OWC and see what they say.

 

[love cichlids]

Anybody there. No responses. What's up with that.

 

[love cichlids]

Why did you move this, I have no responses now.

 

[toppman]

if the males smaller than the female in most cases the female will be more dominent and u have ur situation.
try and get a male bigger than the female

 

[love cichlids]

Thank you so much for the response. That explains it, the male is smaller than the female, so I will call the petstore and see if they have any males right now, if not I will return the male and get a credit for when they have a male. He is not much smaller but I guess that makes a difference. Thanks again. Now I won't have a fish die on me because of stress. Poor little guy stuck hiding all the time from female and gets little food, but I guess he is getting enough to survive. The 2 week guarantee on the fish is not up yet, so I should have no problem.

 

[love cichlids]

Ended up moving, i thought the male out of the 45 gal into my 309 gal community tank shortly after last response in this post and it has worked out. Today I went and bought another krib to replace the one i had to move. Found out the 2 original ones I bought were females by putting all 3 in the same tank. I think I have a pair now in the 45 gal., I hope. How long will I know if they are going to be a pair or not??? They are hard to sex when you are in the petstore.

 

[toppman]

my 1st pair were fighting for about 4 days then i seperated the male in a net breeder for the night, when i woke up he had got out and back into the tank and was happily getting along with the female.
the other pair i have iv had since tuesday and the male is still attacking the female, im now on my 2nd attempt at seperating them, i think its just a matter of time before they realise they have 2 get along.
i would say 2 weeks at absolute max before u starts replacing 1 of them