What Breeds Would You Keep With This Setup?

[karuna]

I tried a similar thread to this in the Beginner section of the forums but it was probably more relevant here and I didnt get any replies there. Also I asked about the Tiger Barbs in the correct forums but havn't had any replies to that either. Guess I'll give it one last shot here to see if anyone will comment.

Ok, here's the deal, I'm about to send these last 8 Juvenile Kribs off to the lfs within a couple of weeks and will return my ageing Krib stud to my two foot tank (his mate died over the summer ) and I don't want to continue with breeding until I have the space and money to buy bigger tanks, it's not really fair on the fry and my lfs is unwilling to take them below 2 inches.

My tank setup is; 24x12x12, filtration is an Eheim 2010, lighting is ~2 wpg, soft water, a pH bordering on the acidic side of 7 (usually, although last test I did it appeared to be about 7.5 for reasons I'm looking in to), sand on top of flourite substrate, planted around the edges and back with most of the front and centre open for swimming and the only ornament(s) I intend to have will be a cave or two for my male Krib.

So if you could, I would like to hear your suggestions on what you would keep with him, I'm undecided at the moment myself as to what I want and am looking for some ideas while I do some of my own research. I'm really enthusiastic when it comes to Kribs and it would be nice to see what really tickles other people in the same way.

My first thought was a school of 6-8 Tiger Barbs and I posted in the relevant forum here about it but I discovered myself that it is suggested that you do not keep Tiger Barbs in tanks smaller than 30 gallons as this is not really adequate space for them to live a stress free and happy life.

Although I give the example of the Tiger Barbs I'm pretty much resigned to getting something else, I included it as an example to show that I am willing to do my own research but that I don't want to get anything through ignorance or bad research that is gonna be unsuitable in my tank or upset my male Krib.

 

[karuna]

Can someone reply even if it's just to inform me that this is a crap thread or maybe of some other reason as to why it has generally been ignored?

Starting to get paranoid as it is the third without an answer in similar topics.

Beginning to think either my posts are flagged as hidden or I've offended the community in some way.

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

Tiger barbs can be pretty nasty, as I'm sure you know, and particularly if your krib is slowing down with age, might bother him.

I've always had good luck keeping Congo tetras with kribs. They're large enough that the kribs don't seem to intimidate them, or really even do much in the way of chasing them. They stick mostly to midwater and don't overlap territory all that much.

Other midwater fish would be some of the less agressive barbs like the rosy barbs or cherry barbs. (I recommend the shortfinned version of rosy barbs, the long flowing longfin type can be pretty appealing to take a nip at.)

For top-water fish, giant danios are a pretty good match, as they are also big enough to hold their own (I've seen kribs give standard small danios a hard time, although sometimes they work out OK as well.)

Now, they're harder than average to get ahold of, most local stores don't carry them, but lately I've been using some of the larger goodeid livebearer species as a 'dither' for kribs. Xenotoca eiseni (red-tailed goodeid), in particular, is working out well. They're almost agressive, as livebearers go, high energy, slightly nippy fish so they can wreak havoc on small tetras, but seem a very good match, personality-wise, with my kribs.

 

[karuna]

Thank you for the reply Darkmoon.

The Goodeids are a new one for me, had a quick browse of some pic's online and they are definately something I'll look further into. Will need to 'half-inch' my brother's Baensch atlases at the weekend, hehe. Do you have any suggestions for how to group them?

I've kept Zebra Danios and some Amazon Basin Tetras (X-ray Tetras, Head-and-Tail Light Tetras, and Red-Blackcurrant Tetras) with the Kribs and they all seemed fine for me. Not sure I would want to keep any shoals of the Zebra or the Tetras I list in a 15 gallon tank again though (I'm a bit over-conscious about space the more I learn perhaps, but better to err on that side than off keeping unhappy fish I guess) and I assume the Giant Danios would like more open swimming space. I wasn't aware of that species of Danio though and I did enjoy watching the Zebra when I had them so that's one I'll keep for when I get a bigger tank so again thank you for that suggestion too.

I'll check into the Congo Tetras cause I couldn't even name one species of them off the top of my head if prompted.

I'll look into the cherry & rosy barbs but I'm not sure they would be happy in a 15 gallon tank either, would probably be pushing my stock lvls at 6-8 Barbs and 4 inches of Krib although the filter should be able to cope if they didn't mind being slightly cramped.

Big ty again, didnt even know what a Goodeid was till you suggested it.

EDIT: Made a couple of mistakes that needed fixing.

 

[Stacy84]

I don't know very much about kribs but I though I would add another comment because this forum is generally VERY good and so i wanted you to have another comment. I have five tiger barbs. I started out with three and they tended to pick on all the fish. Now that i have five they mostly leave the other fish alone and worry about asserting dominance over each other....you might be okay if you get larger groups. But again I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON KRIBS....someone else for sure knows more.

Can someone reply even if it's just to inform me that this is a crap thread or maybe of some other reason as to why it has generally been ignored?

Starting to get paranoid as it is the third without an answer in similar topics.

Beginning to think either my posts are flagged as hidden or I've offended the community in some way.

 

[karuna]

Thank you also for your reply Stacy.

Yes I think you're quite right; provided I had a large enough group of Tigers then they should spend most of their time occupied with bickering and structuring in their own internal pecking order and less time bothering tank mates.

EDIT: And yes your right also that in my experience as well I have found that these are good forums, was just curious as to why I had no replies. In other forums I've been a member of (not regarding tropical fish) there tend to be certain topics that keep getting asked again and again by new members and that are generally ignored and left to sink as most people are tired of giving the same answers time and time again. Thought maybe this might be one.

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

For some reason, looking at your dimensions I was thinking they belonged to a 20-gallon, instead of a 15. My mistake!

Cherry barbs (Puntius titteya) might be a very good bet, then--they stay smallest among the commonly sold barbs (about 2 inches for a particularly large one, so say the stats, but most of mine have tended to top out at about 1.5inches even after several years.) They're also much less reliant on a school than most barbs (or tetras) and can generally be kept as happily in 2's or 3's as in 6+'s.

That tank might fit a small shoal of 4-6 Congo tetras (Phenacogrammus interruptus) for a year to 18 months, as they are usually sold pretty small at 1-1.5 inches--but they will eventually outgrow it. Ideally a shoal of full-grown adults (about 3 inches body length) should have at least a 30 gallon tank. Congos seem to handle smaller shoals better than most tetras, and really seem OK with as few as 4, unlike some of the smaller south american tetras who *really* do need 6+ to thrive.

If you're at all interested in goodeids, check out http/www.goodeids.com It's got a great database of articles in the library, and a large, if somewhat slow moving messageboard. It's where I did most of my research when getting into goodeids, very helpful place.

 

[karuna]

Thanks again Darkmoon, I'll check that site out.