what does a kribensis victim look like?

pica_nuttalli

don't be a twit
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so I have good news and bad news... Good news is that my Kribs finally picked out a cave in the 60gal and are brooding as we speak. (some of you may have noticed me post this in NW; i was a little over-excitied. :*) )

the bad news is that in the last 12 hours I've lost two female guppies to no discernable cause. i don't think it was disease (no symptoms), old age, or bad water (only ~30 ppm NitrAte). there was only minimal physical damage to the fins (although most of the scales were missing when i found them).

anyways, what are the general results of a krib attack? i just saw the male krib take a swipe at my common pleco (easily 3 times his size), so even if it wasn't them that got my guppy, it couldn't hurt to know this.
 
Brooding Kribs will defend their chosen breeding site and surrounding area like their lives depended on it. They are incredible parents, as with most African Cichlids, and will fight any fish (and i mean any fish) that comes anywhere near them. I would reccommend a temporary divider to seperate them, otherwise you will almost certainly have further problems. IMO Kribs are only community fish when not breeding, that said seperate them and you'll have no probs.

Sorry to sound a bit negative but I had a friend who ummed and aahed a bit over what to do in the same situation and lost half of his tank in 24 hours, including a full grown gold gourami.

Hope this helps
 
hrm... if only they hadn't picked the flower pot in the exact center of the tank. :X a divider, you say? *sigh* i'll see what i can manage... do you think removing the eggs and the female would work or would she abandon them?

but what would the evidence look like if the kribs were the killers? the guppies i found had no marks on them of any sort, at least nothing to indicate cause of death. i believe they were gravid (always a good guess with guppies) at the time, could the kribs possibly just exhausted them to death?
 
It might have been stress from being chased, and as you say exhaustion. My kribs have fry at the moment, and my 5 male guppies get chased, but not too badly cos they stay at the top of the tank. I had to take my rams out though cos altho' they never got bitten, they were starting to look a bit worn out and wouldn't come out from behind the plants to feed cos Papa Krib was strutting his stuff. Maybe put more plants/ornaments etc temporarily to break up line of sight and give the guppies places to hide?

Sarah
 
doesn't really matter for a few weeks anymore... only 4 eggs left in the cave and no fry. but i didn't find any more deadies so yay!
 

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