a pleasant surprise

[jiggerpolebill]

my 55g tank has been going through some personality changes the last few weeks. for starters, my kribs 1st successful batch are really starting to grow. the biggest is an inch or better but most are still around the half-inch mark. i cut back on feeding some to cut down on the waste production, and i feel thats brought about the changes.

first of all, mom and pop pretty much hung the 2nd batch out to dry. it was rather disappointing because their were about 25-30 in the 1st set and only 6 made the cut in the 2nd.

after the parents abandoned them, the other tankmates started having free reign of the tank again, even inside the stump where the kribs nest. every other day it seemed i would spy one of the 2nd batch babies, and after looking closely in the tank, i had come to the conclusion that there were 2 last survivors from the 2nd clutch.

the kribs now dont seem to care about anybody in the tank. they occasionally give chase to some of the babies, but are no where near as territorial as they once were. the female even comes to the surface with the other fish at feeding time.

i cleaned out my canister filter the other day, and came across a pleasant surprise. there were 7 krib fry in the canister! some i believe to be from the 2nd hatch, but 2 look as if they just hatched. very tiny.

i have a 10g ive been getting ready for a grow out tank that hasnt completely cycled yet, but thats where i decided to put them anyway. i feared they would be quickly consumed had i put them back in the big tank. theyve been in now for 48hrs and all is well so far.

[kewlparrotz]

sweet dude!!! what other fish do you have with your kribs??

[jiggerpolebill]

zebra danios, praecox rainbows, 1 goyder river rainbow, i silver lyretail molly(they never stop reproducing), SAE's, CAE's, and a bristlenose pleco.

and about 30 or more baby kribs.

as for my pleasant surprise, yesterday was a not-so-pleasant surprise. i went to the tank and there were only 2 krib fry present. the rest were nowhere to be found. a quick check to filter revealed 5 krib fry, 1 of which was dead. little did i know at the time, a few days ago, the silver lyretail popped out about another 10 or 12 babies in the big tank. my wife took most them out and put them in this new tank that im setting up. i had never noticed more than 4 or 5 in the new tank and really didnt notice that their numbers were dwindling.

come to find out, there were 6 or more molly fry in the filter as well. none of them made it. needless to say, i was quick to tie some filter floss around the intake to prevent it from happening again.

[hanif]

are kribs quite aggressive fish or would you say there okay would they get along with rams in a 15 gallon tank from what i know i would say definetly not but what do u think.

[jiggerpolebill]

im no expert, but i dont think there would be enough room in a 15g for them to get along. kribs arent the most aggressive(breeding can be a different story), but i dont think itd be a good idea.

[Tightdog1]

the way i yeild about 50 fry when my blue acaras breed is to take out about half the fry wehen they begin to be free swimming and leave the other half in the tank with the parents. the initial half is put inbto a 10g and later in to a 20gL where they are now. when the fry in the big tank are fairly good size 1/2" -1" i take them out also and put them into the 20gL and raise from there.