Krib pair fighting and bad!

[jdheff1982]

Hey all! Haven't been around for a while, but have a delima. I just witnessed a serious lip lock between the parents. Before then they were going after biting near the anal area and just going in circles. The female seems to be wanting soemthing, but the male isn't wanting to give in, so he "runs" away. I have seen this before, but not to this degree. I have only one other tank for possible temporary keeping, but I think either krib would go after the bottom dwelling fish. Any ideas??? Thanks!

[O-man21]

it might be a part of chourtship..mine are doing it right now..I'm watching them..."ooo....that's gotta hurt....and the female throw a round house..but the male dodges...but here come the officials..the oto's!!!"

[ChilDawg]

And why do I get the feeling that the officials may soon be treated like their NBA and NHL counterparts as of late? :)

[Tim Bo]

You might want to consider moving the female and then make sure there are lost of nooks and crevaces for bottom-dwellers like otos. Though IME a single Krib, even in a community tank, is less prone to cuasing harm to the other habitants. It can also help to change the arrangement in the tank..move a cave or two, wood, plant etc. the new surroundings make them concentrate on it since they are unfamilier wth it and they fight less (atleast for a while...).

[O-man21]

I agree Tim..but he's trying to breed them I assume, so there has to be a bond between the two. If yo remove one, then the bond is broken.

[jdheff1982]

I would prefer they not breed at all! I have 5 fry from their original brood and to me, it seems cramped. They have had a 2nd batch, but they ate it. Now they are on their third batch. Oscar_Wild, I thought, was gonna buy my kribs from me and the local lfs's are not doing to hot, so they are not buying either. Kind of a sad situation. These guys are in a 20 gallon to themselves and I thought that would be enough space; boy, was I wrong!

[Tim Bo]

It's not that I dislike Kribs but it sounds like you might want to consider giving them or one of them back to the store for free and getting some other more docile fish...

[jdheff1982]

They've been "bad" again! I found the female in cave with about 50 or less fry!!! Much bigger than the first batch. The 2nd batch was eaten, and then they have this really HUGE brood!!!! This is one of the reasons why I should not have gotten such a breed happy fish. I knew 20 gallons was big enough for the pair, but for additional fry, 55 gallons plus!!!! My tank is really overcrowded right now. I am gonna talk to a few lfs's this week and see if I can trade my whole krib family for another fish or 2. I want to try either a juli pair, ram pair, or apistos (if I can find them locally). But I have also considered not using the tank for fish, but maybe for a small reptile of some sort. The tank is gonna stay a species only tank. Which of the 3 species of fish I mentioned are the least likely to breed in 7.2+ ph????? Thanks!!!

[jdheff1982]

20 gallon tank with a mixture of rock and sand

1 (maybe 2) Ram cichlids
a small schooling fish (tetra or rainbows or cherry barbs)
a small group of corys

The filtration I have for this tank is a Whisper 30 with a magnum 250 running a micron filter 24/7. This would be a great setup IMHO.

Thanks!

(Ideas welcome!!!!)

[O-man21]

I TOLD YOU IT WAS COURTSHIP!!!! BOOYA!!