Krebensis Cichlid Pair

[nerdyguy83]

I have a 25g tall stocked as follows:

5 Rosy Red Minnows
11 Serpae Tetras
2 Kribensis Cichlids (Male/Female Pair)
1 Otocinclus

Over the past few weeks, the female kibensis (who is showing the bright red stomach of mating season) has been getting increasingly aggressive towards the male, chasing him around the tank mercilessly anytime she spots him. From what I've read, this is indicative of a female ready to mate and a male who just isn't quite there yet (he's a little smaller, so I'm guessing he's a little younger). I haven't noticed any fin damage from nipping, but occasionally the poor little guy takes a bit of a beating when he gets cornered.

My question is this--everything I've read says you should keep kribensis in a 3:1 female-to-male-ratio. Will that calm the one female down as she will have competition, or will that lead to a dead (or at least further harassed) male?

 

[esoepr1976]

I always just had one female to one male kribensis, and never had problems. I did notice you only have one otocinclus. They are a schooling fish, and really like to be in groups of six or more, but your tank is already really heavily stocked, so I'm not sure I'd add more fish, especially since oto's also like really great water conditions.

Emily

 

[Jayhawk]

Some pairs just don't get along...I've never kept them in groups - just pairs. Where did you read kribs should be kept as a harem like that? I once had 2 females in with a male...wanting a pair to establish. It did, but one of the females killed the other overnight (tank was a 36" long 33 gallon tank).

Eric

 

[rufioman]

I've had a pair before and you really can never be sure, as with any cichlid, how it is going to behave at a given moment.

 

[RazzleFish]

I have a pair that did that when they were first introduced. After finally spawning they settled down. Try are now working with batch number 3 and haven't had any major issue since.


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[nerdyguy83]

I have reason to hope things will improve with the unhappy couple. The have moments where they seem to almost be 'flirting'. Then the female gets a little too aggressive, and it's back to square one. They are still a bit young (2.5" or so), so time may improve the situation. As I said I've read about the 3:1 ratio, but I can't say where. I'm guessing it wasn't anywhere too reputable.

As far as my stocking, I'm happy with it at the moment. I wasn't talking about adding anything else major until the minnows (which I threw in for the cycling process and am happy to report are all still doing just fine) start to die off.

That being said, I know my single oto is lonely. I had a second, but he came home missing a fin and wound up getting sucked into the filter. As they don't take up much room and have (I've always thought) a net positive on a tank environment, I was thinking of getting a few more. Thoughts?

 

[fishorama]

You're right, the male isn't ready yet but the female is. That's often the case with cichlids IME. Hopefully your male "gets it" soon, female cichlids can be brutal, much more so than males (to the point of killing an unwilling partner). I'd say your tank is too small footprint-wise to even attempt a trio, it won't help in any way. Can you add some hiding spots/block lines of sight for him to get away from "Ms hot to bred" until he's ready?

Yes, otos are social & would like friends. But if you're focused on breeding your kribs & have a stable community, don't add more right now. There's the whole introducing disease/quarantine thing with new fish that will complicate breeding efforts now. Do you have a quarantine tank? New fish can become the victims of a kribensis female ready to go. Just be aware that once they start breeding there may be no going back unless you separate the sexes. Pretty as they are, we "over kribensised" our local market in a year or 2, years ago, along with some other easy to breed cichlids even with other tankmate predations.

 

[gmh]

Kribs love caves, both to hide in and to spawn. An half coconut shell works well, for example. The male could use a place to hide completley when he's stressed. A couple of caves would be ideal.