krib breeding question

[AMiR UNC]

In a 38gallon tank I have a 3 kribs: one male ~2.5 inch, a female slightly smaller than male, and a juvenile female ~1 inch.

The adult female was introduced 2 weeks ago...the male and her are both showing bright breeding colors. There is a flower pot cave which the female seems to have claimed.

I'm just wondering if I should expect fry soon? Could there be anything preventing them from breeding. They both show aggression to the juvenile female but not to any of the other fish. Other fish are 6 serpae tetras, cories, 1 red tailed shark, 2 ottos, 1 bristlenose. Nitrates ~20ppm, pH 6.6-6.8, zero ammonia/nitrite

Also, they both have recently been nibling on the plants...which I have never seen before. Maybe in search of vitamins/nutrients not found in flakes and pellets that I usually feed?

Thanks

 

[Sum-X]

Of course you already know you'll see eggs before fry... That a big sign that you'll be expecting soon. The Aggresion shown toward the other female is probably just from the breeding aspect and you shouldn't worry about it too much. Your water seems perfect for them to breed so, keep us updated, and watch for eggs... And, I wouldn't worry about the plant thing... Usually when cichlids are breeding they peck at stuff to "clean" it in a sense... If that starts happening in the pot, then thats a good sign.


HTH
Good luck.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Kribs can have long, flirt-for-quite-awhile courtships, too. But once they get going, I've heard it's pretty steady from then on.

-- Pat

 

[jiggerpolebill]

im no expert by any means, but here's my experience with kribs so far.

i have a 55g and keeping 3 only resulted in the outcast getting beat on pretty bad. i cant say for certain, but, in my opinion, the aggression towards your small female will only get worse once the breeding pair have bred and will probably really pick up once they start parading the young fry around the tank.

my pair are on their 2nd brood and have been presenting them around the tank for 2 weeks now. they are very aggressive towards everything in the tank, even the ones that are trying to steer clear of them and stay at the opposite end. my bristlenose pleco has had some real knock-down-drag-outs with the male because he routinely lumbers his way right into the kribs space.

my kribs have picked an ornamental stump to spawn in and i can never see the eggs until theyre hatched, with the fry freeswimming and only after they start bringing them out of the tank "presenting" them to the rest of the tank. both times theyve spawned, the female(brightly colored) will disappear for a day or so, and when she re-emerges, she's considerably duller in color. thats how i know she's laid eggs. after 6 to 10 days(does that sound about right? maybe more) she brings them out of the stump in her mouth.

the babies have started showing some good growth in the last two weeks and are swimming pretty good. they arent staying as closely together as they first were, so the parents are having to really stay on top of things. so far, so good.

i dont have any live plants in my tank, but my kribs nibble on anything and everything.

good luck with your fish and i hope everything works out for you, but you may have to remove the small female. just my 2 cents.

 

[AMiR UNC]

Thanks for the info...is it ok to remove the fry if I can catch them? will that reduce the aggression...will the fry survive in another tank without their parents if I feed them?

Thanks

 

[jiggerpolebill]

somebody that has successfully bred these will be able to answer this better than me. this is only the 2nd brood my pair have had and im new to the hobby as well. i dont have another tank to place them in at the moment, so im letting nature take its course and leaving it up to the parents to provide for them. hopefully by the time they get large enough to fend for themselves i will be able to move them to some kind of grow out tank. in addition to the regular food i feed the parents and the rest of the tank with, ive been grinding up pellets and flakes so that they may be able to eat some as well. i have also been putting in frozen cubes of daphnia as well and ive observed them eating this as it spreads throughout the entire tank.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

I hesitate to mention this, because I haven't had the experience myself--but I've heard that if the adults start to lose interest in guarding the fry and get ready to mate again, they eat the fry.

Just thought you should be aware of the possibility.

-- Pat

 

[jiggerpolebill]

i wish i could remember where i read it, but there seemed to be 2 or 3 scenarios that happen with krib fry when the parents breed again. (1) the parents would run off the older fry when the next eggs are laid/hatched (2) the old fry would help raise the next batch. i suppose the 3rd could be the parents just eating the nice fat fry when the next batch come along. does this sound right or am i thinking of a different species??? anybody?

AMiR UNC - try looking for a site called "the krib" there's alot of information there. looks like i need to revisit it myself.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Yup, I've heard all three scenarios. Guess I'll check out that link, too.

-- Pat