Hey guys i recently traded in my firemouths for a pair of kribs (just couldn't get FMs to pair off), and now it seems like a freakin curse is running its course. I put the kribs in and after a while the male started beating up the female. She is full of eggs and constantly displaying for him, but he acts like he's interested and then just whacks her. I put up a tank divider between them, and the female is still doing the U shape, and vibrating but the male shows no interest, and as soon as i let him in he attacks the female. Any ideas on what i could do? i feel like the male is too insecure as i have a rainbow shark in there too, that will not let the male establish a good territory near his cave. I tried moving the shark to my 10g. temporarily, but he jumped out in less than 30 min. I am either thinking of getting another male or female krib. That way the other may have some competition, and they will pair off easier. I think my LFS will take the other back if i try this. I am just stumped on this. OO quick advice......never put a male betta with kribs. My betta started chasing the male krib, and after a while the krib got bored and ripped up all the fins off my betta.
krib pairing up question
- Thread starter Dr_Woo
- Start date
Seaman
Shrimp gumbo, shrimp salad etc...
try taking the male out for a couple days and let the female gain her dominance in that tank....and that should help her to be more brave in keeping him from being tooo aggresive. Also make sure there are good amounts of hiding spots or breaks in the line of sight so she can get away from him eaiser. It could be the shark keeping them from mating....you never know.
Whoa, i put up a tank divider for like 2 days, and the female chose one cave for her territory. Today i took the divider out and the male thought he could just barge in. Nooooooo way......the female whupped him and they had some pretty serious fights. Now both defend each half of their tank. Their behavior is amazing, it is like there is an invisible line they rarely decide to cross. There were some great attacks from both sides, and the female always had the last hit. I turned off the lights now, and will see what will happen tomorrow. Neither of the fish seem seriously injured, and i say if they want to slug it out for territory, let them. They will probably calm down after a few days and spawn. The male did show his want to spawn after the female showed her defiance. Before it was always the female wanting to spawn, now it is the male. Very interesting fish. I'm wondering why the firemouths didn't do this after i took out the divider from them.
Be careful if they are this rowdy before spawnning, if they do decide to spawn the male might attack the female when she is with her babies. I've had that happen many many times, and my pair never fought before they spawned. The male would case the female and look after the babies, then vice versa. In all the commotion many fry were lost.
watch them closely
watch them closely
Well, i ran in a bit of trouble this morning. I woke up to find the female chasing the male, and keeping him at the top of a corner of the tank. It was pretty bad, so i put up the tank divider. As i put the divider up, i decided to take a look under the cave the female had, only to find about 100 brownish eggs. I am real happy , but also real sad. I do not think they have spawned this morning, and for the last few days the divider was up. So, i think the female just put her eggs there with no male to fertilize them. OO well, guess i can wait until they're ready to spawn again. I will give the male a couple of days by himself and then take off the divider again. Hopefully the female will not beat him up, because the eggs won't be there anymore. This is just so sad.....
Yeah she's trying to get him to mate and he's just not ready. Give it time... thats all you can do. Feed them lotsa blood worms and brine shirmp to condition them, that might help a little as well.
Do you have lots of hiding places? Plants/rocks etc?
Do you have lots of hiding places? Plants/rocks etc?
Yes, i do have two large caves, two small ones, and some plants. I wouldn't say densely planted, but medium. The female has become more protective of her eggs now, and doesn't come out of the cave as often. The male has finally gotten more brave, and is now swimming around on his side.