kribensis ?'s

[dixienut]

i've been want some and i found a pair, at least 1m1f at local store they want 11.99 for each,..

that seems a we bit steep,..

does any one on here have a pair cheaper? or better yet healthier? or for sure a pair these look like it but i have no clue how old they are,..

i want to put them in a community tank of 55g with neon size fish and khulie loaches and perhaps bn pleco,.. tank has briggs in it now and 2 clutches hatched to boot,.. i know they eat snails i also have a few extra cherry shrimp i nthere i can netthem out if i get some kribs,..

but was wondering if they are for me,.. being crabby when having fry is ok but will they fight 24/7? i hate a tank that one species chases all the time,..

if they do then i can make them a pair tank only for them,.. but i want to keep the fry with them so how big do i need for this to happen,.. have another 55 empty also,.


what temp do they need or can get used to? and still breed

 

[fish-n-chips]

In my experience, they are a relatively shy and peaceful fish. They will need a cave to spawn and will hang out in there alot, even when not spawning. When I had mine, I had them in a 20g long and the temp stayed at 78. I don't see a problem keeping them in your 55, but I never kept them with any smaller fish. The only aggression you should see would be with snails/plecos wanting to get in there cave. Otherwise as long as their tankmates stay away from their cave, I don't see any issues.The price does seem high, I paid that for both of mine. I can say don't trust the lfs with sexing them, at least not one like mine. The males have a longer more pointed dorsal and females are shorter and more rounded, like gourami's. My male had a red belly like a female so that is not a very good indicator.If you keep them in a tank with dark substrate and background, their colors will really pop, and the orange, purple and black really make these a beatiful dwarf cichlid. I wish I still had mine dixie, I would send you a male and some females for free.Unfortunately I had to sell off my tanks when the job thing went to heck and I moved in with my sister. I get to live vicariously through her since I got her hooked on fish though.HEE HEE HEE. I hope this helps you though.
The dither fish might actually have a calming affect on them though, but that is not from experience just opinion.

 

[verbal]

The first fish I breed were kribs. I kept them in a 20. They should be fine with other fish in a 55.

Are the fish standard kribs or "super reds"? I think that would be a normal LFS price for "super reds". Is there a fish club local to you? That is often a good source of inexpensive healthy fish.

 

[laudy000]

I bought a breeding pair about a year ago at a LFS for $22.00, so the price seems about right. I have them in a 150 community and they chase anything that comes close to their breeding shell. They spawn fairly regularly but raising the fry in that tank has proved to be a challenge. Hope this helps.

 

[dixienut]

they are regular it looks like,.. it seems to be m/f mals is thinner and longer pointier fins and female is about 1 inch smaller and red bellie and rounder fins,..

going to look at oddball pets as they are advertising them as their tank bred for sale,.. but just because its a m/f dosent mean their are a pair,..
if only the 2 will they pair?

if i get 2m/2f will a 55g work with a cave at both ends? if not i can put them in different 55's,..

will they eat other fry like endlers/mollies? as i have these and could move them in with them,..

or just put them in the 20l alone,..

 

[platytudes]

This is a really good article about kribs, including breeding:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/pelmatochromis.htm

I don't know if it's such a good idea keeping the fry with the parents indefinitely. I did it just because it's so hard to catch any fish in my heavily decorated tank. I had two males and one female (I accidentally bought a juvenile male thinking it was a female) and the dominant male paired with the female, beating the tar out of the poor young male. He unfortunately died, leaving just the two...

At the time I had 3" blue acaras (rescue fish) which I had to rehome because they were getting fierce. I kept the two kribs with curviceps cichlids and tetras (silvertip, blue, diamond) and one giant Synodontis eupterus. They had at least 30 fry. Out of those, 8 survived and are still in the tank with the two parents. 3 or 4 of them are rather runty, healthy looking but small, but the rest are very impressive.

They still make a regular batch of babies - I have one now - but they seem to either get eaten or otherwise disappear. At this point I can't tell the original parents from the grown up fry, some of which are full size now. I'm kind of glad the babies don't make it any longer, I have quite enough kribs already and I don't want to encourage the inbreeding that is surely going on

 

[JasonO]

have you tried your local aquarium club, i have seen krib pairs go for 12$ for a pair at mine, and even similar prices for some of the more rare species of krib not just the P. pulcher you see at most stores.

If you have never checked out your local aquarium club I would give them a try. I have never kept kribs (I plan on doing it in the future, but I am trying to breed some other dwarf cichlids right now) so I can't give you much info on their temperament, but from what I have heard they are pretty docile, except when they are spawning and can be aggressive if they dont have a good hiding place.

I would look around before buying the kribs, it isn't really a bad price for a local fish store, but I feel you could get a better price if you looked around.

 

[dixienut]

any real definates on tank temps,..? as i'm trying to keep heater costs down with so many tanks,.. my unheated tanks stay kinda warm or room temp all year,.. on a cold winter night they get around 69 till room heats up again,..

just wondering,..

i have heated tanks just to keep them from getting too cold,..

i'm not into really fry raising but a few here and there is fine with me,..

 

[platytudes]

Sorry, these guys like it pretty warm. I wouldn't go lower than 72 ever, but 75 is ok for regular temps.

Most cichlids need warm water - off the top of my head I can't think of any that would do well in a subtropical setup (temps in the high 60s).

 

[dixienut]

thats ok i have the 55 with tetras and cardinals set higer for the cardinals,.. so they can go in there,..