# Killer Breeding Kribensis



## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

About a month ago I got a breeding pair of kribensis. They are in my 125g. They have set up shop in a corner if my tank. I believe they have laid eggs. They are guarding the area. The male keeps look out while the female stays with the eggs. Yesterday I was planting some Blyxa and felt some sort of little pinch. Lo and behold the male was trying to bite my hand! I guess he didn't care that I was thousands of times bigger than he was. What a good parent! I had to shoo him away to plant about a foot away from his area. Here are some px. The square is him hiding in a nearby lava rock. The ellipse is where I believe the eggs are under a piece of drift wood. That's were the female stays. I can't wait to see what happens! 

He has just been out chasing some fish away









Here he is hiding in the lava rock









He is hiding (in the square) in the lava rock. The den with the female and eggs is in the ellipse


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Kribbies and Pelvicachromis in general make great pets! Yours sound feisty!


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

When I first read the title I thought the Krib had killed the mate, good to read that was not the case. I also have a krib pair that is spawning for the first time. They are behaving basically the same as yours.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

It just amazed me that that little fish :heh: was attacking me! He kept coming after me! Don't see any fry yet but they don't leave the area even to feed. There have to be eggs there. I hope the fry, when they hatch, will find enough crud in the plants to grow. When they hatch I will try to get some px of them.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I'VE GOT BABIES!!!! They are so cute. Saw them for the first time tonight. Do I need to try to feed them somehow? Will the parents let me feed them somehow? Do I try to drop baby brine shrimp down there? Will it attract the other fish? Someone tell me what to do!.... I'll try to get a px to post. How neat!!!


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Congratulations!

I've raised many baby kribs over the years. If the tank has been set up for a while the babies will qraze over the bottom, eating the little things that live there. After a few weeks, they can make use of ground-up dried food. You can also add live foods, of course, delivered to the bottom where they feed.

The fry will want to roam around the tank in their grazing, and the other fish in it will find them to be attractive food. You will be able to see what 'bedlam" is, as the krib parents try to protect their young.

I've bred and raised kribs in 10 gallon tanks without any other fish, and they do fine.

Good luck!

Bill


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

aquabillpers said:


> Congratulations! The fry will want to roam around the tank in their grazing, and the other fish in it will find them to be attractive food. You will be able to see what 'bedlam" is, as the krib parents try to protect their young.


Oh! This is going to be so much fun to watch!! My tank is quite seasoned so I'm sure they will have all kinds of little stuff to eat. I'll have to be VERY CAREFUL with my water changes. Thanks so much for letting me know that they aren't going to starve to death. I have all sorts of frozen stuff, daphnia & baby brine are the smallest.

One thing I know is that their parents are fearless. They have attacked me on numerous occasions. What good parents they are!!! :clap2:


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Baby PX's. Just got some really good ones! Aren't they cute!


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Cool! They really are protecting those little guys.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

That's real neat! No matter how often one sees it, the behavior of krib parents is always great to watch.

Your pictures (very good, BTW) also show the physical differences between the male and female. In this pair, the female is much more brightly colored. And, for a better indicator, the second picture shows the dorsal fin of the male extending well over the tail, and it is pointed. Although not shown, the female's dorsal extends to near the base of the tail and the tip is rounded.

What are you going to do with 50 to 100 kribs?  

Bill


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Nice pics! Congrats on the large brood.


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

Great pics! The baby look adorable!

I might get Kribs for my planted tank soon. In your experience, do they dig up the substrate alot, if at all? If they do, is the damage barely noticeable, or really noticeable? 
By the way, do you guys happen to know the name of the plants behind those Kribs? I have those, but have never been able to get a name!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Revernance said:


> Great pics! The baby look adorable!
> 
> I might get Kribs for my planted tank soon. In your experience, do they dig up the substrate alot, if at all? If they do, is the damage barely noticeable, or really noticeable?
> By the way, do you guys happen to know the name of the plants behind those Kribs? I have those, but have never been able to get a name!


The plant is Cardamine lyrata. It is easy to grow. It's one of my favorites.

No mine don't seem to bother my plants. They are very peaceful in the tank except to protect their babies. These Kribs have been so much fun for me. I hope you have fun with yours when you get them.

Bill- I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these babies!! (I think a better question is how will I catch them all??!!!) But I sure am having fun with them. I do have a local pet store to which I can take them. Maybe I'll do that. I know it will be a few weeks anyway. I will try to give them to people first. Also thanks for pointing out all those male/female differences. Quite interesting. Wish my male was as red as the red ones I have seen on the web. Those guys are gorgeous!


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Revernance said:


> Great pics! The baby look adorable!
> 
> I might get Kribs for my planted tank soon. In your experience, do they dig up the substrate alot, if at all? If they do, is the damage barely noticeable, or really noticeable?


I have a sand substrate and they have dug burrows under the rocks, spitting the sand out in little piles & on some crypts. Since it is up near the front, it is pretty noticable.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

trenac said:


> I have a sand substrate and they have dug burrows under the rocks, spitting the sand out in little piles & on some crypts. Since it is up near the front, it is pretty noticable.


That must have been when they were digging their den for their eggs, right? Yes mine did move my rocks around for their den. But that's all they did. To me that was worth it. Mine didn't do that any where else in my tank. Did yours trenac?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Tex... Doesn't bother me either, I think it's cool to watch. That's the only place that they dug. I read some where that they will dig under rocks away from where they lay the eggs, so once the eggs hatch the fry have a place to hide.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

New Pxs. of babies. They are eating all around the tank now. They forage off the plants and hardscape. I have been putting daphnia in but don't think they are eating that. Babies are fat and sassy. Parents are still being so protective. All other residents of 125g tank are corralled to the right side. So funny!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

A MONTH AFTER BIRTH babies are starting to look like the adults. You can clearly see a stripe down the middle. They are venturing farther and farther from their parents. They still mostly forage. I have seen them eat frozen daphnia. The dad is still quite vigilant, but the mom had taken a carefree attitude. It' doesn't seem like I have had many fry losses. Not sure what I'm going to do with all those Krib babies!!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY... 2 days ago, neither parent has been staying with babies. The mom was the first to leave them. The dad hung around some of them for about a week longer than the mom. Now both parents are staking out a set of rocks - I believe to lay more eggs. I have tons of little kribs all over my tank. When I take it apart to change out substrate I'm really gonna have a job catching all those babies. I have a LFS I'll probably take them to. They are a little less than 1/2 inch long. They really are cute. This a.m I saw one of them go after a newly born swordtail fry. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there!


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 23, 2008)

Tex Gal, if you let them grow up eventually they'll start to self regulate the numbers of the colony by eating eachother's babies.

Krib interaction is really cool to watch...but they're pretty violent fish for their size, espeically when breeding. So if that were the route then you'd probably have to eliminate anything but dither fish.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

DirtyBlackSocks said:


> Tex Gal, if you let them grow up eventually they'll start to self regulate the numbers of the colony by eating eachother's babies.
> 
> Krib interaction is really cool to watch...but they're pretty violent fish for their size, espeically when breeding. So if that were the route then you'd probably have to eliminate anything but dither fish.


While that would be interesting to watch, I don't have enough tanks to do that. My hubby is already feeling a little like we all need to grow gills. I have 4 tanks in the house and I think that is his limit.


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 23, 2008)

4 tanks is a lot.

I used to have a 200 gallon heavily planted with a colony of apistogramma.

I would just let them breed and self regulate the population and it worked very well for a few years before I tore it down.

Hence the comment =)


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

DirtyBlackSocks said:


> 4 tanks is a lot.
> 
> I used to have a 200 gallon heavily planted with a colony of apistogramma.
> 
> ...


I did something like that, too, in a 20 gallon tank. The population did stop growing in number after a while and began dying off.

However, the fish in the later generations became smaller and less colorful, and finally they stopped breeding. The tank also needed more maintenance because of the large fish load.

I think it is better for the aquarist to limit the population by feeding the excess fry to other fish. One could also sell them or give them away, but the market for kribs in a locale is limited.

Bill


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

aquabillpers said:


> I think it is better for the aquarist to limit the population by feeding the excess fry to other fish. One could also sell them or give them away, but the market for kribs in a locale is limited. Bill


I have thought about how to stop the parents from laying eggs. It's not like other fish who don't protect their young. I have this community tank where many of the inhabitants could have eaten the fry had it not bee for the parental protection. So now what?... Trying to catch 50 babies every 2 or 3 months in a planted tank is no a job I want to sign up for. I feel like the proverbial bad pet owner who wanted to see their cat have kittens and now doesn't know what to do them. My Kribs are so driven that they will make a burrow under any rock or driftwood by digging out the gravel. I can't just take a breeding pot out and be done with it. So I'm thinking I may have to get rid of my kribs.... How fickle can I be?


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Tex Gal said:


> I have thought about how to stop the parents from laying eggs. It's not like other fish who don't protect their young. I have this community tank where many of the inhabitants could have eaten the fry had it not bee for the parental protection. So now what?... Trying to catch 50 babies every 2 or 3 months in a planted tank is no a job I want to sign up for. I feel like the proverbial bad pet owner who wanted to see their cat have kittens and now doesn't know what to do them. My Kribs are so driven that they will make a burrow under any rock or driftwood by digging out the gravel. I can't just take a breeding pot out and be done with it. So I'm thinking I may have to get rid of my kribs.... How fickle can I be?


When the aquarium gets too crowded with kribs, they just stop breeding. (They like some privacy, you know.) You can hasten that by removing most of the things under which they could lay their eggs.

You might also consider getting those aquatic centipedes/hellgramites to eat the excess fry. They are tougher than the kribs. If you do, be sure to wear something on your hands if you put them in the water. Once they get the taste of warm-blooded flesh, - oh, let it go. (I had to say this.)

Bill


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

aquabillpers said:


> You might also consider getting those aquatic centipedes/hellgramites to eat the excess fry. They are tougher than the kribs. If you do, be sure to wear something on your hands if you put them in the water. Once they get the taste of warm-blooded flesh, - oh, let it go. (I had to say this.) Bill


You cracked me up with that one!! LOL Hm... wonder where I could get one? :mrgreen:


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

I stopped my P.suboccelatus breeding for a while by putting them in a tank with a mature pair of Wild Angels! Last brood, only 5 survived - survival of the fittest (or sneakiest!).


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

ed seeley said:


> I stopped my P.suboccelatus breeding for a while by putting them in a tank with a mature pair of Wild Angels! Last brood, only 5 survived - survival of the fittest (or sneakiest!).


Maybe I'll have to ship mine to you!


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