Kribensis cichlids not getting along

[jvhuse]

Hi everybody. I did alot of reading on cichlids, and decided on a pair of kribensis dwarf cichlids for my 29 gallon tank. Went to the LFS today and picked up a male and a female, the female is slightly larger than the male. Within an hour of being in the tank, the female started picking on the male. They have plenty of hiding spaces, and each picked their spot almost immediately and has stayed there since, at opposite ends of the tank. But every ten minutes or so the female will leave her spot, swim across the tank, and pick on the male, chasing him for a few seconds, and then going back to her spot. Neither appears to be hurt or have damaged fins, though.

Is this normal? Should I take one or both of them back to the store? I already had 4 zebra danios, and neither krib pays them any attention, and the danios behavior has not changed at all.

Here is a pic of the tank and its current setup, and the male in his spot. I think there are enough hiding spots for the two kribs. The female likes to stay in the tree root when not bothering the male, the male hides behind the flowerpot inbetween the bases of two fake plants. The danios swim anywhere and everywhere.

Thanksm

Jonathan

 

[jvhuse]

Well, now the female has taken to going after the danios as well, if they go under or in the big root decoration. They are way too quick for her though, long gone before she gets to them. It already seems like she just has a bad disposition, but maybe it is too soon to really tell. If she is still acting like this tomorrow, I think I will take her back and get a smaller female, or a ram or something. That would be a shame, as she already shows some nice coloration.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

IME the rams are a little too docile to mix with kribs unless you have a little more room. If you can find them in your area, you might get away mixing kribs with Steatocranus casuarius

 

[jvhuse]

I just took the kribs back today, didn't end up getting anything else for the moment. My pH needs adjusting first if I was to get another type of cichlid.


They had these tiny little cichilds I had not seen before in the store. They were only an inch long, but they were very bright blue with jet black spots. They were new and they did not have a price or species name up yet, the employee said he thought they were royal plecos? I kind of doubt that