questions about kribensis....

[catnmouse]

i have a couple questions about breeding my kribensis. i haven't been having trouble breeding them, i'm not even actively trying to, just lookin for information because i'm sure it will happen sooner or later....i'm sure there have been many many posts about kribensis so bear with me

i bought a male and female kribensis 2 weeks ago, the male is 2.5 -3 inches the female 1.5-2 inches (estimates). they're in a 20 gal long/breeder with a few rasboras. at first the male was chasing the female and she wasn't returning his advances, but for the past week they swim together and team up against my rasboras at feeding time. i have noticed some "dancing" between them so i'm guessing they're a "pair" but i haven't seen anything more suggestive. their colors darken up when they "dance" but the rest of the time they're "normal". i've done some reading, but some things i couldn't find/weren't sure of:

1.) is there any chance mine will "un-pair"? i am positive i have a male and female, but not sure if they pair for life
2.) at what size do kribensis breed? are mine mature enough yet?
3.) do i need to worry about any after-spawning aggression between the male and female?
4.) how often will they spawn, and will a 20gal (long/breeder) be big enough?
5.) is there anything that might go wrong with krib spawning, like eating the eggs or aggression against the fry?

when/if they spawn i plan on either selling them, usin them as feeders (if i can bring myself to do that lol) or just removing the eggs before they hatch. i have had fish spawn before (curviceps, rams, shellies) so dealing with and rasing fry aren't new to me, and i'm prepared for aggression against the rasboras once there are eggs/fry. if you have any other advice or warnings that i didn't ask about, please share i'm all ears and love any/all info you can give me thanks!!

 

[Titania]

In the absence of other mates, I doubt they will "unpair". In my experience, they are pretty monogamous, but I have had situations where a female will pick a new mate once the male gets to be too old.

Yours probably aren't quite mature yet, but pretty close to it. Does the female have a bright pink belly yet? They get very pink and very plump when they're ready to start spawning.

You don't need to worry about after-spawning aggression. I've never seen it, and I've bred kribs for about 15 years. As for how often they'll spawn...that depends on whether or not you leave the fry with them. I always left fry with the parents, which would mean about 4-6 months between fry batches, as the parents would spend a great deal of time raising their brood before starting another.

I've never seen them eat eggs or be aggressive towards their fry. In fact, in my experience, they are exceptionally good and attentive parents.

If you want them to spawn, you should have some small-ish caves available to them. I've never seen them spawn without caves being present.

Hope that helps...happy to answer any other questions you might have. Kribs are such great little fish.

 

[catnmouse]

thanks so much for your quick - and detailed - reply, glad to hear from someone with so much experience. i've wanted kribs for a few years now, and am quite excited that not only did i finally buy some but they are getting along very well. they seem to have great personalities and are smarter and more observant than i expected for such small fish (somehow cichlids still find ways to surprise me!)

i figured they were a bit too small, but yes the female does have a bright pink belly (developed that about 5-7 days ago), sometimes it deepens to a rich ruby-red color esp when they "dance". it always fades back to pinkish-red but still much darker than the male's. her belly seems bigger than when i first got her, but not really "plump" yet and sometimes i wonder if its the dark red giving that illusion?

i'm actually watching them right now and the male seems to be trying to "lure" the female into a little tunnel he dug 4-5 days ago with a little shimmy-dance, she doesn't seem interested tho her colors are pretty deep. other times i've caught her leading him into a pot on the other side of the tank sooo....whether they spawn or not i'll be happy with them, altho at this rate i think i'd better be watching for eggs soon LOL

 

[catnmouse]

soo just wanted to post an update: my kribs have spawned, they laid eggs not quite a week ago. for the past 2 days or so i thought they ate the eggs because they weren't on the side of the pot and i couldn't see signs of them anywhere - turns out the eggs ARE gone, and have been replaced by wrigglers!

the parents are taking great care of them and are very attentive, constantly picking up the fry and putting them back in their "home" when one or two get the idea to hop out. can't wait til they're free-swimming, right now they're still little more than specs on the sand....

oh and i wanted to metion that my kribs spawned without me providing a cave: they do have a flower pot in the tank, but instead of spawning inside the pot they took it upon themselves to dig several "caves" and tunnels around the outside of the pot and have been using those. i had no idea kribs were such extensive diggers!

 

[catnmouse]

here's a pic i took today