Kribensis breeding..

Hello all,

Even though I have not been to this part of the forum very much, I think this belongs here..
Today my pair of Kribs demonstrated their babies, whole 100-something of them and I was able to take a pic: one PROUD papa with who-knows-how-many babies underneath him..

OHH congts on the new additions!!! .. But, um.. err.. i dont see any babies!:o

BM, look directly under him, you will see little greyish dots...

ohh oh my goodness! How cute is that! :flirt: baby fishies! :highfive:

Thanks for pointing them out for me! :o


again, Congrats! Will you be keeping them all or will you be finding them homes?

Well, hopefully, they will all make it... :rolleyes: once they venture away from mom or dad - they could become a quick meal, as I do have other fish...
The ones we manage to keep, we will raise until big enough, then my sister-in-law wants them, she has a 130 gal tank! :eek: pretty empty too!
I cannot separate them now, bcz the parents may get too nervous and eat them all, it will have to be much later, when they are independent.

heres a clearer [pic with proud mama, there's no guessing there!

Oh my goodness! They are sooo cuute!! How long until they mature? Where could i get some of them? They are beautiful fishies\!

Oh my goodness! They are sooo cuute!! How long until they mature? Where could i get some of them? They are beautiful fishies\!

BM, they are going to mature pretty quick, I am guessing in about a month they should be all grown up enough to be completely independent, maybe sooner...You should be able to get them at your local pet store that sells fish...They are pretty common. And what beauties to watch, seriously...But they need a minimum of 20 gal tank for the pair. You could put other fish with them, but if they breed-they become very territorial and chase other fish away.

and one more of the babiez;

Oh my goodness, look at all the little cuties! Congratulations to the proud mama and papa!

I finally got a chance to come see the babies :cloud9:

Look at those little tykes!! :D Mom and Dad look so proud!! Too bad you can't just put a screen in there to block off one little section for the new family.

:goodvibes: little fishies! Grow fast! :thumbs up

Thanks for sharing, Jennie!!!

I've never heard of Kribensis before .....what colourful fishies they are :cool: and I love the pics. :lovestruck:

Good luck with the babies. :goodvibes:

If you dont mind, I still have a few questions for you.

1. How often do you have to clean the tank?
2. What do you do with them when you do clean the tank?
3. Can they coexist with sucker fish? ( AKA algae eaters)
4. How do you check ph levels an stuff like that?


lol.. I really likee these fish and want to get some!

BABY KRIBS!!! how cool!! did you do anythign to condition for spawning or was it just 'one of those things'?? how cool for you. :) thought about keeping them a few times myself but never got around to it. maybe one of these days!!

oh whatcha feeding them???


If you dont mind, I still have a few questions for you.

well... if i were to keep them-

1. How often do you have to clean the tank?

in a 20g with no other fish other than perhaps dither (you know, little tiny fish that school) you should probably siphon off roughly 25% the bottom weekly(get the poo up and stuff out)

2. What do you do with them when you do clean the tank?

the fish stay in there!! far more stressful to move them out than it is to chase them around with a siphon. :) also see my last link for why you dont want to ever really WASH your fish tank... there is a whole host of really good bacteria that help keep things running smoothly that grow over about a months time. to wipe that out subjects your fish to all sorts of nasty stuff until it establishes itself again. the two largest causes of fish loss are due to poor water quality (not doing enough water changes) and by damaging your nitrogen cycle (good bacteria)!!!

3. Can they coexist with sucker fish? ( AKA algae eaters)

WELL there are lots of sucker fish out there. for example-

http://www.otocinclus.com/
otocinclus get along great with almost ANY fish. they can be kept well at 1 for every 5 gallons, do a great job cleaning up.

maybe youre talking about Siamese Algae Eater??
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_sae.php
not to be confused with CHINESE algae eaters... those are rather terrible fish really. SAE are really great algae eaters!! they eat the dreaded black beard algae, hair algae... all but that circular hard stuff. nothing really eats that. they could live with kribs in a 25g with dither fish or more if you made sure it was well oxygenated (they are from rivers naturally)and can be a touch aggressive if not given enough space.

OR maybe youre talking about the common pleco??
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=88
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Common_Plecos_Hypostomus_Liposarcus.php
unfortunately these guys get really big needing minimum a 75g tank at maturity. its a real shame cause they are so easily found and so many people pick them up not knowing how big they get. they are super cool though!!! plecos in general are great for algae eating. lots of them are much prettier (or uglier, depends on how you judge these things) than the common one.

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+837+1039&pcatid=1039
the bushy nose is a great alternative though! and one would fit well say a 30g with a pair of kribs. provide drift wood for grazing though. :)

cory cats are not good algae eaters but are great scavengers. they should be kept in schools of 6 or more.... they could live (again) in a 30g or so with the reasonable stocking of any of the algae eaters and perhaps a few dithers (and by that i mean 6-8 neon tetras or threadfin rainbows or other similar schooling fish.)

there are other creatures that graze on algae but your little kribs would probably eat them. :laughing: fish think shrimp are tasty too!!

4. How do you check ph levels an stuff like that?

you get yourself a Master Water Test Kit and play with some vials. my 9yo thinks its great fun to work with the different chemicals to tell what the values are. she is strange like that. :D pH is important but you asked above how often to do clean the tank, the OTHER things you can test for (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) help you decide when to do that. check out how the nitrogen cycle manafests in your aquarium before starting one up. in not understanding this, you will likely face fish loss due to ammonia burns or the stress of swimming in their own waste/poo.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm


lol.. I really likee these fish and want to get some!

me too!! keeping some spawning type plants in there would help reduce baby loss with other fish in the tank. maybe some Java Moss??

to also say, as with any other living creature... there are very few sure right ways....and only a few really wrong ways. many of these things can be done with a only a bit of harm to your fish and everyone is a little different on how they do things. :)

-ashley

Wow, want4rain, you really answered pretty much all the questions...LOL

the only thing I would add is, I have both otocinclus and plecos and otos are amazing... I recently went into Ancistrus (sp??, bushy-nose pleco) they also dont grow tooooooo big and really clean well...

I would say, the rule of thumb is: one inch of fish per gallon of water is what you should aim for. So if you have a 20 GAL, aim for about 20" of total fish..

I would put some schooling fish (white cloud, rummy nose, neons...) with a pair of Kribs and a couple of Otos or Ancistrus. Thats it! If you over-populate - you will lose fish...

Also, when you set up your tank, leave it to run fish-free for about 2-3 days...this way the water gets circled around and settled, before you add anything.

Another tip would be to purchase your kribs in two separate stores, like the male in one place and the female in another. This way you avoid buying a brother and a sister (for when they mate)

All in all, I find Kribs to be one of the more peaceful cichlids out there, they are dwarf cichlids, which means they dont grow big (not like Jack Dempsey or Oscars, those get really big!!!)

Another nice fish to look into would be a Blue Ram, they are gorgeous, but they are also much more complicated...they need a specific PH level and they are much less resilient.

Babymomma, good luck, and feel free to contact me for any other info!!

Soooo...we have had them for a while now, they are growing good, are all separated to their own tank now, and I suspect we will need to buy a larger tank than what they have now, because I have about 60 (!) of them there!!! :eek: Here they are:

1+2: babies...
3. baby noms a brine shrimp...they are sooo funny..they cannot fit it all in, so they tear little pieces off, sometimes you'll see two babies going at it, playing tug with the food..LOL :shrug: :laughing:

They're getting big! They look like they have tiger stripes at this age?

They're getting big! They look like they have tiger stripes at this age?

Yep...I am guessing it is to help camouflage them from predators..I will post a couple of really cool close-ups tomorrow (me eyes are closing)!

Cool! Looking forward to the pics! :thumbs up

1. A really cool close-up of a shrimp...
2. My Angelfish is being dramatic
3. A portrait of a little one...don't know yet a boy or a girl! they are too young at this time.

How cute is that,love the little fishes:lovestruck:
Many years ago I had two aquariums,my Neons had babies and I had to seperate them in to a net hanging inside the tank.
Not all survived,but many did.
I had a large Pleco whom I was absolutely in love with..

Love the shiny angelfish! :lovestruck:

Those close-up shots are amazing. :cool: :lovestruck:

Thanks guys! :D

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would pop in and keep you posted on the little ones...The are doing FANTASTIC, they are about half-inch long now, growing like weeds and swimming everywhere...The funniest is the feeding time, they all bunch together and follow my hand around...:cloud9: They also look like Kribs more and more, especially the stripe through them and their antics...LOL

So here are a couple of new pics:
1. bunch of em!
2. Nommin away a worm

Aw, the youngsters are growing up! :cloud9:

How many are there? And what will you do with all the little guys? Have you bought a bunch of new tanks already? :D

Love your aquarium,those are all real plants,right??
Oh and the babies,how exciting,they are getting bigger,:thumbs upthat's a dumb comment,of course babies get bigger:laughing:

Thanks guys!
yep, they are growing well, and yes chico, all the plants are real. And the fishies love them!
LOL
We will probably give some to our friends, but I suspect we will have to bring them to a fish store, because of the fact that the parents have since mated again..LOL...I am a back-yard fish breeder! :eek: :laughing:
:sorry: not funny at all, but I feel okay about it, because the store that we usually deal with, is very good, has excellent reputation, at least as far as I am concerned.
:shrug: We never expected that, but since it is happening - we gotta take care of the babies!

Hazel, yes. :rolleyes:..We have now 4 aquariums up and running...1 is the main tank (40GAL) with the breedeing pair, a couple of bottom feeders to clean up and LOTSA plants...lol...2nd one is also big tank, about 33 GAL, with all the other fish, that are very happy, because they were abused in the first tank, the Kribs are very territorial when breeding.
Third tank is a 5GAL, where we keep the babies when they are tiny, its really a nursery, with a couple of shrimp and a small algae eater, that does not attempt to snack at the babies...and Fourth tank s the 10 GAL that I have on my desk, where the babies are growing nicely...Then, they will go into the 2nd tank, the community one, so they can get introduced to being with other fish, and when they are old enough/big enough, we will then bring them in.
So instead fo having a baby, we are having fishies! :shrug::frustrated: :laughing: