Krib breeding

[michelle]

Two days after introducing a male to my female they spawned. Now I have approximately 120 four week old fry. I recently separated about 50 into a 120 litre tank where they seem to be doing fine and left the rest with the parents in the 72 litre tank. The female has coloured up again in the last two days and is curving towards the male. (I was surprised to notice late this evening that part of her tail fin is missing).

I do not want to be inundated with fry that I cannot home. Anyone got any ideas - I do have a 125 community tank with 1 clown loach in it (bought as a gift ) a BN catfish and a handful of tetras. Could I put the pair in that tank with them and let nature take its course for the next spawn if there is one or will they be too aggressive towards the other fish in that tank?

Any advice welcomed.
michelle

 

[apistobob]

Too many fry is actually a common problem for many dwarf cichlid breeders. You can certainly put the pair in the 125 and let things happen as they may. It is possible that you could end up with hundreds of fish this way.

You can leave them where they are and see what happens. I would guess that they will spawn and it is likely that they will raise another brood in the presence of the older fry. However, the older fish will be chased away from the new fry. Over a period of time the fry will gradually mix together until soon the female will spawn again. At some point there will be a tipping point and they will no longer continue to raise new broods.

This is a good problem but a problem none the less. Another option is to put them in a tank with fish that will prey on their fry so that you can't get hundreds from a spawn.

good luck

Bob

 

[Csababá]

congratulation

Wonderful but still painful problem. Let's be informed, maybe illustrated with pictures.

 

[michelle]

I have watched them carefully on and off all day and cannot make out why her tail fin is looking so ragged. All things point to the male, but I have not witnessed any nastiness on his part - common sense tells me its him. The water has been kept in pristine conditions and I have fed them well, so I guess it can only be the male.

Thank you for your reply apistobob and also a bit of a problem, the kribs have brought me so much pleasure - watching them, better than T.V. any day

I think I may well leave the fry in the two tanks to see how they progress which will be fun for my first spawn, and remove the adults to the community and i guess the clown loach and the BN catfish will polish most of the fry if there are other spawns.

So for you Csababa I will endeavour to post some pictures of the fry. - Sorry I have such lovely pictures, have resized them in my files but am unable to post as I don't understand this system, humm maybe I will have to have a read on how to do that.

michelle

 

[Bigbadbaz]

My daddy krib is evil, he spawned with the female I purchased him with, after a week I found her dead. I purchased another female, he spawned with her twice then killed her. If you can remove her from the tank until she is healed you will have a better chance of another spawn and her surviving.

 

[michelle]

Krib pictures

Hope it is ok to post pictures in the forums. Here are a couple of the ones I have taken from my first spawn.

Krib fry 5 days old

16 day old fry

 

[joestreich]

fantastic pictures. i love how much detail you captured. what kind of camera are you using?

 

[Csababá]

Really nice pics!

 

[georgedv]

Those are great pics of very small critters. What camera are you using?

g

 

[michelle]

Hi there,

Thanks for the positive comments you guys. I am using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18.

I have a couple of other photos of the fish developing, but not sure if i am allowed to post these pictures in the general forums or even if they are the right size. - Well I have not been told off yet.

Michelle

 

[michelle]

Krib Photos

Some more for those enthusiasts to enjoy.

The first one is at 21 days

The next one is fry at 23 days

Hope you enjoy them.

Michelle

 

[Csababá]

Congrats, what are you feeding them with?

 

[K-Pon]

Maby post parents photos

 

[michelle]

Here are a couple of pictures of the parents

Dad posing nicely.

Mum with fry

Parents with five day old fry

I have been feeding them four times a day with 20% water changes . I started them off on liquifry for a couple of days then frozen baby brine shrimp, cyclops,First Bites and now they have graduated to crushed flake replacing the First Bites and Liquifry.

Michelle