Decreasing shyness in kribs?

[Jayhawk]

My pair of kribs (perpetual spawners, but poor parents so far after a few months) are shy. The male hides in the back of the tank behind a rock pile, and the female, when not in her cave with eggs, hangs back there with him, too. There are about 5-7 cave areas (driftwood and rock based) in my heavily planted 33 gallon tank (36" long), and they have 3 Variatus platies, one clown pleco, one bluefin killi, and one lace finned syno (S. Eupterus?) as tankmates. There used to be 3 amano shrimp and two otos, but they were all wiped out by the kribs who, not surprisingly, rule the tank.

So...any advice on getting these guys to come out and about more? Would more platies help? A target fish/cichlid of some sort (and what type)? Or, are they just being kribs?

They're just so darned attractive I hate not seeing them very often.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[tjudy]

Try putting a couple more female kribs in teh tank. I keep one HUGE male and three female P. sacrimontis in a 33 long, and they are about the meanest krib there is. There are enough hiding places for the non-breeding females to get away from the aggression.

 

[Jayhawk]

Thanks Ted! I love it when people advise me to buy more cichlids...

Eric

 

[tjudy]

Here is more advice then.. buy mine! I have more than I need!

www.tedsfishroom.com/stockshopfish.html :biggrin:

 

[Jayhawk]

I ended up picking a pretty H. guttatus (labelled bimaculatus of course) from my LFS. Of course, by the time I got back from the LFS the two kribs were out and about with a ton of fry. After QT, I'll see how the jewel does in this tank. If there are issues, it's a nice excuse to set up that spare 20 long in the basement.

I've heard mixed reviews of single jewels. I had one as a teen that was peaceful as a singleton, yet I'm thinking it would be hardy enough to stand up to to the pulchers and provide someone to be out and about guarding against.

Eric

 

[Nick S.]

Shyness

My Kribs don't show any shyness at all, except when I try photograph them.
I have 6 in a 46g tank with lots of landscaping and plants. They actually come to the surface all the time when i'm near hoping for some frozen shrimp and spinach puree that I made for them. They have quite a voracious appetite for it and will jump at it. It is interesting to watch.

 

[drudnick]

I have same experience with mine. I go anywhere near the tank they rush to the front, my wife has even been able to touch them. Very friendly sociable fish...Mean mean mean with eggs though

 

[Jayhawk]

The jewel didn't work out...he did help get the kribs out a lot more, but he ate hunks off the tails from all my dither fish - so he went back to the LFS (where I was lectured by a teen that NO cichlid should ever be kept with ANY fish other than other cichlids...grrr).

But, my LFS has some nice looking kribs in. When they've acclimated a bit longer I'll grab a couple of females and see if that helps.

Eric

 

[Nick S.]

Eggs

I have same experience with mine. I go anywhere near the tank they rush to the front, my wife has even been able to touch them. Very friendly sociable fish...Mean mean mean with eggs though

I just had a spawning on Tuesday. Moved them into a 15g to spawn, thery'e with a pair of M. Altaspinosa, 4 Emperor Tetras and 3 Ottos. The female is being a little shy but the male is not, and they have not shown much agression toward their tank mates. Unless they get too close to the hole in the flower pot.

 

[Mike Wise]

The Krib pair will get much more agressive once the fry become freeswimming. Keep an eye out for damage on the other fish in the tank.

 

[Nick S.]

The Krib pair will get much more agressive once the fry become freeswimming. Keep an eye out for damage on the other fish in the tank.

I definitely will Mike I was thinking of moving the M. Altaspinosa into my new 36g tank.