Krobia Xinguensis

[anewbie]

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of Krobia Xinguensis. These were recommended to me as a decent community fish in a large tank with a group of 8. I've found a few references to them but they seem to be a newer species that many sites such as seriouslyfish.com does not discuss. My greatest concern is level of aggression and proper care. They would be housed in a very large tank with pleco, random cats docile cats (otto to Platydoras armatulus) larger tetra (black neon, whitefin rosy), angelfishes and a few loaches.

I've seen a few wild ones for sale but not any tank bred ones so not sure if lack of interest in the hobby or difficult to breed.

 

[MacZ]

https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2012/f/zt03197p054.pdf

This is the scientific description. The fact that it was first described only in 2012 is a clear indicator, that the species hasn't been in the hobby too long before that and generally doesn't play a role in the trade. This is true for many species.
Also the paper immediately makes clear, that the species was once categorized as a species of the genus Aequidens. I wouldn't be surprised if there is more info to find under that name.
Do you speak any languages besides English? There is a lot of info in German and Portuguese available.

 

[anewbie]

I only speak english and I found several sites describing it including this one:

Krobia xinguensis - AquaInfo

Krobia xinguensis is a peaceful, small-sized cichlid from the Rio Xingu. Due to its beautiful color and character a real asset to the hobby!

aquainfo.org

and the one you mentioned. My reading is that this fish is relatively peaceful; not picky about water (as long as it is clean) and readily breeds. Still I've purchased other fishes described as peaceful only to have them turn out to be terrors and while I understand that individual fishes will have different personalities as well as other situations (including breeding) will bring out aggression I've still been a bit surprise how aggressive some 'peaceful' fish have turned out during non-breeding periods. Given the size of this fish I'm mostly looking for confirmation that it is not picky about water parameters and it will actually be relatively docile around the angels; after all I would prefer it not put holes in them....btw my other reading is in the wild they are diminished due to dams on the Rio Xingu.

 

[MacZ]

From what I can gather from non-english sources their temperament seems to be very much comparable to keyhole cichlids. And also that there haven't been any wild caughts in the trade in quite a while, but only tankbreds, because the dams may have not only diminshed but extinguished them in the wild.
Hope that helps.

 

[anewbie]

I found one store selling them that claims they are wild caught; so if that is accurate they are still in the wild. Oh well that damn is causing a lot of issues; but i'm sure the recent burning of forests will make things worse. I guess that is the nature of people.

 

[Chromedome]

Sorry I haven't been in the forum for quite some time. Krobia xinguensis was known for several years as Krobia sp. "Red Cheek". I think I first saw one in 2005 at the Dallas ACA convention. I was finally able to get some of these a few years ago, they were pretty easy to breed. Very easy going with other small Cichlids.

It is actually a very attractive species, and easy to breed, I'm surprised it hasn't been more widespread. Here's a photo of my male that spawned:

 

[anewbie]

Sorry I haven't been in the forum for quite some time. Krobia xinguensis was known for several years as Krobia sp. "Red Cheek". I think I first saw one in 2005 at the Dallas ACA convention. I was finally able to get some of these a few years ago, they were pretty easy to breed. Very easy going with other small Cichlids.

It is actually a very attractive species, and easy to breed, I'm surprised it hasn't been more widespread. Here's a photo of my male that spawned:

View attachment 10916

Do you still keep them? Are they as passive as what I've read (in regards to housing in a community tank) ?

 

[Chromedome]

They are quite passive for their size. I no longer have them, as I had to liquidate my fish stocks a few years ago to pay bills. Now that things are settling back down, I might be on the lookout for them in the future.

 

[pgriff5]

I have one in my 65G south american tank with a severum, EBA and some rainbow fish. He is about 4in, got him from my LFS cause one of the employee was breeding them for fun. Had him about2-3 weeks so far and honestly he seems the chillest out of the whole tank. Likes a certain part of the tank but never tries to fight for territory. Maybe this will change after having him for a bit, but overall im very pleased and he is a beautiful fish.

 

[kekke1082]

I know that this is a rather old thread but I just acquired a suspected pair of krobia xinguensis and I'm curious how they've been long term? I'm hoping to bred them as I find them fascinating and beautiful! Looking for tips on sexing if there are any. Everything I found online said that sexing them was somewhat difficult until they actually spawned, although in most cases males tend to be larger there no guarantee that size is a definite indicator of sex.


Are any of you still keeping krobia?

 

[Chromedome]

I have not seen them available in several years. Sexing is a little bit tricky. Females have shorter dorsal and anal fins, and less color overall. Here's a photo of the mate to the male in the photo of my previous post:

 

[anewbie]

I have not seen them available in several years. Sexing is a little bit tricky. Females have shorter dorsal and anal fins, and less color overall. Here's a photo of the mate to the male in the photo of my previous post:

View attachment 13775

A colorado store had wc ones available earlier this year but it was just before i moved so i couldn't buy them. By the time i moved they only had 2 left; maybe next spring. My hope is to get 6 to 8 to get a few of both sexes - the 550 (gallon) can probably hold 8 comfortably esp if i skip the chocolate monsters.

 

[kekke1082]

I have not seen them available in several years. Sexing is a little bit tricky. Females have shorter dorsal and anal fins, and less color overall. Here's a photo of the mate to the male in the photo of my previous post:

View attachment 13775

Thanks for the info! The two I had actually did turn out to be a pair and spawned just a few weeks after I acquired them and I got a very generous offer from a local club member for an additional 8 fish that I'll be getting after the holidays. I'm considering creating a biotope for them in either my 75 gallon or a 60 breeder if I can get one during the half off sale. I had my pair with a male apistogramma mendezi and they didn't bother him in the least so they've been extremely peaceful. I can't wait to see how the interact with each other in a larger group. I still haven't come across much info on them other than a few YouTube videos unfortunately in languages I'm not able to understand. Have you enjoyed keeping them?