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:

10. Diseases - AquaInfo

Diseases are generally not a problem in aquariums which have over-filtered, crystal clear, bacteria-free water.

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?

 

[kekke1082]

Had to follow up on this post and say that I received a total of 11 juvie krobia xinguensis! I think that number is a little high long term so I'll slowly be selling off about half of the group, and try to whittle it down to a ratio of 2 males to 4 females. I've read that they are typically found in the shallows of the xingu River so I'm going to attempt to create a biotope inspired aquascape for them in a 50 gallon lowboy. I'm curious as to what other species of fish are usually found with or near them in the lower shallows of the xingu River? I plan on purchasing the Below water book on the xingu River but until then can anyone shed some light on compatible species to house with the krobia besides L046 plecos which are easy enough to find but very expensive in decent quantities or confirmed pairs. I currently have a trio of false green phantom plecos in their holding tank and they all seem to get along rather well.


I'm hoping to find at least one larger bodied/deep bodied tetras from the same area, and a plecos type or other catfish type commonly found living in the same habitat as krobia xinguensis however I'm having the hardest time finding habitat specific info on the krobia.

 

[anewbie]

I picked up some f3 or f4 (the guy wasn't sure); a group of 5. They are monsters in terms of being all mouth - with in 2 hours they ate 4 of my adult cardinals - - something like adult serpa might work but no guarantee. I moved the remaining 4 cardinals of the aquarium. My rummy are larger than than the cardinals but i won't put them in the aquarium with the rummy. They breed like crazy - or at least the ones ihave - i've not been feeding the frys bbs - they are in a 'holding' 120 with some medium size angels until i decide what to do with them - i don't really have a breeding tank for them but i could move a pair into a 40b when the discus are dont' with qt. They don't seem to care about water condition - the seller was from florida and he said he kept them in hard water (240 ppm i think) and 81 degree. I have them in softer water (120-140ppm) at 80.

 

[Aileen60]

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.

Old

 

[Aileen60]

Could u put Lesser aggressive Mbuna cichlids with Krobia Xinguensis?

 

[MacZ]

Could u put Lesser aggressive Mbuna cichlids with Krobia Xinguensis?

No. They need different water parameters and habitat conditions, they are unable to communicate via their colours and the baseline aggression level of Malawi cichlids is much, much higher. The Krobia will simply be outcompeted.

 

[anewbie]

The krobia can handle harder water than many sa fishes but yea the mix in signals would cause a lot of aggression and these fishes depend on signals to prevent serious harm.
-
Mine readily breed without effort in 140tds water; and i was told by the seller he was breeding them in 200+ tds water (hard florida water).

I'm mix on them as a fish - certianly can't keep these with cardinals or any sort of stream line tetra - while smallish fish they have giant mouths and love to stuff it full of food.

 

[Hanzle]

Kennis van mij heeft ze, wildvang. Schitterende vissen. Doet ontzettend denken aan aquidens soorten curviceps, dorsigerus etc. Hij heeft ze een maand of 9 n melde mij dat ze totaal niet agressiev zijn. Heeft er grote Corydoras Sterbai n Axelrodi tetras bij zitten en ze kijken r niet naar om. Zitten op kraanwater met een ph van 7.2 n een kh van 6.5 a 7 n voelen zich daar heel goed bij. Ze eten geen vlokkenvoer maar verder alles levend n diepvries.