Question on my Kribs

[LindaMC]

I was given three kribs when they were juvenilles and the person who gave them to me thought he was giving me two females and one male. Then after they started to grow, I thought I had one female and two males because the one I thought was the female had a much deeper chest and a very purple belly. She also has a couple of spots on the upper part of her tail.

Lately,for the past 3 or 4 days, the female has been chasing one of the other Kribs, one I thought was a male but now I'm wondering if it's a female. This one has a purple belly too but not nearly as deep in color as the other and also doesn't have the spots on the upper portion of it's tail. Would the female be chasing this Krib and twisting her body in front of it, if it were another female? They do look awfully similar in appearance except for the spots and the darker belly. The other Krib isn't showing any color yet on it's belly and appears to be a bit younger.

I'm not sure what I will do if I have 3 females. Could it be possible that the fish the female is chasing is a male and that he could have a purple belly?

I've looked a photos and it's so hard for me to tell. I'm not that good with recognizing male and female kribs. Can anyone help me out?

 

[LeviathanGirl]

Males of this species can also have a bit of red on their bellies as well. To help you out heres a pic of one of my previous pairs. My current pair (F1's) are the parents of the female shown in this photo(F2). The male is wild caught(F0).

The female left and male on the right. I am guessing that your female is probably trying to lure a mate and has picked that particular fish to go after, which sounds in deed to be male. Keep an eye on how the fish being persued responds. He may run like the dickens for a while and then start to warm up to her advances. In which case fry wont be too long in following. You might not get a viable spawn the first time around as young pairs often need practice. My advice would be to leave the extra in the tank, that is if your not afraid to loose it, sometimes defending the territory from a rival and possibly killing it will strengthen the bond between a pair quite a bit. Sounds horrible I know, but sometimes a sacrifice needs to be made to get a really good pair of breeders. A good well bonded pair is far better than a poorly bonded pair.

I get a spawn nearly once a month out of mine if I remove the fry when they're a month old, but then my fish are a very well established bonded pair who have been together for over a year.

 

[westafrica]

The simplest way of telling wether a given krib is a male or a female is to look at it's ventral fins : round and purple means female, longer, pointy and bluer means male. It's not so rare that 2 females "krib" (Pelvicachromis pulcher) behave like a pair, even lay eggs together, even when a male is around. So the fact that one of your females is twisting and vibrating in front of another fish doesn't necessary means that you have one male and one female. Try looking at these fins, and tell us

 

[LindaMC]

It looks to me like the other one could be a female, her ventral fin is purple and blue very similar to the female, but longer. The females is shorter and close to her body. If it's a female, I wonder why she doesn't have spots up over her back fin like the other one does. The 3rd krib has a blue ventral fin, no purple in it at all. Could that change as he matures though? If I remember correctly, the one that I thought was a male looked just like the 3rd krib about 2-3 weeks ago.

Not sure what I will do if I have 3 females. They are all in a 29 gallon planted community tank with a pair of Blue Rams and a pair of Apisto- orange flash. There's also 4 serpae tetras in this tank too! I also have a 10 gallon planted tank with 3 glo lite tetras in it and I'm thinking of moving the apistos over to this tank, if I can ever catch them. The tank is pretty dense with plants so it's hard trying to catch any of these fish.

I also have clay pots in there and caves so that everyone has there own area but I'm sure once the Kribs spawn, or if they ever spawn, I will have to make other arrangements.

I'm going to try and post a photo of the kribs so that maybe you can tell me excactly what I have here.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[LindaMC]

Here's a photo of the two Kribs in question, as you can see the female is in hot pursuit of the Krib in front, who I'm hoping is a male. Can anyone tell me?

 

[LindaMC]

Here's a photo of the two Kribs in question, as you can see the female is in hot pursuit of the Krib in front, who I'm hoping is a male. Can anyone tell me?




Sorry about the double post, not sure what happened! The first photograph was too large and when I removed it and added a smaller photo, I notice two posts.


Here's one more shot, it's very similar but may help in deciding if the one in front is a male or a female.

 

[Jayhawk]

I think the easiest way to sex P. pulcher is that the color on top of the dorsal fin goes all the way to the end on the male but on the female it stops so there is clear colored fin at the end...plus all the above tips are good, too, but the dorsal fin has never failed me.

Eric

 

[Nick S.]

Kribs

Here are some of my Kribs there are 2 females and 1 male in this photo hope it helps.

The male is the one in the rear and his pelvic fins are blue the front females pelvic fins are deep purple almost black.

 

[aquaticclarity]

LindaMC,

The first picture you posted shows two female P. pulcher toward the top of it. It's a little hard to make out the third krib on the left side (the photo is a touch out of focus) but it also appears to by a female. There is a great deal of genetic variation with kribensis. Some females may have zero occeli (eye spots) in their dorsal and caudal while others may be almost "covered" in them. The spots are not the best visual tool to use when trying to determine boys and girls in kribs. As westafrica stated, looking at the ventral fins, the bottom paired fins toward the front of the fish, is the best way to tell. In females the ventral fins "ends" will appear almost rounded and in the males the same fins will be elongated.

That said, you should have room in the 29 gallon tank to add a male to the mix. Just make sure that there are plenty of caves and other hiding spots for the "extra" two females that aren't involved with the male. I would also recommend that you rearrange the decor in the tank at the time when you add the male. This will give the male a chance to carve out a territory while the females do the same.

Jeff

 

[westafrica]

I agree with Jeff : you have at least 2 females, and the third one seems to be a female too, and if it's not, it's a too little male. If you add a male, chose a big one, at least as big as your biggest female, or even bigger if you can. Otherwise there's a risk that the females consider him as an intruder and are not interested in him. Jeff's advice to change the decor is really important too, don't hesitate to put varied and numerous hiding places...

 

[LindaMC]

Any thoughts on where I might be able to purchase one large male Krib or even trade one male for a female? I've been looking on Aquabid but there's nothing. None of the LFS in my area see Kribs, too bad, that would be the easiest way to go.

I just emailed the friend who sold me the 3 females in hopes that he might have one male left. I sure hope so!

 

[tjudy]

Keep checking back with stores, and let them know you are looking for one. They are usually available from their wholesale sources. I have males if you want to try having him shipped. The cost of shipping will be far greater than the value of the fish though.

 

[MHEAD]

LindaMC. I am also located in Massachusetts (just north of Boston) and am also having a tough time locating any Kribs in the LFS. If you find any please let me know and I will do likewise. Tom

 

[LindaMC]

LindaMC. I am also located in Massachusetts (just north of Boston) and am also having a tough time locating any Kribs in the LFS. If you find any please let me know and I will do likewise. Tom

Hi Tom,

I found a store in Dorchester that has Kribs, I went and picked one up today, however, he's quite a big boy! He's a lot bigger than the females I have in the tank. Also, the friend who sold me the 3 females has located a male for me and is supposed to be shipping him to me but I'm not counting on that.

I'm a little concerned about how big this male Krib is but only time will tell whether or not the females will breed with him. He's shy and hiding in one of the clay pots right now.

The name of the store where I purchased them is Skipton Kennel & Pet Center on 70 Southhampton Street. It's the Mass Ave exit (18) off of 93 going South and it's right around the corner when you get to the bottom of the hill. I was very suprised at all the fish and supplies they sell there. I will be revisting this store again.

 

[westafrica]

Hi!

@ Linda :I'm glad you found a boy for your girls. Seing them display actively and intimidate each other to be the one chosen by the male is a great show to see . The fact that the male is far bigger than the females should not be a problem, maybe the contrary would have been more trouble-triggering... If he can chose among 3 girls, he has no reason to become violent, being bigger can even help him to be more persuasive to make the females understand when he can't stand their harrassment anymore :biggrin:

@Ted : I just wanted to thank you for the log about "P." sp. blue fin on your website. Great story, many useful informations we lack here in France (I know only one person who is successful breeding them here). How are they doing?

Linda, sorry for parasiting your topic like this, I just couldn't help asking when I saw that Tjudy had answered

Hope to read both of you soon.

Westafrica

 

[LindaMC]

Unfortunetly, I'm had to bring him back, he was far too big (about 4"s) for my 29 gallon and the fish that are in there. He would get tangled on my plants and rip them out when he chased away other fish. He was 3 times the size of my females, I've never seen a Krib this big, not sure why I got him in the first place, he didn't look that big in the tank in the LFS but then they were big tanks too! He was also very frightened, scared so easily, every time I'd walk in front of the tank, he'd bolt and hide in one of the pots, didn't eat the 3 days he was here either. I'm going to keep looking for smaller kribs, ones that are more inline with my females!

Here I go again!

 

[LindaMC]

I still have not brought this larger Krib back to the store yet, I was in the process of doing so but ended up getting sidetracked and now I find that he is growing on me, in fact, he has quite a personality, he's been coming out to greet me and staying out in front for long periods of time. This is after him spending 3 days in a cave and not coming out even to eat.

I have also found someone who will sell me two smaller males, so now I'm wondering whether I'd be better off with the two smaller males or the larger one. Like I said, he's a pretty big boy, about 3 times the size of the females. Will this make a difference? Could he still spawn with one of them where he is so large?

 

[LindaMC]

I was finally able to purchase two male red kribs and they are about the same age as the females. I have had them for approximately a week now but so far they do not seem interested in the females or vice versa. They are a bit larger as you suggested, just not as large as the single Krib I had purchased, he was much too big, I gave him to a friend of mine so he's now in a good home.

How long does it take for them to show interest in each other and begin courting? I have three different forms of caves in this tank, there are also other fish, would this be a problem? There's a small pair of Blue Rams and a small pair of Apistogrammas (orange flash).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[tjudy]

So long as the females are able to stake out a cave of their own and defend it, they will eventually start courting.

 

[Nick S.]

Courting

I have 3 pairs in a 46g com. tank and they are always courting. I also have a breeding pair in a 75g tank and they whiped out half the fish in the tank when they decided to breed, I had to take the other pair out as they were being relentlessly harrassed by the male of the breeders.