Question Regarding my Kribs

[LindaMC]

A friend sold me three Kribs when they were very young, I originally had them in my 29 gallon community tank, as I was trying to rid my 10 gallon of some algea and it was blacked out at the time. I finally managed to catch two of the Kribs and put them in my 10 gallon, one I believe to be a female, as this one has a much pinker belly and the other one is a male, I believe. I could not catch the third one, can't believe how fast they are!

My problem is now that they are in the 10 gallon, the one I believe to be female is chasing the other one to the point of stressing him out. He's so pale now, all his color is gone. They don't come out in the open so it's hard for me to see them, the tank is pretty well planted. Does anyone know if this is normal behavior? I don't think they're quite old enough to spawn yet, is this why one is chasing the other so badly or is it just aggression. Should I try to catch the 3rd one and add him to the tank or will that make things worse with two of them ganging up on the one who is scared?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Linda

 

[Jayhawk]

There are much more experienced krib keepers than me, so hopefully they'll chime in...

But your tank is too small, and sometimes fish don't pair up when there is only one male and one female. I wouldn't keep them in anything smaller than a 20 gallon long.

In the meanwhile - how many caves do you have for them to escape each other? How busy/densely planet is your tank? Anything to break up the line of sight will help.

Eric

 

[champ]

I have had the same thing with Kribs- it is possible that the female has already paired up with the Krib you left in the 29 (that is if he is a male). Try putting the female back in the 29 & see if they appear to be a pair- my experience is that you are right, the paired couple would likely kill the other male.
Jim

 

[drudnick]

I have been lucky enough to get 2 to pair without needing extra males or females, however, you definitely want to keep the 3 together until you get a bonded pair. Once that happens get the odd male out, as he will not be welcome anymore. Once paired they are an awesome fish to watch. The pair really do act as a couple. They will spawn in a 10G easily, as I have had multiple spawns from them. If you keep the pair in the 29G be careful what else you put in with them, because once they are breeding, nothing in that tank will be safe. So you dont want anything that you dont want harmed sharing the space.

 

[Nick S.]

I have had the same thing with Kribs- it is possible that the female has already paired up with the Krib you left in the 29

I found that by watching which female the male responds to the most will tell you whom he has chosen. With my kribs I bought quite young and ended up with 4 females and 1 male, and they were all hitting on him, but he was only showing interest in the one even though 2 of the other females looked more ready than his chosen. I separated the pair of them and moved them into another tank. They spawned in 2 days. Now I'm waiting to see what happens, as this is day 4.

 

[Zack Wilson]

I generally find kribs need a source of antogonism to sort of help cement the pair bond. With regular pulchers this often comes in the form of a "sacrificial" female, although maybe a male would work too. I just find that the females seem to do more of the actual competition for the male than visa versa. I find I'm not the only one who practices this to get a good pair.

That said, a 10 gallon is on the small side, but far be it from me to say anything is impossible. Far more unlikely things happen.

 

[tjudy]

I also think that a 10 gallon is a bit small, but you can eliminate some of the effect of the aggresion by diffusing it with... more kribs. I will often flood a tank with a half dozen 1" - 1.5" P. pulcher juveniles if i have a larger pair that are fighting. These smaller fish are rarely beaten or killed, but they will distract the aggressive fish away from it's target. When forming a pair bond I also use the sacraficial lamb. I prefer females because it seems that the dominant female spawns sooner with a female competitor. Extra males will work, but it takes longer for the pair to form.

 

[Lisachromis]

Guess I got lucky when I spawned my kribs ages ago. They spawned in an aquarium brick (lovely pink colour LOL) in a 5 gallon tank with only themselves in it and they never bothered the fry. I can't recall when I moved the fry out though. Knowing what I know now, I'd say I got extremely lucky in the pair I had.

 

[tjudy]

I have had kribs do well as pairs in small tanks, but it seems to be the exception rather than the norm. I also tend to get young adult or adult fish rather than younger fish, and older fish are already in a territorial mood. If the fish are obtained as juveniles and grow up together in the small tank they will probably be more likely to get along.

 

[lighting]

A friend sold me three Kribs when they were very young, I originally had them in my 29 gallon community tank, as I was trying to rid my 10 gallon of some algea and it was blacked out at the time. I finally managed to catch two of the Kribs and put them in my 10 gallon, one I believe to be a female, as this one has a much pinker belly and the other one is a male, I believe. I could not catch the third one, can't believe how fast they are!

My problem is now that they are in the 10 gallon, the one I believe to be female is chasing the other one to the point of stressing him out. He's so pale now, all his color is gone. They don't come out in the open so it's hard for me to see them, the tank is pretty well planted. Does anyone know if this is normal behavior? I don't think they're quite old enough to spawn yet, is this why one is chasing the other so badly or is it just aggression. Should I try to catch the 3rd one and add him to the tank or will that make things worse with two of them ganging up on the one who is scared?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Linda

HI linda your right about your female .as for the tank their in now it might be a bit small for them to as for the other krib i think your might be better off moving it in with the others and see what happens as long as it has lots of hideing places like caves or plants as for the chasing around that might be just them finding thier territorys .how big are your kribs at the monment?Ive had three ribs in a 4t tank with tetras and a pair of drawfs agasszi all get on great and the kribs have paired off and started to breed happily ive taken out the other female krib. the tank is well plantrd with plenty of rocks. good luck let me know how they get on.