E-Mail Questions And Answers About Kribensis
Help! (PLEASE),Our Story:
We purchased a pair of very young Kribs about a year ago. After months of waiting and isolating the fighting pair, we lost hope of ever having a compatable pair. One day we needed a hospital tank for our Pictus Cat and had to reunite the fighting pair. To our surprise they seemed to tolerate each other but, they attacked all other fish in the same tank. So (the story shortens), for the past 6 months they have been in our bedroom, in a five gallon tank. Yesterday a plant (too big for the tank but my girlfriend likes it) floated to the top. There they were! The cutest little eggs you ever saw.
Our Concerns:
I need to do a water change. The undergravel filter is in desperate need of cleaning. The tank is only five gallons.
Our Questions:
When to do water change?
What is the simplest food for the fry?
When can we move to a larger tank (with different water)?
Will the Kribs kill the fry if the tank is too crowded?
Lighting?
When can we pull them out and pet them?
Signed,
(The nervous grandfrys)
Hi, Nervouses,
First the floating eggs might not hatch, but don't worry, once the kribs start spawning it'll be a regular thing. Feed the fry the same food as the adults, they will chew it up and spit it out for the fry, if you really want to you can buy some special food called liquid fry food or tube food, but it's not neccessary. Move the fish any time except when you have eggs laid or you have small fry.
5 gallons should be fine for a pair of kribs, also the slightly dirty UG filter will not hurt anything, but you can clean the gravel bettween spawns.
Room light will suffice, it's not critical. You can pull the fry when they are about 4 weeks old, you'll notice that they don't follow mom around so much anymore.
Good Luck with the Kribs
Clint
Please could u tell me how long does it take for the fry to hatch from the eggs. My krib's has laid some eggs but i think they are all bad as it is a week already.
Plse reply to pep@~~~~~~
Thank u
Hello,
The eggs should hatch in 2-3 days, but the fry won't start actually swimming for another 5-6 days. So they might have already hatched, but just are'nt swimming yet.
Good Luck ,
Clint
Oscelyn ~~~ wrote:
Thank you so much Clint for taking the time to answer my questions. I'm sure you are swamped with questions from newbies all the time. I think it's great that you are willing to lend a hand. There are somethings that the books just don't tell you.
If you don't mind, I'd like to follow-up with the suggestions you made. There are already 2 small (clay) flower pots and a helmet (larger than a grapefruit) type caves in the tank. The pleco uses the helmet and I put the clay pots in there for the Kribs...they don't use it. She hides behind the heater. When I got home last night I moved him to one of those small breeder containers. (I know it's too small) I just want him to calm down a bit and not spook her so badly that she dies from stress. I've only had them since Monday. Is it ok to keep him there for 2 days. I don't want to put him in another tank because I'll never catch him. Besides, that would stress the other fish as well. BTW I'm building a rock cave with some slate that I bought. Remember I'm working with a 10g tank.
The small females has her brown color back, but the redness in her tummy has faded and I haven't seen her twitched since Monday. ? Is this normal? Can I leave him in the breeder for 2 days without harm? Is there anything else I can do to encourage them to spawn? What if the man at my LFS (local fish shop "ed") was wrong and I have 2 same sex Kribs? And how would I know?
Will they ever get along? And, how long will it take her to get her color back and be ready to spawn?
A huge THANKS in Advance
Hi,
The female kribs are more colorful than the males, but the males are larger and have longer fins. Sometimes you'll see a slight hump around the nose area of the male too.They should accept each other within 2 weeks if they ever will. Just feed them extra well and add some live brine shrimp or blackworms if your LFS has them. Kribs are sometimes slow to start spawning but once they get it going they'll raise a lot of fry. They are a real joy to watch. Krib mothers are the best.
If it doesn't work out bettween the pair you have, see if the shop will trade you for another male for the grouchy one. Meanwhile he should be fine in the breeding trap for 2 days.
Good luck.
Clint @ Petfish
I really like your first name. If I have a daughter, maybe I'll use it.
CN
Hi Clint:
Here's a brief update on the Kribs. The male is still chasing her. She is still wiggling and running. I went to the LFS and bought another male! She is really ready now. She chases him (the newbie). Both of them have bright red bellies and she kinda pecks him. Is this normal? She rubs against him and then she pecks him and chases him. Most times he runs. Of course, when Mr. Grouchy sees this he chases then both away. I've been reading more and I've found that the anal fin of the female is more rounded and the dorsal and anal fins of the males are more pointed.
Hi Oscelyn,
Thanks for the update. Usually only females have the bright red bellies. You might have another female there. If not, I'd try to use the new male who is more colorful. I'd put old grouchy in the "dog house", another tank, and let the other two have some quality time together. Cause the rubbing and chasing and increased color means the female is excited, either because it's a rival female or a hansome male.
Good Luck,
Clint
Hi Clint
Just wanted to give you an update on the kribs. Ok, the 4 little krib fry are gone, but at least I now know what to expect. The kribs at home (she ate the eggs) spawned again on Friday night/Saturday morning...just like you said they would. You said in about 2 weeks...it was 15 days, you are good with these fish! Well, those fish eggs are missing too. With the next spawning I'll try to remove some of the fry before they're all eaten and raise them. That should be fun. Do you know how old the fry need to be before they can re-join the community tank or be sold? I think I'd like to sell some at the next fish auction.
Hi,
Oh well, I still think that some day they will get it right.But the fry are easy to raise even without the parents help.Thier age isn't as important as their size, just whenever they get bigenough to not be eaten by anyone in the tank.One more thing you can try: The females are more dedicated parents, so you might try removing the male [if you have a good place to put him] after the eggs are layed.
Good Luck,
Clint
Hi Clint
Just wanted to give you a brief update. BTW, if you want to put these emailcommunications on your board with the other Krib info I don't mind. It mightkeep you from having to answer the same questions a zillion times.
It turns out that the eggs were not all gone. She had simply moved them. Theeggs were laid on Friday, April 30th and slowly over the next 3 days they hadall disappeared. By Wed/Thurs I was noticing 1 or 2 wigglers at a time and thenthey'd disappear. When I got home from work on Friday...there they were...awhole swarm of itty bitty fry underneath the mom and dad. My male Krib is awonderful dad. Over the pass 3 days (since they've been swimming) I've noticedthe dad picking up a wayward fry and putting it back into the group. Awesomesight!
I managed to get about 7 fry from the group and they are doing fine in a 2 galtank. But like you said, the parents are doing a much better job. (I justwanted to try it)
I don't want the parents to eat the fry when they are ready to spawn again...sohow long should I leave them in the tank... remember it's just a 20 xh tank sothere's not a lot of room for the fry to run and hide.
Guess what? I've got white cloud mountain minnow fry!!! I was moving the whiteclouds to the outside tank and putting the krib fry in their tank when I sawitty bitty flecks of movement. So far I've only seen 3 fry, but I've got aclump of java moss in the small tank and there might be some eggs or fry hidingin there.
Hi Oscelyn,
I'm so glad you're finally getting to see what good parents the Kribs can be. They are fantastic. You can leave the fry with them until you notice that the fry don't group together anymore and the parents aren't actively protecting them. Along bout this time they will probably lay a new batch of eggs. The parents probably wouldn't kill the older fry unless they tried to harm the new eggs. In fact at times I've had a fry or 2 from a previous spawn that would actually help raise their new brothers and sisters. All this is why Kribs are just about my favorite fish.
Clint
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