Kribensis breeding

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mahsfish

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 19, 2012
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Calgary, AB
I've got a 20 full of kribensis fry. I'd like to move a few to another tank so they can breed. In the tank some seem to be pairing as they stay near each other with out fighting and chasing others off. So should I just take 2 that seem to be cooperating out. Or is it better to have one male multiple females and so on. What's the best option.

The parent pair had breed 1 m 1 f but the male killed the female while they had fry.


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Took two out a week ago. Females stomach is now flat or smaller. She laid eggs hopefully. She stays inside the little decoration. They got along until 2 days after eggs were laid. Hopefully he fertilized them. Took male out female is left to parent the eggs


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mahsfish said:
I've got a 20 full of kribensis fry. I'd like to move a few to another tank so they can breed. In the tank some seem to be pairing as they stay near each other with out fighting and chasing others off. So should I just take 2 that seem to be cooperating out. Or is it better to have one male multiple females and so on. What's the best option.

The parent pair had breed 1 m 1 f but the male killed the female while they had fry.


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When you say fry, do you mean under an inch in length? And how many is full? Honestly, keeping more than 3-4 kribs that are longer than 2-3" in a 20 is bad idea....worse if it is a high and not a long.

The best way to tell a pair is to wait for eggs to appear to ensure you actually have a pair. Once you do have a pair, they will become incredibly aggressive towards all other tank mates who come near. And in a 20, there is no where the other tank mates can go to get far enough away. Kribs are monogamous. They choose one mate and stay together until one dies or disappears. Generally, if you are looking to isolate a pair, it is wise to remove all other fish and leave the pair in the original tank. This is because sometimes the tank you remove a pair to will have a different water quality and they will no longer want to spawn.

It has been known in the aquarist hobby that on rare occasions, many species of cichlids will become aggressive towards the other parent when they have fry. It's not known why they become aggressive, but either the male or female will fight to keep the other parent away. Now in a 20 gallon tank, if the male wanted to keep the female away, she would not be able to get far enough away from him and he likely beat her to death. If you see aggressive behavior, remove the one being abused to another tank. Let the aggressor guard the eggs. If you don't have another tank, a less safe alternative would be to get decorations, driftwood and/or plants (live or fake is fine) and create caves and dense areas of cover for hiding. That would at least give future parents a chance to run and lick their wounds if their spousal fish goes ape on them.

I bred kribs and other African cichlids about 4-5 years ago and they were all super aggressive when breeding. I bred my kribs in a 30 gallon with lots of decor and dense areas of fake plants and they did very well.


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mahsfish said:
Took two out a week ago. Females stomach is now flat or smaller. She laid eggs hopefully. She stays inside the little decoration. They got along until 2 days after eggs were laid. Hopefully he fertilized them. Took male out female is left to parent the eggs


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Kribs prefer to lay their eggs inside of caves, so if she is spending all her time inside or very near the mouth of the decoration entrance, she likely has laid eggs.

You don't have to remove either parent unless one starts getting aggressive with the other. Then you want to remove the one being harassed and let the one picking the fights guard the eggs/fry. Reason being is that the aggressor feels they can do a better job (usually because they are larger) and they pick on and chase away the other parent to prove it. It's not known why they do this, but it does happen sometimes. Most of my krib pairs got along very well and didn't fight, but I did have a few that did. I lost a male to female aggression on the first spawning of my second pair. She didn't want him around for some reason and killed him off. She was vicious and chased him all over the 30 gallon tank. I had never seen it before and wasn't prepared. After that, I started more densely packing my tanks to make more hiding areas.


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The pair is in their own tank. The male and female are just over an inch. Aswell as the fry. I'm trying to sell the fry. There was 40 and I've sold about half so far. I removed the male because the female was chasing him away and his fins were a but cut up.


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mahsfish said:
The pair is in their own tank. The male and female are just over an inch. Aswell as the fry. I'm trying to sell the fry. There was 40 and I've sold about half so far. I removed the male because the female was chasing him away and his fins were a but cut up.


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Perfect. That is good that you removed the male then.

It's surprising you have such a small pair. Most of mine didn't pair up until they were 2-3" long. Males max out around 6" and females around 5". Unfortunately, fish divert most of their energy to reproduction once they tart and very little of what they consume gets put into growth, so their growth will very likely slow to a crawl. They will grow at 1/4 the rate or less of unpaired kribs. But so long as you keep them breeding and remove one when the other gets too rough, you should be fine.


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I'm not sure if she laid eggs or ate them. Because her stomach was way smaller and she stayed inside the pot but she's been out for the day and I looked inside the pot and it doesn't seem too look like there are any eggs inside. Unless I missed them.


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mahsfish said:
I'm not sure if she laid eggs or ate them. Because her stomach was way smaller and she stayed inside the pot but she's been out for the day and I looked inside the pot and it doesn't seem too look like there are any eggs inside. Unless I missed them.


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If she is stressed or feels there is a threat he can't handle, she will eat her eggs to keep anyone from getting them. The next time they spawn, try removing the female as soon as she lays or remove the male after 24-36 hours (will give plenty of time for him to fertilize the eggs).


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mahsfish said:
I've got a 20 full of kribensis fry. I'd like to move a few to another tank so they can breed. In the tank some seem to be pairing as they stay near each other with out fighting and chasing others off. So should I just take 2 that seem to be cooperating out. Or is it better to have one male multiple females and so on. What's the best option.

The parent pair had breed 1 m 1 f but the male killed the female while they had fry.


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Click to expand...

Multipe famles........Chances are thAT the mal;e will breed withmore than one female........Multipe spawns from one male............
 
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