Krib aggression and tank size... help!

[Lloyd]

hi there. first post!

I used to have a fresh cold water tank with native fish for years but I stopped replacing them after they would pass on. Eventually there were no fish so I converted it to a freshwater tropical tank.

Being the idiot I am, I went to the LFS and asked what are some nice fish to have without really having an idea of what I wanted. Tropical fish is an unfamiliar world to me so I didn't know anything. The guy showed me some Kribs and said they are very popular. So I decided I'd buy 4 of them (2M 2F). My tank is 54 gallons so I figured that would be plenty of space for 4 fish.

Well, they sure seemed to like their new home. Two paired off right away but the other two did not. Didn't seem to bother them and everyone was rather peaceful and all was good.

Well, yesterday I see some freaking fry swimming around the bottom closely watched by one parent! And all of a sudden, this pair seems to have claimed the ENTIRE tank as their territory. The other two fish are getting bullied pretty bad. I thought with 4 fish in 54 gallons and plenty of hiding places it would be fine but it doesn't seem to be.

Should the other two fish just be removed from the tank and let the breeding pair claim the entire tank? Or do you think they could co-exist in some kind of peace?

And do I need to do anything for the fry (special food or something?) or will they just grow up on their own? I'm a little unprepared....

So here is my 54G tank back when it was rather new (there is much more plant life now) so there are a lot of hiding places in all the stacked wood and many plants provide a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in too. Is it unreasonable to have more than two Kribs in here?

 

[Menagerie]

WELCOME TO AA

Lucky!! That is normal for cichlid parents to take over an entire tank. You have a few options. Remove the other fish--time for a new tank! Do nothing and hope for the best (help out by adding more hiding/caves). Add more fish. That may not be the best thing, but it would even out the aggression. You will need to research which fish to add to make this work.
My 3 month old is trying to fly off my lap, so I will check back in later.

 

[Lloyd]

hey thanks for the tips. I'm not sure if I want to add more fish to the tank at the moment. I like giving my fish tons of room... I don't have another tank though and I don't have any room in my tiny house for another one. sigh... I guess I'll see how they all get along in the tank...
thanks for the welcome. Lots of good info here!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Welcome to AA!

Very nice pics!!

 

[Acer]

nice tank, i would add some terra cotta pots for them to use for caves, other than that i think they'll be good. breeding cichlids is dont a lot of times just to watch their different behaviors. when the other pair pairs up they'll return the favor to your current pair. other than that im sure the other fish are fast enough to stay out of trouble...

 

[Menagerie]

The fry will do fine on algae for now, but you can get fry bites if you feel they are not getting enough food. The parents will eat them too.
I used to have kribs in a 50 gallon with bottom dwellers, other kribs, and white cloud minnows. The pair that spawned RULED the tank. They ran everyone off. No fish died from the stress of it, but the aggression was spread out over many fish. I hate to be a nay-sayer, but the other kribs may not handle the stress well. More hiding spots would be helpful.
That top photo is gorgeous. What kind of camera are you using?

 

[Lloyd]

Welcome to AA!

Very nice pics!!

Thank you for the welcome!

nice tank, i would add some terra cotta pots for them to use for caves, other than that i think they'll be good. breeding cichlids is dont a lot of times just to watch their different behaviors. when the other pair pairs up they'll return the favor to your current pair. other than that im sure the other fish are fast enough to stay out of trouble...

The thing is, there are SO many hiding places. But they don't go into them. The other fish like to stay out in the open for some reason. I don't really get it. I guess I can add a pot or something but there isn't much room because it's filled with plants.

The fry will do fine on algae for now, but you can get fry bites if you feel they are not getting enough food. The parents will eat them too.
I used to have kribs in a 50 gallon with bottom dwellers, other kribs, and white cloud minnows. The pair that spawned RULED the tank. They ran everyone off. No fish died from the stress of it, but the aggression was spread out over many fish. I hate to be a nay-sayer, but the other kribs may not handle the stress well. More hiding spots would be helpful.
That top photo is gorgeous. What kind of camera are you using?

ok cool so I guess I don't need to feed the fry. they are constantly picking at plants and the ground and stuff so it looks like they're eating constantly... just didn't know if they were getting what they needed out of it.

As for the pics... I used a Canon 40D.
picture taking is my life!
I'm hoping to get some decent (better) shots of them soon.

 

[Menagerie]

I'm hoping to get some decent (better) shots of them soon.

Looking forward to them!

 

[kribbman]

Kribb's the "Peacefull Cichlid"....
While not as ferocious as other Cichlids thes guys are remarkable for their overzealous parenting . I would have figured that with so much space you could get a few more fish in there but nope they just wont hear any of it Its their tank and nobody else is welcome...Good luck with them...