Kribensis breeding?

[Samzter]

Okay, around a week ago I bought 3 kribs. One male and two female. I decided to change my tank and go for more of a cichlid theme. Anyways one of the females and a male have claimed a hole side of the tank. They're colouring is amazing and the female has a very red underbelly. The male defends the side of the tank, and won't let anything near the cave. The female mostly stays inside the cave but if you're still enough she'll come out for a few seconds. Why do you guys think they're doing it? Could it be breeding behaviour?

 

[corylover]

very well could be that's usually a sign if they get brighter colors and have paired off somewhere. its the same for my gouramis just they aren't cave dwellers.

 

[Samzter]

Lifted up the cave and had around 14-20 eggs. Did I cause much harm by lifting up the cave?

 

[Andy Sager]

Lifted up the cave and had around 14-20 eggs. Did I cause much harm by lifting up the cave?

Only if the fish don;t go back into the cave. Time will tell.

What you may want to do in the future is position the opening of your cave(s) or pots (I use terra cotta pots for breeding kribs) in a way that you can shine a light into it so you can see what's happening without disturbing the caves.

FYI: There is this drawback to breeding cichlids in a community type setting. As you saw, the pair took over 1/2 of the tank. Breeding pairs will defend this territory fiercely so adding more fish may become a big problem. If breeding and raising the fry are not in your plans, I would suggest removing the male or the females and just keep same sexed fish (kribs in this case) so that they don;t have this issue. You can keep multiple members of Kribs in a community tank but I don't encourage keeping potential pairs this way. Pairs will do better in their own tank

Hope this helps