Breeding Pairs of Kribensis

[kriben]

I just have a few questions about breeding kribs, that have come up with my experiences over the past three or four months of breeding one pair. First of all, what can I do to get my female to fill to the brimming point with eggs? I feed earthworm flakes once a day, then later on feed frozen blood worms or frozen mysis shrimp. She occasionally picks at one of the several bunches of java moss in the tank. It seems that she will get full of eggs only to a fairly noticable point before laying eggs to which I have only gotten wrigglers once out of 5 or so spawns(on the first batch, which made it to free swimming before just vanishing). Another question, how do you strengthen the pair's bond? The female almost killed her mate after the first batch of fry were free swimming for a week. I removed him because he was stressed, but he didn't eat in my recoup tank. I added him back to the main tank where the female was(fry were all gone) and had no problems. One last question for right now, is it possible for me to house two or three pairs in a 40 breeder in the hopes of stronger pair bonds and the pair actually staying near their cave instead of all over the place?

 

[Owl307]

many times you have to remove one of the pair, I had a male kill a female, and then a female kill a male... Many times one fish doesnt want the others help. Now that female I can get a spawn out of her and she kills the male IMEDIATLY after so I buy male after male... sigh you could have two pairs in a 40 breeder but one or both of the pairs may never raise the fry beacause of the threat. I find 20g works well for one pair....

 

[kriben]

That sucks. I would give up on her personally. Kribs from where I am are $6.25 a piece. I was thinking of maybe getting a group of 6 juvies and just keeping it that way, letting pairs form and taking out the stray ones. This may just be me, but I feel like my pair of kribs needs some sort of thing that threatens the territory more than cherry barbs do. It is like they feel to safe so it is okay to just leave the young to go eat at the top of the tank and chase each other. Leaving the little ones wide open for a barb to snap a couple of babies. I also think that the whole 36"x12" bow front tank they are in now is too much space for them to control and wonder around. I am going to try multiple pairs in the 40 breeder, plant it realy well and have lots of caves and drift wood around to break the line of sight that they may have. Looking for some more answers to my questions like getting my female really fat. My lfs had her that way when I got the pair and she hasn't been that big since.

 

[Owl307]

she's my best female, nice BIG spawns

 

[kriben]

That is good, how many fry are you getting per spawn? How big/old is she, I think that plays a role in how many eggs you should be able to get. Mine is about 3.5" or so and I get maybe 60 eggs, 60 wrigglers, and 30 fry then 15 then 5 then gone(first spawn I had from her). The next ones I think I got less than 60 eggs and never saw wrigglers since the first batch. Also, what are you feeding her?

 

[Owl307]

she's around 1.2 2 inches- very tiny female. This male (she killed) didnt fertalize good but it can reach over 100 with a good male

 

[kriben]

That is pretty good! I am getting 60 eggs, but then again my male was good at what he does for that batch. I wonder if he has been messing up the past few spawns. Now he is as ready as he can be, shaking every time she holds still almost! She still doesn't seem receptive yet, but her egg tube is starting to show so any day now I would expect.

 

[Owl307]

lol, you may see her shake in front of him, when they both shake for each other the time is close

 

[kriben]

I have never noticed her shake in front of him. After him shaking at her for a while and him going in the cave, she is now going in and cleaning up a bit from the last time. This is the perfect time to do so, there tank was going to be torn down this week and everyone was going to be taken to the lfs until I got the 40 breeder tank up and running. I have a very odd pair when you compare to what normally happens lol. The female is following the male all over the place. We will see what happens.

 

[Owl307]

hahaha I was about to take the tank down too when i actually started getting fry, i was like well, you dont want to go after all lol

 

[kriben]

My lfs was just going to hold on to my pair in a spare tank until I was able to take them in. I guess if they haven't spawned by time I am ready to remove them, then they will go to the lfs and probably spawn there. If they spawned before I get the tank torn down then I will just keep it up until the fry are gone. We will see how it plays out!

 

[Owl307]

i guess so, keep me informed

 

[kriben]

Will do! I all I want is some fry to make it to the point where I can pull them and put them in the grow out tank I got a couple months ago lol!

 

[kriben]

Okay, I said I would keep you posted on the kribs. You can guess by that first sentence that they are indeed starting to spawn. She shook at him once then went into her cave. Now we shall see if the eggs make it past this first stage of life.

 

[Owl307]

cool, the female that killed her male is tending to around 20-30 wigglers. I can see their eyes now so im waiting for them to become free swimming. Good luck! Once the fry hatch you can always moue them to another tank to ensure the freeswimmers arent eaten. Or even wigglers. Ive never had sucess moving eggs.

 

[kriben]

Well, I haven't ever seen wrigglers since the first batch. I read that removing the young before the female is ready to spawn again can lead to trouble between the pair such as the female killing her mate.

 

[Owl307]

yes well, i haha tend to need to remove a parent any way

 

[kriben]

That is true, but I don't yet. My female hasn't reached that point, the first post about the pair spawing was simply them doing the last minute preperations. They are actually spawing now, taking turns in and out of the cave, and the male has his reproductive tube visible which is a definant sign lol. When you get males for you female, do you just get one at a time or what? I think if you got several males, then she may find one that she won't kill off after he has done his job.

 

[Owl307]

the others will suffer the concequences and over crowd the tank if i got more. I always choose the dominant male too so her can put up with her anger lol

 

[kriben]

That works too I guess, I didn't know how big your tank was. I think before my current pair gets added to my tank I am going to get a group in the tank and see who pairs up. I will keep the dominant pair and add my current one. I think I am going to ask if my lfs could do it for me in their tanks, that way I don't have to buy them all.