my attempt at breeding kribs

[daveho]

here we go again with tank 4.
i have found a heep of infomation on the net about careing for krib fry and how kribs breed etc but not a regularly updated account of it so i thought id try to get my new guys into the mood.
first the stats. the tank is a standard 20G with some drift wood, a terracotta pot and a deep pvc tube cave (which they love).im working on plants
when i went out to select fish i found a nicely coloured female with a big purple belly and a nicly coloured male who is bigger then her (that is important otherwise the female will bully/kill the small male).
the filter is an internal power filter but i will also be making an air powerd filter for when the fry are born.
to seed the internal power filter i ran it in my 55g community for a week leading up to the tank set up. i then also filled the krib tank with water from the 55g community.

 

[daveho]

here are some pics of the pair


heres the male

and heres the female

and here they are working togearther to deal with this darn bloodworm influx.

 

[daveho]

sofar i have seen the female bending herself to show off her belly to the male but courtship hasnt gone alot further then that. ill heep u posted

 

[daveho]

well there is still more of the same, the female bends herself and shakes and trys to lead the male into the cave but hes just not that interested....yet

 

[daveho]

well the male has started shaking occasionaly usually in responce to the female bending heself near him

 

[daveho]

well i have added a piece of anubias in front of there cave, they seem to be enjoying the cover it provides. its amazing watching these guys swim there movments are so exact and sudden, anyway the increased cover seems to be helping it might be my imagination but i think the males belly s developing a bit of a pink hue. hopefully i get some fry

 

[daveho]

this morning although there has been no sign that spawning has taken place the male has coloured up massivly his lateral line is as dark as the females when he wants it to be

 

[bettaowner]

I always thought the male krib was more colorful. I want to breed kribs now.

 

[daveho]

it is very interesting that kribs are an exception to the norm since most other fish are oppisite i.e bettas, guppies, rams and gouramis.
im not sure if this counts as breeding behavior but the guys have been digging alot to make more caves. its very funny watching them come up with mouthfulls of sand and spitting it everywhere

 

[daveho]

well it happend last night the kribs have decided that a stormy night was the perfect time to handle there business. the female is guarding eggs on the side of the pve cave.
they have dug there own cave between the pvc and the drift wood.
leading up to the spawn they have been eating blood worms and bits of boiled cucumber in small amounts 3 times a day

 

[daveho]

wel today ends the secon day of egg guarding, the parents are being extremly dilligent.
please feel free to comment or ask any questions. after almost 140 views and only one post not from me im starting to think your not interested.

 

[daveho]

from what i have been reading the eegs should hatch today or tomorrow and become free swimming about 5 days after that.
i have had my bottle filter running in the tank for a while now so it should be ok to take over the filtration duties when the fry become free swimming.

 

[daveho]

well unforunatly the female has decided to eat the eggs which is not un common for these guys on the first batch ah well time to start again.

 

[Andy Sager]

well unforunatly the female has decided to eat the eggs which is not un common for these guys on the first batch ah well time to start again.

What can I say besides " Been there, done that. " I can tell you what my Mentor used to tell me when these things happened.. He'd say " That's fish breeding for ya "

The good thing is that at least now you know that they will spawn so you can look forward to the next spawn.

Keep swimming

 

[daveho]

yeah thats it. im acctuly quite suprised they are still verry aggressive i was planting a stone covered in riccia to make the tank a bit nicer for em and both the male and female charged and bit me. makes me think maby they are still guarding something so i did my water change and got out of there hehe angy little buggers.
has anyone had kribs that have guarded the cave after they ate the eggs??? maby they hatched but arnt free swimming?

 

[moo33284]

How long do you think it will take for them to produce another batch? Are they still guarding the cave as aggressively?

 

[daveho]

yeah they are still agressive. im starting to think some hatched and the female is guarding em but they just arnt free swimming yet but i cant see into there cave

 

[moo33284]

I hope so! Sometimes they'll just eat the eggs that have a deformity. Hopefully that's all that happened... Definitely will be waiting to see what happens! Good luck!!

 

[daveho]

thanks for the support. honestly im not holding on to too much hope for this batch but you never know

 

[daveho]

well guys im sad to report im still not sure the girl still hides the way she did when there where eggs and the male darts around like crazy protecting and keeping an eye on things.
while i was puting in my riccia rocks which im just starting bothe the female and male darted up and bit me in that time i noticed how vibrant the females colours are these guys are amazing guys if u ever get a chance u have to try em.