My Kribs have Spawned.....Yippee (part 2)

[kribbman]

Well my kribs have finaly spawned. the eggs are 2 days old now.(I posted the original story in another thread).
Im very excited about this but at the same time im sort of nervous, because this is my first time attempting to raise fry (on purpose). Anyways I have many questions and have been doing some research as well.
A fellow AA member advised me to put a sponge on the intake of my filter which I already did.
And so far in preparation ive done the following:
50% water change.
Replace filter media (I have a penguin 150 with a biowheel. I have two floss and activated carbon cartridges in mine, and i had replaced one last week and put in a fresh one today as well).
Im planning to replace the carbon cartridges on my Undergravel Filters as well.

Water Parameters:
pH. 7.4
Amonia (NH3/NH+4) 0. ppm mg/l
Nitrates (NO-3) 5.0 ppm mg/l
Nitrites (NO-2) 0. ppm mg/l
KH (carbonate hardness) 2 odKH 35.8 ppm KH/GH
Temp. 80.2 F / 26.4 C

Livestock:
Kribensis 2
Corys 2
Neon Tetras 6

Hardware:
20 Galon tank.
100w heater
Penguin 150 w/biowheel
Undergravel Filter
Nutrafin C02 (yeast powered) with a "ladder" system as a diffusor. Im supposed to get a RedSea 500 reactor, within a few days and an extra yeast canister.

Plants:
I dont know all the species names yet..
but I do know that i have some Aqua fern, Kyoto Grass, Amazon sword, Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae and "Argenitine sword". there is also a small chunk of driftwood in the tank.

I tried to provide as much information as possible about my tank and its conditions. Any input or suggestions are welcome

Is my water fine? (I think the driftwood is responsible for the nitrates being at 5.0 ppm since I only noticed them rise after adding it to the tank)

What should i feed them? Will crushed flakes suffice? Should I try baby brine shrimp?

 

[kribbman]

more pics...

 

[kribbman]

Day 3 they have started wiggling and i can just start to make out eyespots.

 

[Zagz]

Congrats. Your water is fine. I would recommend feeding baby brine shrimp you hatch yourself. Very easy to do. If you can't then you can also feed small bits of hard boiled egg yolk. You will want to do small water changes. I do them with airline tubing or a turkey baster so as to not suck up very small fry. You can change the water into a white bucket or bowl, that way if you do accidently suck up any fry, you can see them and use the turkey baster to return them to the tank carefully.

 

[kribbman]

Things took a turn for the worst. It turns out that the cave she spawned in is at an angle, Sloped towards the front of the aquarium. By 10pm last night most of the eggs were on the floor wiggling then I noticed a few of them rolled over fowards and into the gravel bed. she managed to pick up a few and put them back in the cave. But then I checked this morning and all the eggs and wigglers were gone..no sign of them anywhere.

I wonder If she ate them or maybe a few will manage to survive in the gravel and swim up as soon as they can.

Im going to make another cave for them out of PVC pipe and plug the openings on both ends so that they will stay put next time.

Its amazing how one small detail can have such consequences....

 

[mattrox]

I wouldn't worry too much. The parents will get the hang of it. A friend had kribs in a 6ft tank and they used to breed like crazy and gravel would not cause any losses to the fry. The parents would move the wrigglers all around the tank, quite a sight.

 

[pitt420dude]

I just got my replacement female yesterday. As of last night she had a bright pink belly and they were getting aquainted. Maybe this time love will be in the...water.

 

[kribbman]

The thing is I have an Under Gravel running and im afraid it sucked them down. I bought a pvc pipe but they didnt so much as look at it.

 

[Creamhorses]

Hey Kribbman
Pop a Mich and relax........even if you don't have the best luck with this spawn. These little cichlids are some tough and resilient fish. Do your part with water parms
& the rest will just happen. You don't have tank mates that will bother these guyz!!!
Corys, neons won't come near a Post Partum mom! I wouldn't make any major changes to upset the aquarim, if all is ok to start with.

I have a UGF filter as well as a Tetra PF500 which moves 500g's an hour.....Mom 'n Dad pop out of their nest [The roots of a giant Anubias} with 20+ of their fry......when one gets too far astray, mom goes and sucks it up and spits it out where it belongs. Way cool!!

If you get some pics, please share.

Dave

ps These are the only cichlid I'd keep. What color and personality! I've got 2 breeding pair, but I don't raise the fry.

 

[kribbman]

Thanx man Ill keep that in mind..(goes to look for beer).....
Kribs are truly interesting little fellows I would say they are the perfect cichlids because they have all the cool behaviors of the other cichlids but none of the nasty (side effects) like extreme agression or need for very specific water parameters. And they like plants too....

(finishes beer...........*burrrp..ahhhh!!!)

As soon as they go at it again ill upload more pics..

 

[stevedave]

I use half a coconut shell with a 3/4inch hole drilled in it. they love it. I have taken it out and they just stop trying to spawn. I bought some new kribs and they took to it too.

 

[kribbman]

do you put it straight on the gravel or add a "floor" to it?
I have an undergravel filter, and although im sure its not a very strong current i fear it could suck them down!