kribensis fry

[Krisvalkyrie]

I bought 4 kribenses at an HAS auction some months ago. They have laid eggs a few times, but they always got eaten Because the other pair was there and interfering.

So when I moved, I got a screen and divided a regular 20 gallon tank. On one half is a pair of chocolate Australe killies, and the other side hosts one pair of the kribenses.

Well they had been hiding all the time, and barely coming out for food, and I couldn't see any eggs. I was beginning to wonder what was up with them. Well today I went to feed the fish, and lo and behold, was a mass of wiggling things on the ground. At first I was like, what the hell, but it turned out to be a rather large batch of fry.

The parents are hovering over them ,and they seem to be eating fish flake in tiny nibbles, and I am watching tiny bellies get full. I keep getting scare that the parents will eat them.

Is there anything I need to know?

They are so cute! The other pair is still in the 14 gallon tank, but so far no luck finding fry...

[Complexity]

The parents should do an excellent job of raising the young on their own. Sometimes first time parents may eat their fry, but not usually. The manner in which both parents actively raise the fry is one of the reasons I adore kribs!

[Krisvalkyrie]

Yeah, it is sooooo cute - they are just swimming around and bouncing everywhere. The parents keep glaring at the killies through the screen.

At what size can I take them away from the parents? eventually half a standard 20g is going to be too small for everyone

I keep worrying the parents will eat them, they are really attentive, but...they kept eating the eggs the last few times they bred.

[Complexity]

You can take the fry as soon as they are free swimming. As far as when you have to take them, the answer is when they have crowded the tank too much! Otherwise, you don't have to remove them at all.

When I had a pair of breeding kribs long ago, I ended up with 3 generations in one tank without any interference from me at all. This was a 20Long community tank (back then, I had things like a red tailed shark, numerous corys, and who knows what in the tank). The original pair bred. I let them be. Probably 5 or 10 survived (other fish ate them, not the parents). Those grew up and had fry. By this time, I can't remember how many I had. But I had a 3rd generation of fry that grew up, as well. They had just begun breeding when I had to sell my tanks. So I was on my 4th generation. This was all in a community tank with no help from me. The parents did it all.

If you're wanting to get the fry to raise and make money, then remove them whenever you want. You can make some decent money if they're Pelvicachromis taeniatus and not the common Pelvicachromis pulcher. But I found the behavior of the parents to be so incredible, it was well worth keeping the fry with them. It's a real joy to watch. As the fry get older, the parents take them around the tank, and I swear they teach them, "now this rock has this cave... watch out for that fish over there... you can find great food in the gravel over here...."

Maybe once you get some fry to grow up, you'll feel more comfortable letting nature take its course and then you can see what I think is the real beauty of kribs. They are beautiful in many ways, but nothing compares to watching them raise their young.

[nitty]

I'll take a few of them if you would like for them to have a good(larger) home.
I have an empty 20gal. ready. I love these little fish.

LMK...

[Krisvalkyrie]

Perhaps, lets see how many survive first... I just noticed them yesterday.

Mostly they are hovering around the ground, nomming on fish flakes. They are experimenting with swimming around a bit, rising up 3-4 inches then come back down again.