It's been really interesting since I got my Krib's. The female is just old enough to breed and the male is full size. The female was in the tank first. As soon as the male came in, she was going through the dances and vibrations putting on a show for him. Finally after almost a week of this, he started to returns the gestures. 3 days later they started digging a pit under a woodlike ornament in between two upturned 3" flower pots with a little over an inch for an opening. When I saw them digging a pit, I pushed one of the pots down further so there was only a 1/2 opening. The male immediattely claimed this pot and started carrying gravel out from inside in piles and spitting them out to make a hill/barricade in front of the flower pot. The next day I was fortunate enough to watch the entire spawning process, or everything I could see from outside the flower pot.. The female would go in for a minute or two and do her thing, then come out and flare up in front of the male. He would go in for a minute and do his thing. They took turns doing this fo a couple hours or so. I looked carefully while they were doing this and could see them swimming upside down laying and fertilizing eggs on the inside. I checked daily with a dim flashlight. After about 4 days I saw some of the newly hatched fry as they settled in the bottom and consumed their yolk sac's. After that I knew that within 3-4 days the fry would be free swimming.
When the parents brought them out for the first time on the 4th day, I didn't realize what I was looking at they were so tiny. I saw the two parents very close together and low to the ground with a white wave moving underneath them. Once my eyes focused I realized the wave was actually about 30 or more fry swimming with the parents. When I took that picture and posted it, I was waiting for someone to say "I don't see any fry" since they are soooo small. All seem to be doing quite well so far....
My goal for the last 6 months has been to obtain 2 very nice apistogramma cacatuoiedes (dwarf cockatoo cichlid) and breed them. These Kribs are an unexpected good practice run before I shell out loads of cash on the cockatoo's.
Colin
