Keeping My Breeding Pair Of Purple Cichlids

[TUpton98]

I currently have a Jewel Rio 125 tank which contains a pair of breeding Purple Cichlids (Pelvicachromis pulcher). I am moving house very soon (hopefully next month or January at latest) and I have decided to shut the tank down before/when I move. This is due to me planning to start a Marine tank in my new house and now wanting the hassle of moving the existing tropical tank and livestock.

However, I do not want to give away my lovely pair of Purple Cichlids so I was hopnig I could get a small desktop tank that I could house just these two fish (and their fry) in and then sell/give away the fry once they have matured.

I was looking at the Arcadia Arc Tank 35L Aquarium (which is 40cm wide x 28cm deep x 30cm high) but I am concerend this will be too small after reading up.

Does anyone know if these two will be ok in a tank of this size? Or does anyone have any suggestion how I can keep these two lovely fish and have a suitable solution for moving them?

 

[celaeno]

this thread should've been moved to the old world cichlids section, but to answer your question, kribs (another name for purple cichlids) need a minimum tank size of 20g.

 

[kribensis12]

this thread should've been moved to the old world cichlids section, but to answer your question, kribs (another name for purple cichlids) need a minimum tank size of 20g.

Not true. You can keep a pair of kribensis in a 10g tank, if you keep up on the water changes and you keep them to themselves. Make sure there is alot of caves/hiding places. The fry will not be able to grow tp maturity in that tank. Usually, people who just have kribs keep them in a 15g or bigger, but it can be done.

 

[cheesy feet]

I did this with my pair about 3 years back, in a 10 gal clearseal tank (20gal was taking up to much room) worked fine

 

[TUpton98]

So far so good as I moved these into a small 35litre tank and they have settled nicely and spawned again so I no have dozens of fry with the parents.

The question are how long should I leave the fry with the parents?

I also am going to move them back into my 125 litre tank in 2 weeks when my move is complete. So will I be able to keep some of the fry with the parents in the big tank and raise a 'family' of Kribs or will this cause problems and end up in fights and issues?

any help/advice appreciated.

Terry

 

[kribensis12]

Take the fry out when the parent are ready to breed again.

 

[TUpton98]

So does that mean that I will not be able to keep some and raise a family - do they all have to be removed?

 

[cheesy feet]

No, but theres a large risk of them being eaten.I just left mine to breed in the end because I couldn't put the fry anywhere, I ended up with 4 extra males

 

[firetank]

with kribs and multi stocking its purely based on tank space; i think you would find
increased levels of aggression particularly with a breeding pair if its a 125 l (3 foot tank yeah??)

i would seperate the juveniles when the parents have fry again;

maybe try raising them in the 35l with a sponge filter and 50w heater; offload the young fish
to a LFS maybe???