Alia
Fishaholic
My female krib, Pink, has another brood. 
I suspected she was guarding eggs when I noticed she had slimmed down. She's been holed up in her cave for at least a week and a half.
I just sold her seven-month old fry to the lfs a few weeks ago (23 of them) and I think that the "dad" of these fry was the largest one amongst them. It could have been the largest of the three males I still have (the ones that evaded my net), but she was only sort of nice to him for a few days, so it's hard to say.
He never colored up, either. He was acting like a good father should, keeping the front of the cave free of intruders, but then she started chasing him away and he patrolled the rest of the bottom from the back of the tank, careful not to let her see him. Tonight, when I noticed he was getting much more aggressive with my feather-fin synodontis (who never go near the cave opening, poor things), I looked in on her and saw that she did indeed have wee ones milling around at her "feet".
I caught the male and put him in my other tank, which is mean if he really is the father, but she is treating him like an intruder, and he was being mean to my catfish.
I figured it was one less fish for her to chase away. When she had her first fry, the dad was her full partner, 100%. I wish he hadn't died. 
Anyway, I put a chunk of baby brine shrimp (frozen) in there for her and she was pleased about that. The fry are teensy tiny right now, probably not more than a day or so out of the eggs. They're so cute! She won't bring them out until the tank is dark, and then I can't see them, but hopefully she will relax a bit as they get bigger.
I won't wait so long before selling this batch, then I can get her a proper new husband and they can raise their fry together.
I think 6 months, this time.
I suspected she was guarding eggs when I noticed she had slimmed down. She's been holed up in her cave for at least a week and a half.I just sold her seven-month old fry to the lfs a few weeks ago (23 of them) and I think that the "dad" of these fry was the largest one amongst them. It could have been the largest of the three males I still have (the ones that evaded my net), but she was only sort of nice to him for a few days, so it's hard to say.
He never colored up, either. He was acting like a good father should, keeping the front of the cave free of intruders, but then she started chasing him away and he patrolled the rest of the bottom from the back of the tank, careful not to let her see him. Tonight, when I noticed he was getting much more aggressive with my feather-fin synodontis (who never go near the cave opening, poor things), I looked in on her and saw that she did indeed have wee ones milling around at her "feet".
I caught the male and put him in my other tank, which is mean if he really is the father, but she is treating him like an intruder, and he was being mean to my catfish.
I figured it was one less fish for her to chase away. When she had her first fry, the dad was her full partner, 100%. I wish he hadn't died. Anyway, I put a chunk of baby brine shrimp (frozen) in there for her and she was pleased about that. The fry are teensy tiny right now, probably not more than a day or so out of the eggs. They're so cute! She won't bring them out until the tank is dark, and then I can't see them, but hopefully she will relax a bit as they get bigger.
I won't wait so long before selling this batch, then I can get her a proper new husband and they can raise their fry together.
I think 6 months, this time.
My biggest expense in raising them was for the frozen baby brine shrimp when they were little.
