Krib Question

[Breakthecycle2]

I currently have 2 female (supposedly) and one male krib, with some neon tetras and bolivian ram. I first bought the pair a few weeks ago, but the male died. I waited 2 weeks and bought another male and an additional female from the same tank. The newer female has a plum colored belly and seems to always show off her colors top the other female. When I first introdiced them, the older female would try everything to get the males attention, almost like she was competing with the other newer female. Now it seems, the original female and sometimes the newer one are teroorizing the male. Always chasing him and driving him to hide. He flairs up and shows his colors to the female who returns the favor and then either gets chased by her or the other female comes out of nowhere to chase him. I hope I didn't confuse anyone with this description, but any thoughts of what I should do or what they might be doing?

I know the bolivian rams are too much in terms of chichlids to have and i didnt know it at the time, but they will be rehomed as soon as possible.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

glad to hear you're finally narrowing down to a single species

the aggression you're describing sounds to me like each female is interfering with the other's courtship (lady kribs can be pretty "assertive" like that). the problem with this is that kribs are to a certain degree monogamous--the females don't believe in sharing. a breeding pair will also be quite cruel to anything percieved as threatening their babies (often including each other).

i suggest that you select your preferred female and take the other back to the store. or else give up on breeding kribs and return the male.

if you really want to keep the rams, returning the male krib would actually be the better choice. two females shouldn't pick on each other too much and won't get nearly as large as males. kribs should also be tough enough to withstand being attacked by the rams should the rams start breeding.

--EDIT--
a certain amount of chasing is expected in krib courtship. its a good sign when they take turns, but a bad sign when one is clearly dominating the other.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Well thats the thing, Im not really sure what there doing. I probably will take one of the females back. As far as the rams go, they appear to be fine. No one bothers the other, with the exception being the female ram chases the smaller male around and thats really it.

 

[modernhamlet]

I know they seem to be ok now, but the odds of a krib pair and a ram pair getting along in a 20H in the long run are very, very low. The odds of 2 female kribs and a ram pair getting along are better, but still unlikely. 20H just isn't enough space for these two cichlid species to cohabitate.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I just dont get what is going on..both females are chasing the male and terrorizing him. I mean, unless the one isnt a female and its a male but I just don't see it. They dont resemble each other and theres no arrow shaped tail and dot on it. Why are they doing this?

 

[Blade118]

ok i think you should get ready to see some eggs soon

 

[Breakthecycle2]

So basically the females are sort of competing with each other sand terrorizing the male to try and get him to breed with one of them? It's usually the bigger female first, then the smaller one jumps in. Sometimes its chasing and nipping the male others they both appear to show the male their purple bellies and flair their fins.

 

[Blade118]

yea

just want to say the females might try and kill each other if they are fighting for the male

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Butthe thing is, the females are "hanging out" together and isolating the male which is making me nervous.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

just pick one of them and remove it from the tank. pick the male if you don't want to breed; pick one of the females if you do.

you aren't going to stop the severe aggression until you've narrowed it back down to two kribs.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Well I removed the more aggressive female a few days ago and now, the other one is chasing him around and he just hides in the plants and behind the lip of the filter. id really like for them to breed, even if the fry dont make it. Any suggestions as to this latest activity?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

when she chases him, is her abdomen a bright purple-blue color? is your female significantly larger than your male? does he ever chase her back?

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Her belly is very round and a deep purple. This morning when I turned the light on, they where both hanging out by the cave and now the male looks real pretty and sort of chases her now too. My tank looks like it finally cycled through and I did a 50% water change yesterday.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

sounds like they're getting along pretty good now

it was probably the large water change; mine are pretty frisky after just a 15%!

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I think the Nitrites finally going down to 0 (as of yesterday) has something to do with it. I really would like them to breed because I've never bred and egg laying species before, plus I have a store that will buy the fry from me.