Kribensis Divorce Is It Final?

[businesslamb]

I bought a pair of kribensis (bout an inch and a half long) two weeks ago and put them in a 20 L quarantine tank fitted with a cloned air powered box filter a couple of plastic plants some java moss and a plant saucer wedged up against the side. I returned from a couple of days away and blow me if the buggers hadn’t spawned and there are some eggs on the glass under the saucer. A few days later the eggs had gone and at first I assumed the fry had been moved to a more secluded location but in retrospect I think they had been eaten.
Up until then the pair had shown no aggression but on Saturday afternoon I found the female wedged up behind a plastic plant in a corner with the male having a go. I have now moved him to the main tank where thankfully he has cooled of and ignores the other fish. The female has suffered quite a bit of damage to the tail but is otherwise quite perky so I have added ESHA2000 to prevent any fungal or bacterial infection.
My question is this, assuming she makes a recovery would it be safe to put her in with the male again? Is this sort of behaviour common with Kribs. My reading around suggests it is usually the female who is more aggressive. The main tank is 81cm x 36cm x 50cm and is heavily planted with several caves and so there are plenty of places to hide.

Cheers

Businesslamb

 

[karuna]

Well first off, Kribs occasionally lose a batch of fry and from what I've read it's not uncommon for them to take 1 or 2 attempts to get things working.

In terms of the pair, if they are only 1.5(ish) inches at the moment then they are still fairly young so it's no surprise really that they havnt been successful as it will most likely be their first time and they won't have been sexually mature for long.

During mating they can be a bit rough and can get more aggressive however the degree varies with personality. What I suspect has happened is that for some reason the fry have failed (if it's a relatively new tank setup then there might not have been enough algae built up for the fry to feed on, I'm pretty sure that is what mine survived on because I did not need to supplement them with any food specifically for fry) and that your female will not be willing/fertile to mate again for a short period while the male is quite happy to try and get some more action straight away.

I think removing the male was spot on , otherwise he would have continued to bother the female until she either agreed to mate again or died from the stress/aggro. I'm pretty sure if you give her some time alone to recover and then reunite them that there is a good chance the second batch of fry will be more successful. Maybe keep them seperated for a week or two and then reintroduce them while making sure to check that she is displaying to the male again.

Good luck with the Kribs

EDIT: oh and one last thing, you can't miss them once the fry have hatched. Usually the female (although the male may accompany her or even sometimes just by himself) will patrol around the tank with the fry and round them up/guard them.

 

[parker313]

I always know when my kribs have spawned b/c they keep all the other fish corralled in the top corner of the tank

It's not uncommon, after loss of all the fry, for the male to get a bit aggressive with the female. Keep them separated til she's all healed up. Then, rearrange the tank and reintroduce him, but keep an eye on him.

 

[businesslamb]

Thanks for the advice. The females tail seems to be recovering and she is perky enough so I will give her a couple more weeks and then introduce her into the main tank and keep a close eye on her.

Cheers

Businesslamb

 

[dee dee2]

I always know when my kribs have spawned b/c they keep all the other fish corralled in the top corner of the tank

It's not uncommon, after loss of all the fry, for the male to get a bit aggressive with the female. Keep them separated til she's all healed up. Then, rearrange the tank and reintroduce him, but keep an eye on him.

i too hav had problems with my breeding cribs they did keep the other fish pinned up one corner of the tank so being new to this game i partitioned the tank. we started off with approx 50 fry now we can only see 8. which makes me wonder if in trying to protect the fry and the others that we have upset the parents + they have eaten them.