Kribs Wont Breed!

[Shuggie]

Hi,
My kribs wont breed, whats the matter? they have paired up and i have provided them with a plastic plantpot, turned upside down with a small hole in the side. water parameters are ph 6.8 kh2 gh3, planted tank 24*18*12 with neons and white clouds. The only reason i can think of is:
i) I only feed them flake as i dont think i have enough fish to feed bloodworm, they come in large cubes so this may cause my nitrite to go up.
ii) They may be new to breeding and have eaten the eggs as soon as they are laid, i thought the female would at least guard the eggs for a couple of days before munching them.
Any sugestions greatly appreciated..................................

Shuggie

 

[freddyk]

i) For foods like blood worm, mysis shrimp, and other frozen treats try cutting them into smaller portions so that you don't waste too much, then feed only what they eat and throw the rest out. Live food isn't mandatory to get these guys to breed but it always helps, and having some variety in the prepared foods is also a good idea - I'd add a sinking pellet to the flake diet.

ii) It's possible that they're new to it and just not doing it right yet, and it's also possible that they're just not quite at that age yet - patience is probably all you need for this.

Other things that can help inspire breeding are warming the water to about 81 deg, and doing a few consecutive water changes.

 

[Shuggie]

Ok, thanks for that, might go and buy them some freeze dried tubifex, i know this comes in small cubes which would probably be ideal. Is tubifex still a beneficial meal to be feeding them? Im just getting really impatient!

 

[Jules H-T]

Kribs love bloodworm. Just cut a cube into bits whilst it's still frozen, and get 3/4 of it straight back in the freezer. It's hardly a problem really, is it?

 

[beechey]

slightly off topic will kribs go with firemouth`s

and joules in your sig it says you have 5 torpedo barbs how much did you pay for these as they were for sle at my LFS for £14 each they were about 3" long
amazing looking fish i fort..

 

[pica_nuttalli]

slightly off topic will kribs go with firemouth`s

try majorly off topic i think you'll get more and better responses by starting your own thread...

as for breeding kribs:
sometimes they like to court for quite some time before they will actually spawn. large water changes are a good way to spark courtship, but i'm not sure if it will inspire them to actually lay eggs.

which direction is your pot facing? i've found that mine definitely prefer caves where i can't look through the opening.

as for food... try getting some form of sinking pellet or granule and feed that. my kribs will eat flakes, but its definitely more natural for them to eat a sinking food. i think that switching over to a pellet would help convince them that there's enough food available on the floor to support a spawn.

my kribs didn't lay eggs until they were 9 months old (about 1.5" long). they didn't have a successful spawn until they were about a year old. now they won't stop!

clean water, caves and time. that's all i can recommend you.

 

[Jules H-T]

and joules in your sig it says you have 5 torpedo barbs how much did you pay for these as they were for sle at my LFS for £14 each they were about 3" long
amazing looking fish i fort..

IIRC I paid about £10 each.

I get the impression you're not really sure what you're after from your tank. You've got low numbers of schooling fish, and a (fatal) variety of v large and v small sized fish. The pure fact you still have neons leads me to believe that the clowns and BGK are still small, and that this therefore is not a tank that has been established for a particularly long time. How long has it been up and running?

Also you clearly have a desire to put more in there, which makes me think you've not got the balance you're looking for, or the feeling that you're fully stocked.

There are a hell of a lot of possibly unreasonabe assumptions in that lot, I certainly don't mean to offend you!

Were I in your position I'd rejig your tank. You are falling between two stools IMHO. Are you after a medium/large community, or a teeming smaller fish community? Your fish selection is 50-50 and may not show the best off of either category of fish.

The crab could do with some land to crawl on (and could well escape up filter wires etc), plus he'll have your fish if he gets a chance. He's not had a pop at the pandas (assuming you're talking corys)? I know he's lovely but he has to go I reckon.

The neons are going to be eaten, if not by the clowns then by the BGK, or the Angels. Not that that is going to keep you up at night- just don't bother buying any more, and give those few away if you know someone with some.

There aren't really enough Harlequins for them to be happy and show their best- I'd either get another 5 or ditch the three.

The hatchets should go nicely along the top level of water, I'd consdered them but they're a bit boring for me, colour wise! My housemate also had trouble getting them past 6 months.

The clowns whilst they'll survive as a pair would be better with a few more. They get big though so you're combatting overstocking.

The Angels sound cool. How tall is your tank though? Any less than 18" and you could be in for a rough ride long term.

The plec sounds like he's not going to have any trouble.

The firemouth I am on dodgy ground. What's your substrate for starters? Also, I don't know how they get on with other non cichlids, or different cichlids like kribs.

On a lighter note, add a few red lines and we're going to have remarkably similar setups. If yours is relatively newly set up, perhaps I can e-mail you some pictures or video of my setup to help you see what yours might look like in the future? pm me if so. Or alternatively I could be talking out of my ar$e and your fish are all 5 years old!

 

[beechey]

sorry for the thread hijack..



jules you nearly have every thing bang on my tank has only been running about 4 months and ive bought all my fish as babys so to speak

as for the neons they were only there to test the tank after cycleing they will make a nice snack for someone.

crab most of the time lives in the lid and should not grow much bigger than an old 50 pence piece ive been told so kinda hoping ill be safe with him, sofar hasent gone near my cute little panda`s`

also planning on having maybe 5 or 6 more harlequins as soon as the LFS get some more

tank is plenty big enough for angles ,plec ,BGK and clown loach gonna get another one this weekend to make 3 of them

as for fire mouths so far my favorate fish substrate is very fine smooth gravel so perfect for them.
not sure about kribs goin with them either,

hatchets are quite boring but look different so kinda like themin the tank also jump alot..

dont want to add any more fish at the mo but i either want torpedo barb`s , black shark, ram`s or kribs

sure love to see a pic of your setup email at [email protected]