Krib Q's

[Special-K]

I've been thinking of getting a pair of Kribesnsis for my tank. the lfs keeps them in a large tank with loads of them in there. Is there a way to ensure that i get a male and a female that the male will accept?? there are so many in there, i never see them paired off or anything.

[Dave66]

Buy six or more. You'll get a pair, and the way kribs work out a heirarchy is very interesting.

Dave

[Nautilus291]

the females have pink on the side and the males have a little pink but it is very light in color. The females are the more domanate and aggressive fish so you will have to watch her attitude twards the male. Make sure you have alot of hiding places for both of them becuase the female tends to pick a territory and push the male away.

[Dave66]

When they are juveniles the sexes aren't easy to tell.

Dave

[Special-K]

what would be an appropriate tank size for "six or more"?

[Arkie]

i dont know about tank sizes but i got 2 kribs last monday.
i picked a female by looking at her belly- it was a reddy scarlet colour and very round looking.
and the male, he was long and slimmer and his colours were not as intense.
i put them in my 3 ft community tank and they are already taking up residence in the cave and the female seems to be "sweeping" the interior with her tail????
a sign of the beginings of breeding behavior???
ive never had kribs before this so im waiting to see. :laugh1blue:

[Dave66]

what would be an appropriate tank size for "six or more"?

40 gallon. 55 would be better.

Dave

[Special-K]

That's exciting arkie! i have a friend with breeding kribs. their colors are amazing but they hide most of the time :/

[Special-K]

woot! im not a guppy anymore! just thought id let that be known lol

[squirt_12]

ok well i am thinking of just getting a pair and well i don't know if i could put them into my community tank or not. Well it is 33g and i have tetras, swordtails, pencil fish, and fish like that. So...would i beable to get 2 of them???(male and female) or would they eat my little guys???
Also,...will they guard thier eggs once they lay them???

[Special-K]

Ive heard that its important to keep kribs with fast swimming tankmates like danios and rasboras etc so they wont be bothered. i dont have personal experience though. My friend has a some red danios with a breeding pair and the kribs pretty much keep to themselves.

[Special-K]

oh and i dont think they are big enough to eat tetras cause there is a school of small cherry barbs in the lfs that arent much bigger than most tetras and they dont get bothered

[squirt_12]

ok...well i have some barbs in my tank too.....adn well i am going to get some more plants for my tank for the fish to hide inand i have some caves that the fish can go in. So would a pair of kribs be fine?? in my tank?

[Special-K]

Im no expert but I would say yes to one pair in a 33. id just observe and make sure they behave with the slower fish. my lfs says 1 pair to every 20 gallons with tankmates that dont compete for bottom of tank territory

[squirt_12]

o...well my fish usually swim in the middle to the top...so that should be fine then. Well maybe someone else will come on here just to double check because i don't want to get them and they kill all of my fish. But thanks for all of the help so far it has been great.

[YaYgoldFish]

What fish do you have in your 33g? In my 25 i have a 2 inch convict, 2 SAE and the breeding kribs. So far nothing has been harmed.

[squirt_12]

ok...well i know that you will say that my tank is overstocked but i am going to be getting rid of some but i don't know which i want to get rid of yet. Maybe you can tell me which ones a pair of kribs can go with and what they can't go with.
Ok well the fish that i have in there are:
10 glowlight tetras
3 black skirt tetras
2 cherry barbs
4 pencil fish
1 scissortail rasbora
1 kissing gourami
2 blue gouramis
3 cories
1 loach ( i don't know what kind it is. But i know it is NOT a kuhli)
1 pleco (20 cm roughly)
1 silvertip tetra
1 dwarf african frog
2 guppies
5 swordtails

So well i know that he tank is over stocked but i need to know which ones i need to get rid of and which i can have with the krib.
Thanks

[YaYgoldFish]

Basicly all the slower fish. I think most tetras would get attacked and all guppies. The corys im not too sure since they are always the bottom they might compete for territory and that's all i can thinhk of.

[squirt_12]

o....ok well i will think aboutif i want to get them or not. Well the cories i would have no problam giving away because the bottom of my tank never gets dirty. Also i WAS thinking of giving away my 3 gouramis but that wouldn't make a difference with the kribs or not would it??

[Special-K]

i doubt the gouramis would be an issue. i would recommend kribs though they are very interesting fish

[squirt_12]

yeah but if they could eat my glowlights then i really don't want to take the chance. Well my glowlight are about 1 inch - 2 inches somewhere in there. But would that still be too small?

[Special-K]

i dont think they would eat em. maybe chase them away or harass them

[squirt_12]

o...ok...well i really really really (lol) want to be sure of this before i get some becasue i am thinking of getting them soon so i want some other peoples opinions aswell and see what they say about it.

[YaYgoldFish]

They wont eat them, mine have a hard time eating a pellet. But they will just nip at them until they die. The gouramis im not sure either..ANYTHING sensible will get killed...Tankmates have to be prtty tough.

[squirt_12]

ok well i think that i am going to give my gouramis away and my cories and then i think that i might get 2 kribs. (1 male and 1 female) If they become aggresive...i will either get rid of my little fish or the kribs. ( when i say "get rid of" i mean give away or sell)

[YaYgoldFish]

I would'nt empty out a whole 33g just to put 2 kribs in. After a while you'll be tempted to buy more fish and that can turn out badly. If you REALLY want them then I say look for a 15 or 20g, plant it, put a GOOD filter, and place a pair of kribs in there.

[squirt_12]

well yeah thats what I want to do but my parents DON'T or well WONT let me do that so i am figuring out ways so that i can put it into my 33g. Well i think that i will just try it and if it doesn't work out i will just take the kribs back.

[Arkie]

well news on my kribs????
my female laid eggs last nite but she must have wondered off somewhere and forgotten, as when i woke up this morning a bristlenose was in the cave having breakfast.
both kribs were just swimming around oblivious to the entire thing????
i expected that their first batch of eggs wasnt going to be successful, but the eggs didnt even last 24 hrs.
now i know they are a pair though i will have a tank cycled and ready for them asap.
ill take their cave out of the tank and put that in the new tank aswell as some danios or something.

[kirk]

when i get mine im looking to breed fish now and am going to get some danios because they can breed in a heavilly planted tank and some will survive.

[gem]

ok...well i know that you will say that my tank is overstocked but i am going to be getting rid of some but i don't know which i want to get rid of yet. Maybe you can tell me which ones a pair of kribs can go with and what they can't go with.
Ok well the fish that i have in there are:
10 glowlight tetras
3 black skirt tetras
2 cherry barbs
4 pencil fish
1 scissortail rasbora
1 kissing gourami
2 blue gouramis
3 cories
1 loach ( i don't know what kind it is. But i know it is NOT a kuhli)
1 pleco (20 cm roughly)
1 silvertip tetra
1 dwarf african frog
2 guppies
5 swordtails

So well i know that he tank is over stocked but i need to know which ones i need to get rid of and which i can have with the krib.
Thanks

In my experience with Kribs (being my favorite) you might want to get rid of the swords, dwarf african frogm and the guppies if you want a pair of kribs.
Personally I would consider getting rid of the gouramis as well. I'm not sure about the pencil fish. I know they're slow but not sure if the Kribs would even bother with them. The rest of your fish should be ok. Yes I think your tank is overstocked even getting rid of what I mentioned...but that's your perogative and as long as you keep up on your water changes and have really good filtration and your fish are healthy.....up to you.
Kribs are agressive especially in a pair and more so when spawning whether the eggs ever hatch or not. You can get away with one male and a few females to give him a choice of who to bond with, but don't get more than one male. Once he forms a bond with a female, the other two females will likely get bullied by the pair. And the two losers will also continue to compete for the males affections.
I keep my pair in a 55 gal tank with 6 red eyed tetras, 4 german blue rams, 6 cories, a rubber lip pleco, and a banjo catfish. = )