# First Chiclids



## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Hello all,

Yesterday I was in newmarket and decided to stop buy the big al's there, I went it planning to get a yo yo loach or 2, because since my clown loache died the snails have started to get out of hand. While wondering around the fish room I came across a tank with 6 kribensis. On the tank they had written a little note which basically said that these guys would stay small and are peaceful enough for the community life. After being told that they were nearly full grown (not quite 2 inches) I decided to buy all of them. I was so excited to get them home and into the tank. Since that time I've done some googling and my excitement has been replaced with nervousness. Some reports say they will grow to nearly 5 inches, others say 3.5, some say they will be fine with most peaceful fish while others report them being little terrors.

Have any of you kept these fish before if so what were your experiences?


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

In my experience Kribs are generally nice community fish. When they breed they are very protective of their eggs and chase others off. Pushy but never totally nasty.
The males have a spade shape tail and maybe get to about 3.5" including tail. It is said that ph can determine the sex of the offspring. I am not sure if that is true or not. They like to have caves to pair up and breed in. They are easy to breed; just add water.  A very nice fish for colour and enjoyment.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Calmer said:


> In my experience Kribs are generally nice community fish. When they breed they are very protective of their eggs and chase others off. Pushy but never totally nasty.
> The males have a spade shape tail and maybe get to about 3.5" including tail. It is said that ph can determine the sex of the offspring. I am not sure if that is true or not. They like to have caves to pair up and breed in. They are easy to breed; just add water.  A very nice fish for colour and enjoyment.


These are still rather young I would think based on what you have said, if I do end up with a breeding pair out of these fish I will move them into the 10g as it's still basically sitting empty waiting for me to do something with it other than change the water lol.

One of the things that attracted me to these little guys/gals is the colour. They looked nice at the fish store, but once I got them home and got them out of the bags it was amazing to me how much better they look now. So far they don't seem to be bothering any of the other fish, hopefully that continues to be the case.

One thing I haven't been able to find much information on is the life span of these fish, what should I expect base don your experience?


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Hi Green congrats on your new fish according to the British Aquarium society lifespan is 3-5 years. Hope this helps. Pat


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

thanks pat,

If all goes well I should get to enjoy them for some time to come so that's nice to know


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

I'm thinking I will cut a few clay pots in half to make caves, any suggestions as to the size I would need would be appreciated

Ross


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Iam not sure about that but I know they like those coconut huts or if you have rocks you could just layer them to make a cave .


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

I like the sound of that, so I may go that route instead, thanks


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Anyone know at what age/size these fish start to breed? Also if you have pics of males and females could you post them, I'm trying to figure out exactly what I have.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

*Sexing*

How early can these lil guys and gals be sexed? I've read that males have a spade shaped tale and females have more colour. With the 5 I have I can say for sure that the rosey bit on the belly is clearly more vibrant in one, while all the tales appear to be the same.

Thanks in advance
Ross


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

*2 down*

I've lost 2 of them so far, each time when the lights went out they were alive, butwhen the lights came back on they were no longer alive and the guts and were gone, but the meat just the gut.....here's what I did eat night before or shortly after the lights went out.

I've been trying to catch 2 SAEs with no luck, so the first time I put and algea wafer into a coke bottle and suck the bottle......I didn't see either sae go into the bottle, but I did see a krib inside and it was eating the wafers......the next morning the bottle still have lots of wafer in it, the krib (I assume the same on that was in the bottle) was dead beside the bottle guts were gone........then last night I tried the net with a wafer, again I saw a krib in the net, but no SAEs........after an hour I checked the net, watching it for about 10 minutes, and no sae even offered to go near it....I turned on the lights and sure enough another krib was dead......that really got my blood boiling, so I grabbed the net, rolled up my sleeves and after 10 minutes of relentless pursuit I ad both saes netted and on there way to the big fish tank in the sky.....lol jk I put them in my 10 with the guppy fry until I can sell them....

I've never heard of an sae killing another fish, have you? I can't think of anything else in the tank that could be the cause and here's why there are

neons, lemmon (I think) tetras, h rasboras, albino bristle nose plecos, otto cats, a female guppy, 2 dwarf gouramis, a zipper loach, a pair of kuhli loaches, and 4 cory cats

that said one of the kribs does seem to be in less than tip top shape this evening.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

How big is your tank and what sort of filtration are you using?

SAE's are likely not the culprit.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Chris S said:


> How big is your tank and what sort of filtration are you using?
> 
> SAE's are likely not the culprit.


That tank is a 55, the filter is an ehiem 2215 will bio balls floss and the eheim ceramic rings in the bottom.

When I got home yesterday it looked like another of the kribs was not doing so well, I left it be until just before lights out, when I put it in a floating breeder trap....when I got home from work it was dead. Two days ago it looked like that fish was panting steady, yesterday it appeared to be bloated, still panting steady and seemed very lethargic.

So now I'm down to 3 from 6 

I have the marineland filter that came in the kit so I think I'll hook that up for until I can find a new home for the SAE's once I do that I'm going to put the remaining kribs into my 10g.

I don't know why the kribs keep dying on me, none of the other fish are having issues.

I just remembered something I haven't added as yet.....

On Friday night the filter quit working, so I took all the bio balls out and left them to float on top of the water until I could get a new shaft for the eheim the following morning....I wonder if that may have killed some or all of the bacteria on the balls. Even if it did that still doesn't explain why the kribs are dying......because none of the other fish died and 2 of the kribs died before that


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Well, I would test your ammonia and nitrite levels, even in a 55g that is a large amount of fish to add at one time. It could be an ammonia spike.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Chris S said:


> Well, I would test your ammonia and nitrite levels, even in a 55g that is a large amount of fish to add at one time. It could be an ammonia spike.


Granted that's possible, but I'm not talking about full grown fish, rather 1"-1.5" fish. I'll check just to be sure.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

just checked, amonia, nitrate and nitrite are all within acceptable levels. So either that's not the problem or it was the problem and it has since returned to normal.......thanks for the suggestion Chris S


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Yea, hard to tell unless you test when you are having the problem, especially when dealing with spikes.

I'd chalk it up to unhealthy fish from bigal's for now.

Don't worry, if the others stay healthy you can't STOP them from breeding, so you will have more than you need.

Very peaceful fish though, excellent in a community tank.


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

Chris S said:


> Yea, hard to tell unless you test when you are having the problem, especially when dealing with spikes.
> 
> I'd chalk it up to unhealthy fish from bigal's for now.
> 
> ...


I really like these fish, when the light hits them just so they really look nice. I assume these are just babies, so hopefully the colours will fill in a but more. They all look like females though, none have a spade shaped tale, so maybe no breeding


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

*update*

well I lost 3 of the 6 I had, but the remaining 3 are all doing well, looking good and quite active 

a few pictures here


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## _Green_ (Dec 30, 2008)

*upate 16/02/09*

I am now sure that one of the 3 remaining kribs is male another female and the third I'm pretty sure is also female. And despite the troubles with the apistogrammas it would seem that the male and female are preparing to spawn. These 2 have spent all morning chasing each other around the tank, it's really quite a site to see. The female is plump to say the least and her colours have really brightened. The male's fins appear brighter, while his body seems less so. I'm quite excited to see what happens. 

Ross


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