BABIES!!!!

As someone who hasnt had much luck breeding i can finally say i have babies in my tank!! i bought a couple Pelvicachromis Kribensis from cory a month or two back and got them a little coconut house, I looked at the tank today and saw they were acting strange and more aggressive towards the other fish in the tank. Thats when i saw the group of around 25 little babies schooling up around the bottom with mom and dad on either side. Cant wait to watch these guys grow up and color up!!

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And a Picture of mom and dad
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Nice work, congrats

Woot!!! Congrats

Awesome!

Congrats   

Awesome. I love watching Krib parenting.

Thanks! and as you can all tell ive been losing the battle with green water lol. Im bound to get a UV soon to get rid of it all.

fishNAbowl wrote:Awesome. I love watching Krib parenting.

Its truly amazing! its nice to see fish actually care for their young and not eat them lol

Killybeys wrote: its nice to see fish actually care for their young and not eat them lol

Yeah, live bearers are the worst parents hahah

let me know when they are big enough would love to buy a few

Update: I hate to say it but there are no signs of any of the babies They were in my 125g with a bunch of other fish so im assuming they got eaten. I set up a 10g and put the parents in it but ive noticed the male is just sitting at the bottom not moving. Hes still breathing and doesnt look sickly. He just looks tired. Anyone know what this might be? All the water parameters are normal.

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. About 2 days after i posted my last post (4/05/14) i noticed there were 3 little fry swimming around with the mom. Not sure how they got there but they are definitely her babies (she hides them in her mouth from time to time). And i was looking tonight and i noticed about 60 Super small fry swimming at the top of the water. I thought this was strange because the male Kribensis died 4 days ago    And she doesn't even pay attention to them. I'm thinking they are either rainbow fish fry (the Kribensis were in my 120g rainbow fish tank) or zebra danio. Wasn't sure how they got there but then it occurred to me that i put a thing of water sprite in with the Kribensis. Ill update when the fry gets bigger and i can tell what they are!!

I have a wild pair of kribs that are awesome parents until it is time to let the babies go. Then they all dissappear withing 36 hours. They are in a 25 gallon chrome frame show tank. I previously had several pair in that tank that lived together just fine (lost them when I was not able to care for them due to illness) but these wild ones kill everybody. I purchased 4 originally. I have some F1 babies in a 4 gallon tank. I'm gonna put a couple in a 55 with bolvian rams, angels, moonlight gouramis and a Senegal Birchir once they are big enough to not be birchir food. I thought of putting a couple in my African tank even though they are river fish and not rift lake. I have seen this before. However, the African tank is pretty crowded so I probably won't. It is fun to watch them grow.

Killybeys wrote:Update: I hate to say it but there are no signs of any of the babies :(They were in my 125g with a bunch of other fish so im assuming they got eaten. I set up a 10g and put the parents in it but ive noticed the male is just sitting at the bottom not moving. Hes still breathing and doesnt look sickly. He just looks tired. Anyone know what this might be? All the water parameters are normal.

I have a 125G community tank with spawning kribs in the tank.  The scenerio is as follows for most spawns:

Mom and dad take over a cave (I have about 4 of them in various places in the tank ... some ceramic and some coconut shells), mom lays eggs and stays in the cave while dad patrols.  The eggs hatch and a bit after that mom and dad bring the babies out of the cave but they stay in close proximity (usually I see the babies and parents around the wood and plants in my tank as the babies 1st foods are probably tiny infusoria living on the wood and plants).  

At the time I see the babies I start spot feeding their area with freeze dried cyclops, bbs, and first bites.  I put the food in a couple of times a day, rotating those selections.  Mom and dad will keep all predators away and fight fiercely to defend the babies from any intruders.  This protective cycle goes on for about 2-3 weeks with both mom and dad being the protectors.  Somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks Dad starts to wander a bit and if there is another viable female in the tank his wanderlust takes over and he is off to greener pastures.  Mom is left to care for the babies alone which she will also do non-stop for the next couple of weeks.  At a little over a month old, I notice that the mothers leave the babies to fend for themselves.  

At the one month mark I usually have somewhere between 20-30 fry surviving.  At the two month mark I'm down to maybe 2-3 fry from that spawn.  In the community tank, as soon as the babies are left on their own, even though they are a little bigger at that time, they become food for other fish in the tank.

Thoughts and recommendations:
Dad probably died defending the group.  They are ferocious, even though they are small, in their capacity to be protectors.  I have seen my krib male fight with a pleco 4 or 5 times his size to keep the pleco out of his territory.

If you have another spawn (if you have another male) and want to save a lot of fry, remove them to another tank or fry box that contains some wood and plants from the main tank.  Use a fry siphon and suck them out then put them where you can feed them at least 3 times a day.  

Sorry for your losses and I'm particulary sorry for the male.  These are beautiful fish and wonderful parents.  Even a fish parent dying to save its young saddens me.  Good luck with your next attempt.

cichlid-gal wrote:

Killybeys wrote:Update: I hate to say it but there are no signs of any of the babies :(They were in my 125g with a bunch of other fish so im assuming they got eaten. I set up a 10g and put the parents in it but ive noticed the male is just sitting at the bottom not moving. Hes still breathing and doesnt look sickly. He just looks tired. Anyone know what this might be? All the water parameters are normal.

I have a 125G community tank with spawning kribs in the tank.  The scenerio is as follows for most spawns:

Mom and dad take over a cave (I have about 4 of them in various places in the tank ... some ceramic and some coconut shells), mom lays eggs and stays in the cave while dad patrols.  The eggs hatch and a bit after that mom and dad bring the babies out of the cave but they stay in close proximity (usually I see the babies and parents around the wood and plants in my tank as the babies 1st foods are probably tiny infusoria living on the wood and plants).  

At the time I see the babies I start spot feeding their area with freeze dried cyclops, bbs, and first bites.  I put the food in a couple of times a day, rotating those selections.  Mom and dad will keep all predators away and fight fiercely to defend the babies from any intruders.  This protective cycle goes on for about 2-3 weeks with both mom and dad being the protectors.  Somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks Dad starts to wander a bit and if there is another viable female in the tank his wanderlust takes over and he is off to greener pastures.  Mom is left to care for the babies alone which she will also do non-stop for the next couple of weeks.  At a little over a month old, I notice that the mothers leave the babies to fend for themselves.  

At the one month mark I usually have somewhere between 20-30 fry surviving.  At the two month mark I'm down to maybe 2-3 fry from that spawn.  In the community tank, as soon as the babies are left on their own, even though they are a little bigger at that time, they become food for other fish in the tank.

Thoughts and recommendations:
Dad probably died defending the group.  They are ferocious, even though they are small, in their capacity to be protectors.  I have seen my krib male fight with a pleco 4 or 5 times his size to keep the pleco out of his territory.

If you have another spawn (if you have another male) and want to save a lot of fry, remove them to another tank or fry box that contains some wood and plants from the main tank.  Use a fry siphon and suck them out then put them where you can feed them at least 3 times a day.  

Sorry for your losses and I'm particulary sorry for the male.  These are beautiful fish and wonderful parents.  Even a fish parent dying to save its young saddens me.  Good luck with your next attempt.

Thank you, and sadly the mom passed away too in the same fashion. The babies are safe and growing really well at the moment but i feel bad losing both parents. Im gunna try and get some less expensive kribensis and try breeding them again in a controlled setting. I thinking the constant guarding from all the fish (mostly the cory cats who couldnt take the hint of "stay away" really stressed them out) i noticed towards the end both parents wouldnt eat. Id drop blood worms right in front of them and they would just ignore them. Ill update with pictures once the fry get bigger

Sorry to hear your loss Hopefully the offspring will grow and be as great of parents as theirs were.

Very sad. Sorry you lost the pair.

Sorry for your loss. I have a krib from Corys that I was going to rehome, not sure of sex but its colored up nice. Free if you want it

NightFury wrote:Sorry for your loss.  I have a krib from Corys that I was going to rehome, not sure of sex but its colored up nice.  Free if you want it

Got any pictures? i could tell ya what sex it is. And Hopefully its a female because i have a regular male kribensis i was looking for a mate for

Killybeys wrote:

NightFury wrote:Sorry for your loss.  I have a krib from Corys that I was going to rehome, not sure of sex but its colored up nice.  Free if you want it

Got any pictures? i could tell ya what sex it is. And Hopefully its a female because i have a regular male kribensis i was looking for a mate for

I was guessing female. The belly gets really red somedays.
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NightFury wrote:

Killybeys wrote:

NightFury wrote:Sorry for your loss.  I have a krib from Corys that I was going to rehome, not sure of sex but its colored up nice.  Free if you want it

Got any pictures? i could tell ya what sex it is. And Hopefully its a female because i have a regular male kribensis i was looking for a mate for

I was guessing female.  The belly gets really red somedays.  
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Thats amazing i have the male counterpart!! id like to take it off your hands. Hopefully these guys have more luck breeding

Definately female

I have some half inch to 1 inch babies. I'll take offers.