Krib spawning....finally success...but short-lived!

[Jeff1192]

I think my kribs have spawned!  It's been a couple of weeks now that my female has had a really red belly and been inseparable from one of the males. When I came home from work tonight I noticed that her and the male were constantly going in and out of a cave in my large piece of driftwood. Also when anything comes close it gets chased off. Before today they were only doing that with the other 2 kirbs in the tank. I'm pretty excited as I've never tried breeding egg layers before.

That's what you have to love about aquariums. I was all bummed out yesterday after losing a bushynose pleco and now I'm all excited because the kribs seem to have spawned! 

Jeff

[dan2x38]

Way to go Jeff! I bought 5 rummynose I lost 1 of the 5 day after. Went back BA they replaced it he expired in 1 day. I got another one at BA and now all 5 are shoaling and very nice colours. It is just like you say... something bums you out but then the real joy of the hobby lifts your spirts... So KEWL that's a new tank too! Maybe your an Uncle... 

[beowulf]

Bloody little rabbits are they not? lol  Man and those are not that old 4-5 months max....didn't know they could start so young.

[Fishnut]

Congrats Jeff!  Mine are older and haven't done anything!  The male was being aggressive in my community tanks so I moved him out and got him an aggressive female.  Now he's happy to hide in his flower pot (they each have one ).  What a great experience for you Jeff!

[Jeff1192]

Well like I said I can't say for sure that they have spawned as the cave in my driftwood is too deep and dark....but from their behaviour I can't see what else could be going on. Their behaviour around the cave continued all night, until lights out. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Jeff

[Jeff1192]

Well a couple of days after the last posting they just completely stopped guarding the cave. I'm assuming that they ate the eggs (I've read that first time spawners will do that sometimes). For the last week or so there have been all sorts of displays going on and my bigger female got really really colourful and beet-red in the belly. Now since yesterday they took up guarding the cave again and the male is crazy aggressive against the other male and female in the tank. So I think they've tried again.

Jeff

[Jeff1192]

Well after a couple of attempts and no results....I finally have fry in my tank. The last couple of days one of my females has been insanely aggressive....chasing off everything. Well tonight I looked at the tank and noticed about 20-25 fry in the tank being guarded by mom. This must be their first outing because I've been home all day and didn't see them until now. It's funny though I have 2 males and 2 females and the mother of these fry is the fairly plain one. The female that has been involved in the previous spawning attempts is incredibly coloured. One of the nicest fish I've owned. The other female (the new mom) is REALLY plain in comparison. So who says only the hot girls get all the attention....haha! 

I'm quite excited about this as I have never had success with egg-laying fish before and the tank is only 2 months old.

I've attached a photo but it's pretty hard to see the fry. They're too small and she won't let them come out from under my huge piece of driftwood so it's pretty dark.

Jeff

PS  - Thanks again to beowulf for supplying the kribs in the first place!

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[bettabreeder]

wow! congrats It's a really rewarding expeience when you see months of hard work pay off:) congrats again
Bettabreeder
Brendan

[beowulf]

Very nice!!!  Glad to see they are doing well.

[dan2x38]

Very nice Jeff your an Uncle! Glad it came togeather for you.

[Jeff1192]

Mom is still guarding the fry very well. She is often chasing off the other female in my tank. It gets really aggressive sometimes. The fry have discovered a large clump of java moss that I keep in a sheltered spot at the back of my tank in the hopes that the CPD's would spawn in there. I have been feeding them BBS and Hikari First Bites using an eye dropper to spray it near them. This of course turns into an absolute fry feeding frenzy. I got a slightly better picture of them today but it's pretty hard with the tank so densely planted where they are. They're the blurry little dots around the female near the moss.

Jeff

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[Jeff1192]

Well I think mom just got over-whelmed. She was constantly being harassed by my other pair of kribs (who are always very dominant in the tank and who I am pretty sure have either just spawned or are about to). She had moved the fry to a back area of my tank that is so heavily planted I couldn't see them much. Today she is no longer guarding anything so I think she must have finally lost and the fry got eaten.   So now I'm thinking that the best thing might be to get rid of one pair of the kribs and see if I have more success that way. So I'll probably be posting a nice pair of kribs for free in the classifieds shortly. They are from Beowulf and are very nice. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Jeff