kmm
March 6th 05, 04:10 AM
Hi
I'm new to keeping cichlids, and I was wondering if anyone could shed
some light on my kribs behaviour.
I got a male and a female krib from the LFS about 3 weeks ago, and I'm
really enjoying them. They act the most natural of all the fish I've
ever kept, and it seems they're always up to something new.
When I first got them, the female had a very red belly and was curving
herself in front of the male fish and shaking for him. From what I've
read, this sounds like normal spawning behaviour, but the behaviour
changed shortly after.
The next thing I knew the guy was chasing the girl all over the tank.
He wasn't doing any visible damage to her, but it seemed strange. He
had originally seemed totally disinterested in her and mostly just
ignored her. Is there any probable reason for the change?
Whatever the reason for it was, he eventually got over it, and the two
of them swam together peacefully for quite a while. The girl's belly
was still as red as before, but the guy seemed to be getting pinker,
and his stripe wasn't as visible as it usually was before.
It was at this stage when I moved them from their 10 gallon tank to a
newly fixed 15 gallon tank.
As soon as they were moved into this tank, the girl's entire back half
turned really dark. I'm pretty sure I didn't hurt her in the move… and
it only stayed that dark for a day or so… it was really strange. Any
explanation?
After that, things went back to normal and they swam around with each
other again. After a while though, the girl started spending more and
more time inside a small ceramic boat ornament (yes it's cheesy) and
after a while the guy started hanging out around it as well. The male
started becoming very aggressive towards his tankmates (5 glowlight
tetras), and even chased 2 of them right out of the tank. Fortunately
I was there to put at least 1 of them back in the tank in time and
quickly put together a makeshift cover.
This got me wondering if there was babymaking afoot… but I don't know.
I thought it was possible, but today I'm having my doubts.
The girls belly isn't red at all today, and she's constantly chasing
the male all over the tank. The male isn't guarding her boat from the
tetras anymore (but they seem pretty scared of the kribs so they stay
up by the surface now), he's basically just trying to stay out of the
females way.
Right now it seems like the only reason the girl comes out of the boat
is to chase the male and eat.
Another weird thing is that I put a coconut shell in there for them to
hide in, and at first they seemed totally disinterested in it. I was
siphoning the gravel today, and I accidentally blocked the entrance so
that there was only a really small entrance. Since then, the two kribs
have been going in there a lot. They have to turn sideways to get in,
so it seems kinda awkward, but they seem to like it so I don't want to
mess with it.
Anyways, my main question right now is where did the females red belly
go, and why does she only leave her boat to A) go into the hard to get
into, previously ignored coconut, or B) chase the male that she used
to get along very well with all over??
Thanks in advance
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm new to keeping cichlids, and I was wondering if anyone could shed
some light on my kribs behaviour.
I got a male and a female krib from the LFS about 3 weeks ago, and I'm
really enjoying them. They act the most natural of all the fish I've
ever kept, and it seems they're always up to something new.
When I first got them, the female had a very red belly and was curving
herself in front of the male fish and shaking for him. From what I've
read, this sounds like normal spawning behaviour, but the behaviour
changed shortly after.
The next thing I knew the guy was chasing the girl all over the tank.
He wasn't doing any visible damage to her, but it seemed strange. He
had originally seemed totally disinterested in her and mostly just
ignored her. Is there any probable reason for the change?
Whatever the reason for it was, he eventually got over it, and the two
of them swam together peacefully for quite a while. The girl's belly
was still as red as before, but the guy seemed to be getting pinker,
and his stripe wasn't as visible as it usually was before.
It was at this stage when I moved them from their 10 gallon tank to a
newly fixed 15 gallon tank.
As soon as they were moved into this tank, the girl's entire back half
turned really dark. I'm pretty sure I didn't hurt her in the move… and
it only stayed that dark for a day or so… it was really strange. Any
explanation?
After that, things went back to normal and they swam around with each
other again. After a while though, the girl started spending more and
more time inside a small ceramic boat ornament (yes it's cheesy) and
after a while the guy started hanging out around it as well. The male
started becoming very aggressive towards his tankmates (5 glowlight
tetras), and even chased 2 of them right out of the tank. Fortunately
I was there to put at least 1 of them back in the tank in time and
quickly put together a makeshift cover.
This got me wondering if there was babymaking afoot… but I don't know.
I thought it was possible, but today I'm having my doubts.
The girls belly isn't red at all today, and she's constantly chasing
the male all over the tank. The male isn't guarding her boat from the
tetras anymore (but they seem pretty scared of the kribs so they stay
up by the surface now), he's basically just trying to stay out of the
females way.
Right now it seems like the only reason the girl comes out of the boat
is to chase the male and eat.
Another weird thing is that I put a coconut shell in there for them to
hide in, and at first they seemed totally disinterested in it. I was
siphoning the gravel today, and I accidentally blocked the entrance so
that there was only a really small entrance. Since then, the two kribs
have been going in there a lot. They have to turn sideways to get in,
so it seems kinda awkward, but they seem to like it so I don't want to
mess with it.
Anyways, my main question right now is where did the females red belly
go, and why does she only leave her boat to A) go into the hard to get
into, previously ignored coconut, or B) chase the male that she used
to get along very well with all over??
Thanks in advance
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