"Paul" wrote in message
...

NetMax wrote in message ...
Don't worry too much about your success rate. Enjoy the show, and
almost no matter what happens, they will make more )

NetMax


I think I spent about 5 hours watching them last night. the male has
dug out
every little pebble he can from under the rock.. the female still seems
to
be unhappy with it.. that link you posted says the female will
"disapear
into the cave and reappear 5 days later with the fry" once she has laid
the
eggs. at the moment, although they are both guarding the cave, one or
both
will often go off for a swim around the tank. the female makes regular
trips
into the cave, but doesn't stay in very long, and the male goes in
occasionally, but I think he is just trying hard to shift a few more
pebbles
that won't budge.

Regarding the female re-appearing after 5 days with fry, I'm sure that is
what happened to the person writing the web site. When the eggs hatch,
the babies must be moved to a pit/depression somewhere. Once they are
all safely moved, the parents will begin the process of moving them to
another pit, and so on & so on. I'm not certain of their motivation,
either not safe to stay in one spot too long, or possibility of fungus
starting from any dead fry *who knows?*. When they are moving them
around, you will typically have some opportunity to view their progress.

If anyone has first hand experience watching Krib spawns, please pipe in.
I've only spawned them 3 or 4 times, and I was not paying that close
attention to any rituals which might be unique to Kribs. All the
central/south-American substrate spawners follow a pretty typical pattern
though. The biggest difference is some types switch to a single parent
instead of both, and even then, they are not always consistant about it.
I think my Krib spawns all involved both parents.

So I guess I am waiting for the female to accept the cave still?

She might be stalling while she prepares herself for egg-laying, or just
being a PITA to the male, who will play along for now ;~).

Also, on occasion, they will get together and one of them will "shiver"
or
shake like a dog trying to shake water out of it's wet hair. It only
lasts
for an instant. they've only done a couple of times each. is this a
mating
thing?

Think of it as a flash dance ) Whether it's between a pair, or between
same sexed fish, I think the translation is something like "I am the one,
I am the best, do you have anything to say about it?". Between the same
sexes, it's a slap in the face dare, to get the other to fold their fins
and yield the 'alpha' rights (for a cave, spawning partner, or tank
dominance). Between a breeding pair, it's more of an affirmation, that
they are still 'bonded'. If the partner does not challenge it, then they
will be expected to deliver (their end of the spawning ritual) fairly
soon, or there might be trouble. If a pair have found compatibility, the
more aggressive of the two will expect results and only wait so long for
them. As cichlids go, Kribs are noted as being fairly benevolent (as
seen by the big size difference in sexes and they still get along). They
males will work each over a bit for rights to a female (or tank
dominance), but nothing like the females rough each other up, for rights
to a spawning site (and/or a male). The ladies can be unbelievable
vicious with each other, but once sites are settled, females can be
spawning inches from each other in relative harmony (each with their own
males). I suppose I have noticed a few unique Kribisms ;o)

NetMax