"Paul" wrote in message
...

George wrote in message
.. .
I'd like to thank Sarotherodon and NetMax for their quick and
encouraging
response.

As far as them getting caught up in the gravel, I thought of putting a
double layer of plastic screening under the pot. This should allow the
UGF
to do its job yet protect the fry until they are free swimming. Sound
reasonable?

I'm actually leaning to an experience issue.

Thanks again. Any more thoughts are appreciated.

Steve

Hi steve, nice to know someone else is having this problem!! my kribs
got
together the first day in the tank, and took about 10 days to "spawn" I
could only see about two eggs, the female was in the cave tending the
eggs
and the male was guarding furiously.

I looked again about 15 minutes later and the two egg sacks were gone!
they
soon lost interest and abandoned the site. they are back at it now, and
hopefully will spawn again soon.

I wonder if Netmax would be good enough to answer this question for us:

Can feeding have any affect on the likelyhood of the parents eating the
eggs. I have a problem where my greedy paradise fish tend to gorge
themselves and not let any food fall down for the bottom feeders!
wonder
if I need to feed her more?

Diet is a major component to successful spawns, but more usually for the
purposes of conditioning and sometimes triggering the spawn. Discussions
regarding the parents probability of eating or not eating the eggs due to
protein deficiencies in their diets has never been very conclusively
proven either way. Breeders tend to condition the parents beforehand, or
they are in known good condition. Egg eating in this case is usually
attributable to inexperience.

Breeding a pair directly from an LFS, would create some uncertainty
regarding how varied their diets would have been up to that point, and
the potential effect on the fish, to whom a freshly laid egg would be a
succulent high-protein snack. In this case, it would make sense that
there would be an increased potential for their conditioning (or lack of)
to affect spawning success, but I've never read or heard of supporting
data.

I suggest you drop some bloodworms and/or brine shrimp directly down to
the Krib's pot using a tube, like a UGF riser pipe. Removing the other
fish will also help. Covering the tank with paper (leave yourself some
peeping holes) can also help. The fish might also eat the eggs if they
think they have been discovered. Logically, there is less of a point in
protecting eggs from a large predator (you?) who knows of the egg's
existence and their location (though Kribs are not usually so timid).
Sometimes thinking like a fish gives you different scenarios, and they
are not stupid, but they can be very simple.

NetMax