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The question is to be or not to be?

Ok. Can I keep a pair of angels with my pair of breeing kribs.
A larger 4ft tank will come in soon, but I just want to know first can I keep angels with kribs.

Cheers,
Jimmy

Breeding kribs can be pretty aggressive and territorial, too much so for a peaceful angelfish. I wouldn't risk it, as angel fins are just much too tempting not to nip and tear up. The angels just wouldn't put up much of a fight.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

A large angel and a pair of breeding kribs will be fine in a four footer. Breeders aren't nippy, they're just mean, so if you have the room, and enough iding places where the krib parents will feel safe, you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 17-Oct-2004 10:46

I have angels and a pair of kribs together in a 90 gallon tank along with clown loaches and a few other species.

When my kribs took their 90 plus fry out on parade through the tank, things became VERY tense indeed. Mama and Papa were really chasing the other fish very hard, doing no actual damage, but driving all angels to the surface. The kribs were effectively partolling and controlling the vast majority of the tank. Not good.

I netted out as many fry as I could. They had good instincts and would quickly dive into the plants and driftwood. After the shoal of fry was thinned to about 12, the parents were able to keep the fry on a smaller area. Attack runs towards the other fish decreased markedly and the other fish quickly learned to avoid focusing on the fry.

The kribs were able to raise the 12 fry to a good size in the tank, with no harm done to any inhabitant.

Key to sucess is sufficient space. Also, the kribs had lots of cover in the planted tank, so likely felt pretty secure.

I should add that undoubtedly the kribs have spawned again many times since this event, however, no more fry have gone on parade. I suspect that either the clown loaches or bristlenose are eating the kribs' eggs under the cover of night. Just as well. I do not need to raise more kribs.

If raising kribs is your goal, do not mix them with your angels. If you simply wish to house them together, go ahead and try, but be prepared to separate them if necessary.

Caution: Before established the pair of kribs in the 90, I tried a small school of juvie kribs. They seemd to take great delight in grabbing the angel's ventrals as they trailed down through the plants, so off to auction the juvies went.