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Hey yall, been several years since I've been around this site, but I've been out of fish keeping because of school. I am back into it now, however. My apologies in advance for the long post.

I recently setup a 20 gallon (biggest size that can fit in my apartment at the moment) and have since stocked it with 3 Swordtails and 2 Kribensis. I've kept and successfully bred Kribs before, I'm no noob in that area. (Been keeping fish all together for at least 18 years). The swordtails are mainly there as a sort of dither fish for my kribs if they decide to breed.

My problem, however is with the kribs. Both kribs, a male and female, came from the same tank in the LFS. In the LFS tank, there was one other female with them in the tank. The two I got were the ones swimming and hiding together. I figured they were already a pair (I watched them for a good half hour). I have brought them back and put them in my tank. They each sniffed around the new home for a day or so. In the LFS tank, and in my tank, the female is crazy fat and red, in breeding mode. The male however, doesn't seem the slightest bit interested. She goes up to him and shimmys next to him, vibrates, does the works. He chases her away every time. Anytime he comes within her sight, she colors up more than any krib I've ever had. He then starts to "attack" her and chase her all around the tank until she can get away and hide. Her fins are pretty nipped up right now and shes usually always hiding in a corner of the tank. There are several caves for both kribs, but the male won't let the female in any of them for a long period of time.

So my question to yall is, what do you think is going on? Could my male not be mature enough to spawn yet? He is probably around 2 inches in size, with the female being around the same size. They've been in the tank about a week so far, so I suppose it could just be new tank jitters and they are getting their territory marked and that sort of thing, but I figured with them being together at the LFS, I wouldn't have this much of a problem.

Again, I've kept kribs for years before, and successfully bred them before, but I've never had this issue. All my previous kribs have gotten along fine.

Any ideas?
Sorry again for the long post.
Thanks,
Steve

I'd try taking the male out, rearranging the tank, letting the female settle in a bit, then try reintroducing the male.

I know you said you only have one tank, but I'm sure you have something fishy safe you could put him in for a short while.

Thanks for the reply. I've rearranged the tank and added several new caves with him out of the tank, and still end up with him being aggressive towards her. While he was out of the tank, the female dug out a cave and seemed to take it over...The same cave the male has picked as his cave. He was out for a good 3-4 hours. As soon as I put him back in, he went straight to the female and started nipping at her and chasing her to the corner of the tank.
She is a very persistent female, that's for sure. She keeps going back and doing her dance for him and remains extremely colorful despite constantly being chased or ignored. Her belly is nearly black it is so purple.

I guess my only option at this point is to trade him for a different male unless anyone else has any suggestions?

kribs all have their own personalities- some get along with everything, others are terrors... and some fall between the 2.

I'd say at this point- if your wanting to breed- take him back and get a couple juvies- let em grow up and let your female pick her mate, and take back the rest.

If your not wanting to breed- make it a community tank, with her as your centerpiece fish. and take back the pesky male.

Apparently I spoke too soon. At least I've learned that I'm an impatient person and have something to work on LOL. As I'm typing this the male is trying to dance with the female. She dances back but swims away. He is no longer chasing her up to the corner and nipping at her, he's trying to get her to pay more attention to him. He's colored up quite a bit and she has too. I'd take some pics, but I don't want to get too close to the tank and disturb them. He dances with her, then tries to get her back to his cave, but she swims the opposite way and he chases after her and repeats the process.
I don't know what did it, maybe he just finally is giving in to her advances, or maybe its the feeding schedule I've had them on, but at least progress is being made.

Good to hear it's working out.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I've got four adult kribs, split neatly into two pairs. Had them for 3 years now.

One pair has had two batches (lost the only survivor from the first batch in a move) and is bright as anything again. The second set only just now seems to be ..."active".

Glad your seeing progress. I'm feeding mine frozen foods and topping up the tank with fresh rain water when we get it. The fish seem to love it, and not just the kribs.

If you want to try photos make sure all the lights in the room are out and leave only the tank lights on, it makes it harder for the fish to see movement on the outside. And move slow.


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