# Help on my kribensis pair



## japbart (May 3, 2012)

I have a pair of kribs and they already paired up. Im just a little concerned about the female cause shes so small. The male is twice her size. I think shes around 1.25" to 1.5". Theyre already showing pre spawning behavior. I was just wonderng if the female will stay that small or is she gonna grow some more? Im gonna post pics or a vid in a few days.


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

Here's the link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLAT8q3j ... ata_player


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

Here is a video to my pair that just had fry. You can see the size difference between my male and my female. Yours sounds normal for a large male. I have another pair where the female is a little smaller than this female and the male is smaller than this male. It's not a problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_gK6ccl ... ature=plcp


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

Ur male is beautiful. Thanks for Sharing that vid. I was just concerned cause my female looked like she was one of my males fry that grew up lol. I have other questions too. 
If I do a water change will that help them spawn? 
The caudal fin on my mail isn't pointy as u can see in the video. Is there a way for me to repair this?


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

The tail fin on my male is raggedy because of combat with a pleco, it's supposed to be full and round. Water changes never hurt your chances, you can try doing smaller more frequent water changes a few degrees cooler to simulate rain. Also try some live food, mine love bloodworms, pretty much any increase in protein will improve the chances of breeding


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

I do feed them live bloodworms. But ever since I started feeding them that they never ate flakes anymore. I heard spirulina flakes are good. What do u think? I'm gonna do a water change later. How many % should I change?


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

You could go with a small cichlid pellet, but I've never had that problem. They've had blood worms and live brine shrimp as well as the frozen and freeze dried stuff, they still love the flakes and the new life spectrum cichlid 1mm pellets. I have no experience with spirulina flakes.


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

I need something that sinks because mine never seem to get the food from the top. Oh and when I'm changing the water do I put anti chlorine on the new water that I'm gonna put then let it sit for a while?


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

yeah mine love new life spectrum 1mm, they are very picky on food, so I feed them what they like, mysis and brine shrimp with nls. I've tried different kind of spirulina food, they will go for it but spit it back out lol. Mine paired up not long after I bought them. Females do stay smaller than males, but I wouldnt worry for her(unless there is an other female in the tank). I've found out in my tank that females are nastier than males... I had a female kill a male because he ate all their fry. Also, females really hate other females. So except when spawning or protecting fry, males are peacefull, but when spawning he will swim around the tank looking for lost fry, and if an other fish is in his way or too close from the fry, he will definitely chase it out of the there!!
Here is a video of my pair guarding their fry! just click on it


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

What's nls? Also, I saw a female albino at the pet store an I bought her. Cause I want her to pair up with my current male that I showed on the video. What should I do with the other female?


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

for the other female, I really dont know, but personnaly I wouldnt keep her as my pair killed the other female when they spawned. nls is New life spectrum food


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

How about if I add another male then put them in a 40g long. And the albino isn't showing a red belly. Can u check if she's really a girl. http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r50 ... t/?src=wap


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

japbart said:


> How about if I add another male then put them in a 40g long. And the albino isn't showing a red belly. Can u check if she's really a girl. http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r50 ... t/?src=wap


It might be too young, how long is that fish? It's striking me as a male. The last picture shows spots on the tail which is mainly a male feature, but it's sort of difficult without the coloring because it's albino. How is the picture quality? Albino cribs are usually golden, not white.

Two pairs together wouldn't work when they spawn and most of the time the females are more aggressive, spawning or no spawning. I'd separate them or at least put them in a 40L or 55 that has a divider. Sometimes you can make it work without a divider if you put up naturaly divisions in the tank, lines of plants, cave systems, that type of thing. For me, it's just not worth the risk to have a fish under that much stress.


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

I would go with neptunes... unsure because it is hard for me without the color, for now it does look a bit like a female and a bit like a male, might be too young to sex


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

The genus _Pelvicachromis_ is defined/identified by the fact that males have the first spine of the ventral (Pelvic) fins longer than females. This makes their ventrals look pointed, while the female's look rounded because the soft rays are longer than the spine.

It is obvious in a couple of those shots that the ventrals are pointed, making that a male. He's just a bit young at this point and hasn't fully colored up yet, as I told you on the other forum. I posted this here to help others understand how to sex _Pelvicachromis]/i]._


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## japbart (May 3, 2012)

Thanks guys. Ill look for a female and post pics just to make sure.


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