Pelvicachromis pulcher

[h2osanity]

to set the scene:

These guys are new to me being mostly a SA fishkeeper. My 14 year old son decided to venture back into tanks again and thought to do something different than we had done before. I purchased a used 20 gallon tank and set it up with a mattenfilter and powerhead to be a 'riverine' type tank as per his wishes.

I obtained a pair of kribs from Menagerie in Toronto, I am remembering something about wild caught so I hope it is correct given the inflated price I paid for them. ;) Unfortunately one died in quarantine after 2 days on being bullied by the other. (lots of hiding spots, lots of plants, just a serious beating from the other. The other stayed in the QT for a month.

I arranged through a DRAS friend to obtain a trio from his 180 gallon, all proven producers to hopefully find a companion for the Menagerie survivor. I originally thought it was female because of the belly and then thought it must be male because of the colours...not knowing that krib females do the display :embarrassed Since frantic emailing with pyro today I am now better educated :laugh: In my defense I knew the destination tank would only hold a pair and wanted them to be able to choose their own mates.

Anyway, we quarantined everyone for a week (the survivor was introduced to the new tank and the others went into the quarantine tank) and then at the beginning of the next week added the trio to my son's tank. Within minutes the Menagerie female had chased the big male into the pleco cave and the other females were chased and harassed until I removed them to another tank later that day.

The tank: 20 gallon
Substrate: black shot blasting sand
Decor: live plants (vals, crypts, sag. sublata, java moss, rotala indica) two pieces of malaysian driftwood, one pleco cave, one "mud hut" breeding cave
Lighting: window and polo fluorescent on a 3 + 5 hour timer.
Filtration: Mattenfilter powered by Maxijet 400 pro
pH: haven't measured out of tap 8.4
GH: haven't measured out of tap really high 23+ ;)

He has been doing 30% water changes weekly and feeding NLS pellets, my mixed flake concoction (spirulina, salmon, colour) and a couple of white worm feedings -it has only been 5 days since the group was introduced but they were all separately conditioned in their respective tanks with this combination ;)

Anyway, guess what happened? ;)
slideshow (http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/?albumview=slideshow)

[silvak]

I guess they were happy with the living arrangements in the end!

[Sweetpea]

Exciting development, and great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[h2osanity]

These guys are close to free swimming, today I see several wigglers attempting to scoot up and down the pleco cave and Mom taking offense at their precociousness.

[CACAdmin]

These guys are close to free swimming, today I see several wigglers attempting to scoot up and down the pleco cave and Mom taking offense at their precociousness.
That's great! ::D: Of course, Mom, is doing what moms do best... worrying that the precocious little wigglers might escape and something might happen to them. How long do you think it will be before they will be free swimming?

[h2osanity]

Tomorrow or Saturday (when we are away all day of course) And Son#3's room is being taken over by a Grampa tomorrow so it will be interesting maintaining the horde through the holiday. These things never happen at convenient times :D

[CACAdmin]

You'll manage just fine, I'm sure.:yes:

[h2osanity]

So there are over 60 free swimmers at the moment. Mom and Dad are doing a great job keeping them in line. I had to remove the other tank inhabitants to save them as the parents were beating the crap out of them. The elephant nose and ghost knife are now residing in the loach tank with the other two female kribs. I will add them back if we see the fry off to another tank, if not, the kribs can move permanently to another tank and #3 son can have his nice peaceful "cool fish" back. ;)

The fry are eating finely crushed flake (salmon, krill and spirulina), X treme soft bites crumbled up very fine and decapsulated brine shrimp.

They have nice round tummies ;) Pics to follow.

[CACAdmin]

That's awesome. Glad to hear the parents are doing such a great job (even if it was at the expense of the other occupants... good thing you had a safe refuge for them.)

[Wingin' It]

Congrats!

I think from here on out, you're not going to be able to put any other fish in there without a royal rumble breaking out! lol

[h2osanity]

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0038.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0055.jpg

[CACAdmin]

Oh my goodness... that's one whole heck of a lot of wee ones in there... hope you've stocked up on the food supply. :wink:

[h2osanity]

They are eating decapsulated brine shrimp, finely ground spirulina and salmon flake, Xtreme soft krill bites (soaked and crumbled).

[h2osanity]

Video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W660RZcEiTs&context=C314ebd2ADOEgsToPDskJmlbNxOry0RD0fJp5b2U3N )

[h2osanity]

So the fry are getting very independent, it is not unusual to see them all over the tank with Mom and Dad resting under a log (until someone walks into the room) I've been keeping a bit of a photo journal of these guys, mostly for BAP records. I have some pics from the last week or so, what a huge difference. For the record, I really hate taking pictures of moving fry...the nice still pics of catfish fry suits me just fine. I curse the limitations of my camera even as I can appreciate what this point and shoot can do. :cool:

January 1, 2012 Dad sits still, fry do not. I counted 126 give or take an eyespot or two.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0057.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0070.jpg

January 6 2012 Weird angle showing most of tank (looks shorter than it is) and fry
spreading out

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0100.jpg

Some shots of fry, you can see little kribs now instead of just eyeblobs with bellies. Most have the colour flash on the dorsal starting. :)

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0087.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0089.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0090.jpg

[CACAdmin]

They fry are so cute... and sooooo many of them. I think you got some great shots of them.

[Kimr]

Excellent photos! Parents seem to be doing a great job! 126 you say, selling them all off??

[h2osanity]

Well, we have been feeding and feeding and feeding. Doing water changes every day. I am trying to empty out some grow out tanks but people keep cancelling their fish pick ups (grr) so the fry are STILL in with the parents.

We still have all the fry. I haven't seen any casualties. Even the one little deformed runt is still in there though it is 1/5 the size of the others. I wish I could have gotten a pic today, it is the funniest looking thing...it's eyes meet at the top of its head..will be culled when I can find it again to catch it.

You can see the colours starting to come out in some of the fry. I swear I can tell males from females at this point...what do you think? Shape and colours are quite different.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_00902-1.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_00912.jpg


Dad has taken to hiding in the cave. He reminds me of the commercial with the Dad locking himself in the car to eat his cereal...

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0095.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0101.jpg

[CACAdmin]

Boy the fry have really grown. Yes, Dad does look like he's trying for find some peace from the swarm of youngsters.

[Wingin' It]

hahaha...they're cute! I love watching the "swarm".

[h2osanity]

The parents have been moved into another tank and the horde has been divided to give them some room to grow. I have another tank emptying as well so that I can start to divide them exponentially as they get bigger. I already have a store interested in some but the rest i will try to sell privately. The grand total is 123. We lost one when it got caught in a net and jumped onto the floor, the runt finally got eaten and my son forgot to feed them one day and the others ate one. We haven't forgotten again ;)

They are already showing colour and I am very proud of them :D

[h2osanity]

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0031.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll167/h2osanity/BAP-HAP/kribs/IMG_0032.jpg

A little overexposed but you can see their colouring.

[CACAdmin]

They definitely are starting to color up nicely. Quite the number for you to tackle to raise to store size. Best of luck with them. I'm sure you'll do well. They're going to be real beauties.

[Bina]

Those are adorable and beautiful. Congrats !!

[h2osanity]

They definitely are starting to color up nicely. Quite the number for you to tackle to raise to store size. Best of luck with them. I'm sure you'll do well. They're going to be real beauties.

Makes me wish i still had the 200 gallon hatchery tank for raising them...THAT would be great....hmmm, wonder if I can get another one :)

[Sweetpea]

Those are really lovely fish! It's making me think that at some point, I must try kribs. Thanks for the MTS encouragement. :wink:

[CACAdmin]

Makes me wish i still had the 200 gallon hatchery tank for raising them...THAT would be great....hmmm, wonder if I can get another one :)200g tank? Now that's some grow-out tank!!!:swoon:

[h2osanity]

Yes it was a great tank. I raised 300+ BN fry in there in 4 months in spawn rotation. Great size if you have the yard space (it was summer). I wouldn't put one in the house, well, at my current configuration anyway :)