Re: Kribensis P.

[WndrKdnomo <WndrKdnomo@aol.com>]

In a message dated 4/30/98 8:16:49 PM, timellis@flash.net wrote:

<<the water conditions were 3 degrees gh, 2 degrees kh, ph at 7.8 to 8.0, with
a
teaspoon of aquarium salt per five gallons of water, temp is 78 deg Fh.>>

Congratulations on your success with P. pulcher ( kribensis is an outdated and
invalid name, although they often go by the name Kribs). 
As far as your water conditions go, Kribs do best in soft, acidic water.  Your
hardness is fine, but I am confused as to why your pH would be so high.  Also,
I would dispense with the added salt.  As an added note, this, and related
species, (also Apistogramma species) is subject to skewed sex ratios depending
on pH and temperature parameters experienced in the first month or two of
development.  My own personal experience is that, in P. pulcher,    that pH is
more important than temperature, and that low (acidic) pH values will favor an
excess of male offspring.  With your very high (basic) pH I would expect that
you might very well have your brood develop as all females. If you were to
bring the pH down in the immediate future, though, you still might have a more
favorable ratio, as apparently gender can be influenced for a period of
perhaps two months after birth.
As far as the female becoming aggressive with the male, I don't think you need
to worry.  If that were going to happen, it would have happened already,
probably even before the eggs hatched.  Once the male starts taking  part in
brood care things tend to go smoothly, in my experience.  Problems occur when
there is not enough room for the male to stay out of the females' territory
while she broods the eggs and wrigglers.
You don't specifically state what you are feeding your fry, but you mention
them feeding on "algae and leftovers".  If you haven't already, I would
immediatly start hatching some Brine Shrimp eggs. Live baby brine shrimp ( or
micro worms) should form the basis of their diet for at least the first few
weeks  ( if you don't already have a culture of micro-worms going, it's too
late for this batch of fry, but Brine Shrimp eggs will hatch in 24 to 48
hours).  As they grow larger, they may be fed any quality fresh, frozen,
freeze dried food that you would feed the adults, as long as it has been
ground/chopped into an appropriate size.  Even flake foods are OK if ground
up, but live foods are definitely preferred, and are almost mandatory in the
first couple of weeks if you want maximum growth for your fry..
Sorry about the length of this post, I really didn't mean to write a book.
Jeff
WndrKdnomo@aol.com