Re: Kribensis P.

[Tim Ellis <timellis@flash.net>]

Jeff,

The ph seemed a little high to me also, must have gotten a little too much buffer.
You mention losing the salt. I have read these fish live in anything from a soft
acid, to a brackish enviorment. I am not sure what kind of water these guys came
out of, but I want them to be as comfortable as possible. On feeding the fry, I
had one failed attempt at hatching brine, just novice errors. I have a new batch
going as we speak. The fry have been eating frozen daphnia and bloodworms(they
really have to work at the bloodworms), along with crushed flake. Thanks for the
help.

Tim

WndrKdnomo wrote:

> 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 Congratulations on your success with P. pulcher ( kribensis is an outdated and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
>
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