Re: [GSAS-Member] Kribs on the rampage

[dave@cheapfishstuff.com]

> I find that with different fish groupings, fish behavior is really
> different.
>
> In this case the fish density put enough stress on the parents they just
> stacked out one corner of the tank/bog wood and defended it.  Less than
> 1/4 tank.  They actually successfully raised fry.
>

Kathy, I suspect you're right, and I'll apologize to all for my rosy
depiction of Kribs... my experience (which does not add up to anywhere
near 13 years!) has been that mine have reacted very differently in
different situations, and tank crowding makes sense to me as a factor.

When we had our third child, a friend counseled me that the biggest
difference was that we as parents would have to go from man-to-man
coverage to a zone defense when protecting the house.  It makes sense to
me that the krib parents may feel different levels of boldness in
protecting the fry depending on how busy the tank is.  Maybe if there are
lots of perceived threats, the male may feel he can't stray too far from
the fry, even to hassle the enemy?

My original batch of Krib fry, many years ago, were born in a community
tank with no significant aggressiveness shown by the parent. Unfortunately
I ended up losing the entire tank 5 weeks later to disease brought in by a
new pencil fish :-(

My oldest male Krib is completely schizophrenic; he will bully a small
number of fish (including his mate) while he has no fry to protect, but
when he has fry to protect he's a basket case of nerves, trying to defend
in all directions against anything or nothing. I eventually removed him
from his last batch of fry out of fear for his health... he looked like he
was headed for a stroke.  He now hides in his coffee cup and looks at me
distrustfully, and is very cautious about coming out to eat.  I've read
(not sure where, was it here?) that Kribs may be too timid to come out
into the open unless they see other fish swimming safely.


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