rm
Kribensis
Pelvicachromis pulcher
i
Photo by The original uploader was MidgleyDJ at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0
Passport
- Grows to
- 7.5 cm (3")
- Lives
- 5–8 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- On the bottom
- Keep
- In a group of 2 or more
- Water
- 24–27 °C (75–81 °F)
NigeriaCameroon
Care requirements
i
On record for Kribensis: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 71 L / 18.8 US gal
- pH 5–7.5
- Hardness 0–12 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 60 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Kribs turn the usual arrangement around: the female is the showy one. When she's in breeding condition her belly flushes a deep cherry red and she dances in front of the male with it, arched and shimmering, which is the opposite of nearly every other fish you'll keep.
They're West African, from Nigeria and Cameroon, and they're among the easiest cichlids to keep and to breed. A pair in a reasonably sized community tank will get on with it without much help.
The catch is what happens then. A spawning pair defends a substantial area with total commitment, and a peaceful krib becomes a serious problem for anything sharing the bottom of the tank.
Tank setup
Give your kribs caves and plenty of them. A coconut shell with a hole cut in it, a flowerpot on its side, a rock crevice — they're cave spawners and the cave is the centre of their world.
Use sand or fine gravel. They dig, particularly around a chosen site, and they'll excavate under anything you place on the substrate.
Plant densely and break the sightlines. It gives other fish refuge when the kribs are breeding, which is when the trouble happens.
Keep them in a tank long enough that a defended territory doesn't mean the whole floor.
They're tolerant of a wide range of water and do fine in ordinary tap water.
Feeding
Kribs are unfussy omnivores that will eat almost anything offered.
Feed sinking food primarily — pellets, wafers, frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp — since they work the lower half of the tank.
Include some vegetable content. A spirulina-based food or blanched vegetable now and then suits them.
Avoid: relying on floating flake, which mostly feeds whatever swims above them.
Filtration and flow
Moderate flow. They come from slow, shaded streams and small rivers.
Ordinary filtration handles them well. They're hardy and adaptable, and one of the least demanding cichlids in this catalogue.
Keep nitrate down with regular changes, as with any cichlid.
With plants
Kribs are moderately safe with plants. They won't eat them, but they dig around their cave and shallow-rooted plants near it get excavated.
Plant away from the likely spawning site, and attach what you can to hardscape.
Dense planting round the edges is worth having anyway, because it gives tank mates somewhere to escape a defending pair.
Health
They're hardy, adaptable and rarely ill, which is a large part of their appeal.
Most problems in a krib tank are injuries to other fish rather than illness in the kribs.
Watch for a fish that has been driven into a corner and stays there. During a spawning that's a situation which will not resolve itself.
Breeding
Kribs breed easily and are excellent parents, and this is the reason to keep them.
The female courts the male rather than the other way round, displaying her red belly until he follows her into the cave. She lays on the roof or wall inside, he fertilises, and she stays with the eggs while he patrols outside.
Both parents then shepherd the fry in a tight cloud around the tank, and they'll take on fish many times their size to do it. Water chemistry influences the sex ratio of the brood, with harder alkaline water tending to produce more males and soft acidic water more females.
Tank mates
Avoid29
- Amano Shrimp Kribensis reaches 8 cm and will eat adult Amano Shrimp.
- Bamboo Shrimp Kribensis reaches 8 cm and will eat adult Bamboo Shrimp.
- Blue Bolt Shrimp Kribensis reaches 8 cm and will eat adult Blue Bolt Shrimp.
- Blue Dream Shrimp Kribensis reaches 8 cm and will eat adult Blue Dream Shrimp.
- Cardinal Sulawesi Shrimp Kribensis reaches 8 cm and will eat adult Cardinal Sulawesi Shrimp.
Only with care16
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is noticeably larger than Kribensis and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is noticeably larger than Kribensis and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Three Spot Gourami Three Spot Gourami is noticeably larger than Kribensis and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Yoyo Loach Yoyo Loach is noticeably larger than Kribensis and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Betta Betta is aggressive and Kribensis is peaceful.
63 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.