- Kribs love snails. They will eat any and all snails even the Malaysian live-bearing snails (MLS) that are such a bugger to get rid off! My 1.2 m tank had a 3
cm deep pool filter sand substrate that seemed to move as the MLS got going late evening. The 1.2 is my rearing tank. I dumped about 80 krib youngsters
(about 1 cm in length) into the tank. Three months later I struggled to find one living snail. There were thousands of empty shells however. I haven’t seen any
snails in the other tanks the kribs are in. They keep the snails under control very well.
- Kribs are cute and complex little creatures showing a lot of the social strife witnessed in atypical dysfunctional families. There is wife beating, husband
beating, divorces and the inevitable rally to take possession of the kids. I have only had two pairs that have lived happily ever after. One of the males from
those two pairs went through two other females before settling down peacefully. The pair I have in my display tank has been through five spawns now and in
spite of some family strife has settled down well and spawn about once every month.
- This pair has quite an interesting spawning pattern. After spawning the male will stick around and force all the other tank inhabitants into the other corner.
When the fry emerge one of three scenarios is played out: 1) the male takes the brood, 2) the female takes the brood, or 3) they both take the brood and care
for it. Normally, both parents take care of the fry after a day or two.
- This time round mom has taken over although not before the male stole six fry and swam off. These fry were rapidly eaten as the silly male swam right out with
the fry onto the gravel in the front of the tank. Of the previous spawning three fry survived and are now just over a
centimeter in length. The parents were
caring for the fry up until a few days before spawning. When the male’s fry vanished these three fry of the previous spawning were adopted again! He is
now swimming around the tank over these three youngsters who seem very happy to be back under dads care!
In conclusion, I think Kribs are cool and every one should have a pair. They are way better than convicts!
Watch out for my upcoming
article on Kribs in Tropical World Magazine!
Last updated 1.07.04