Established pair now fighting?

Hi,

I have had my male Krib for over a year and the female since July.

They previous got on fine. Had two sets of Fry but none made it past about ten days...

However in the past two weeks the male has been chasing the female... but not in a breeding way (from what I can tell- she isn't doing the shaky dance etc)

She now is lurking/ hiding and when she comes out he chases her away again.

He is not being aggressive to anything else in the tank- Angels, Cardinals and Rosy barbs.

The only thing that has changed recently is that my whole family, inc two young children had a nasty virus recently and my maintanence slipped and the weekly WC was missed twice an the feeding regime slipped- they just had pellets chucked at them rather than pellets plus various frozen foods.

All back to normal now, and parameters are good, and have been for about ten days now- doing twice weekly wc of about 30/25%.

Any ideas?

Many Thanks

 

Do a tank makeover and rearrange the decor.
This will upset current boundaries and allow the fish to establish new ones.

 

it happens...maybe she's not ready to breed and he's chasing her around....but Dino's advice sounds good...

 

Thanks guys...

only problem with that is that tank is heavily planted... don't really want to move the plants as manly crypts, so I don't want them to melt....

hmmmm.... I can move a nt of the rockwork but not sure if it will change to look of the territory that much.

If it doesn't sort, would it help if I swapped her for another female from LFS?

 

Just give them time, they have spats just like human couples do.

 

LyndaB said it....its pretty normal....they will get along soon.

 

If you can separate them , then reintroduce one to the tank it might do the trick, also, Try a heavy diet of frozen food, she should turn on then and give it back to him spades.

 

Am raising 2 dozen baby Kribs in a 29 gallon tank right now, they are 10 weeks old. They did not have success the first three times they tried, but after 3 weeks I removed the babies to protect them. Need any?

 

Thanks for all the responses!

If I take them out and reintroduce them, how long should they be out for? Are we talking an hour or two in bags? Or more like days in another tank?

I have frozen food so will give that a go too.

Ps Tahnks rollo, that is a kind offer, but i'm in the UK

 

Ha , A bit far to ship them! Take out the aggressor for a couple of days if u can. The other will assume a bit more confidence that way and defend her or his space. Dither fish help as well, they will unite against a common threat.

 

Just an update. I did a minor tank rearrange, I couldn't move the plants but moved a few rocks and the angles of the wood.

Plus I have been feeding frozen food everyday, and hey presto, she is all purple bellied again and doing the shakey dance.

He is still being a bit of a beast and chasing her every so often, but not every time he sees her, like before.

Only slight problem is all the frozen food had perked up the rosys and possibly encouraging breeding behaviour... not sure they are being crazy active at the min and I've noticed on of my angels has taken a bit of a battering. One of the rosys also has taken a real battering to the tail and a few have splits. All the rosys bar one are long fin. The normal fin one is fine as are two long fin ones.

I think it is the rosys rather than Kribs, but I'm not sure. The rosys, kribs and angels have been together for .. hmm about a year I guess and this is the first time we have fin damage.

Any Ideas?

 

kribs can be tempted to nip fins...especially angels...and during breeding time...they might get pretty agressive, if any of those fish get close to there cave or territory....its normal..just becareful...that they dont' do too much damage.