All About Kribensis: The Perfect Cichlid?

[@GupPi_3.14]

Perfect timing looking at starting them

[@majorbruster5916]

Thank you, Lauren. Nice presentation. Your pair are very colourful compared to a lot I have seen in the shops, and they look healthy, so they must like the way you keep them.

[@brucedonnelly5209]

I love my Kribs! I have 6 adults! They are my favorite fish besides my Oscars. So much personality. Awesome parents. Super pretty

[@Aemilius46]

Love this video! I love the Kribensis, they are one of my favorite fish!! 🤍🤎 Thank you Lauren!

[@SteveMcallisterArt]

One of my favourite species. I have a group of 6 in my largest tank (180 gallons). Very peaceful to one another and to their tankmates, all of whom are larger species, which likely helps.

[@Vinokski.Fishkoto]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@marcchristian38]

Not my experience. My kribs were the most aggressive cichlid i ever had. And i had at least 20 different species. But you are right about the breeding. They breed like crazy and it could be very difficult to find new homes for the young ones. They are very easy to keep. But you should have a good sized tank (100L+).

[@nunahy]

I had a bad memory with it. I bought one male kribensis which attacked every single fish(including barbs, cories, tetras...) in my community tank. I had never seen such heavy aggression, so I just had to give it to someone.

[@badabing3391]

wish people bred for less aggression instead of just color or whatever

[@ciber5650]

I have a male that were exactly like this, it is gorgeous, most beautiful colors i've seen on a a kribensis at any fish store i have around, and he was fighting with everything on the tank, i had barbs cories and danios with him and he managed to have the entire tank on one side, i got a female krib, and introduce her to the tank, and he started chasing her nonstop to the point i was worried, so i took him out, put him on a 15g tank by himself for a week for it to be cool and settled on his new home, and then move him back to the tank with the female and the rest of the fish, the female was the one that was settled now, so he was very shy and started swimming with his new partner around the tank, his aggression got down by a lot when he started focusing on breeding and swimming with his female, he obviously chased the others if they got too close of their cave, but not as before that he used to chase non stop, just guarding his territory, so if i had to advice someone that wants a single krib, i would say get a Female, or get a pair, on my experience males tend to mostly focus on their partner when they have one, and tend to be jerks when they dont. I want to try a tank with only males with the fry im now rising, my LFS just takes males usually so i have a 30 gallon female only krib tank that is doing pretty well.. but male only... i can already see it will be a bloodbath, but i have to try it.

[@FishLoft]

Great overview. I had a very "mean" female who wouldn't tolerate her male companion and very quickly made snacks of my fairly good size shrimp. She also didn't like any other fish I tried introducing to her tank. I think she was just overly cranky for some reason...haha. I had a pair of kribs a long time ago that were quiet easy to keep so I was quite surprised.

[@davidnollmusic363]

A lovely video. Thanks so much!

[@splittheredsea]

The title alone has me like “ Hell Yeah they are” my pair manage to get 3 fry to survive in my semi aggressive community. My Electric Blue Acara are 0-3 on protecting fry

[@kdr1048]

I Enjoy your channel! 🙂

[@MagTvest]

Pretty fish

[@ragnos28]

In my experience, they are only great if they have a tank of their own. In a community setting, not so great. If they have conditions to breed, they chase everything, if they don't, they don't color up. So, you either get the tank bully, or some bland fish. 😐 I've end up replacing them with German Blue Rams, not bullies and they do color up, and easy to keep, if your remember that they like it hot, at minimal 26 Celsius, ideal 28-29.

[@chrisgeorge4429]

Great video. Thank you.

[@matteld3179]

love kribensis!! I haven't been able to find it where I live but they're awesome!!! a good analog could be a domestic convict also called "Blood Parrot Chiclids" which is a breed of convict chiclids.

[@garg4531]

Wait, they’re a type of convict cichlid? 😮 Well I guess that would explain why I’ve seen what look to be hybrids between the two…

[@matteld3179]

@@garg4531 by definition they are technically a domesticated animal, as they are the result from crossbreeding hybrids (blood parrot + convict) despite being hybrids they can still breed and produce offspring which look vastly different from their wild counterpart.

[@garg4531]

@@matteld3179 I am aware, but my surprise/confusion came from the how blood parrots look very different from convicts (I suppose the shape is similar enough but the colors are very different), and how their origins always seemed like it was an unsolved mystery in the aquarium hobby, with different people having their own theories regarding it

[@majorbruster5916]

Before anybody goes out and buys 'Blood Parrot Cichlids', thinking they are a substitute for kribs, please stop and read this! Blood parrot cichlids are a hybrid species resulting from a crossing of 2 large, aggressive Central American cichlid species, which are (for the most part) sterile. They are not the result of hybridising convict cichlids with another species. There is a convict X Blood parrot hybrid, but this is blue/black in colour like the convict and is known as ice blue or polar blue cichlid in the trade, and (thankfully) it is quite rare. The parent species of blood parrots are very aggressive, highly destructive and disruptive fish, that need large tanks with equally robust tank mates. So be warned. If you are looking for an alternative to kribs, then possibly consider the African butterfly cichlid, Anomalochromis thomasi. This is another dwarf West African cichlid that is quite undemanding in its water conditions. Not as prolific as kribs but very attractive. Google it.

[@matteld3179]

@@garg4531 Blood parrots are another can of worms, both convicts, severums and red terrors are so closely related they can interbreed. the most common theory is the severum + red terror crossbreed.

[@jdssurf]

One of my favorite fish, but I've never been able to keep them alive with anything, they either beat up everything or stress out. I think they need a species only tank or heck IDK. Long to keeper of 40 years or so. I even kept them in late 80s

[@mattzach34]

I just saw one of my Kribs massacre a family of 5 neo caradina shrimps just for fun not even eating them

[@remhk6672]

I have a male/female pair now. They are inseparable. Trying to breed them but havent been successful yet. I need more cave structure and vegetation coverage for them. Maybe more frequent water changes than usual. Very hardy fish. I kept them with normans lampeye killifish. Both fish are native to cameroon west africa region.

[@ciber5650]

Raise the temperature a little bit, that could work! i dont have a heater on my tank, and it is usually 25-26 C (77f) and they were breeding, but these winter days the temperature dropped to 21-22 (70F) and they stopped breeding, got a heater, raised it back to where it was and they started breeding, they just have 1 cave that has Java Fern on top of it. Also try any ditter fish, like some danios or maybe endlers, i had mine with ditter fish and it helped them to be more comfortable with the tank.

[@remhk6672]

@ciber5650 thanks!

[@ciber5650]

@@remhk6672 You are welcome, they are so fun to watch when they care for their babies, hope you get them breeding soon.