advice on kribensis care

[morley]

hi all, so I've got a male and female Krib and I'm trying to figure out what's going on with them. They're always together, swimming in and out of this coconut hide and keeping all the other fish away. When they're close, they do this fin display thing and sometimes they just sort of... hover in place. Not really vibrating, but almost. The female doesn't look like she's carrying eggs, but since I rearranged the tank a couple days ago, the male has been doing some weird stuff. I watched him go behind the hide and start moving sand around, taking mouthfuls and spitting it out in front of the hide. He's made a pretty big pile of sand and even started another one on top of the stone the hide is sitting on. He's also dug a little hole at the front of the hide.

I've attached a picture, sorry about the mess - I'm in the middle of syphoning.

[Asteron]

It sounds like they're getting ready to spawn. If you give them some space, you might just get some eggs, and with a bit of luck, some fry could be on the way.

[morley]

Fingers crossed, hoping for the best.

[morley]

My female seems to have taken over the hide, she's not letting the male near it now. He's been hanging out on the other side of the tank since last night. She's being really protective of the hide, won't stray far from it at all.

[Asteron]

That's normal behavior for them. She's probably guarding the eggs now, and if they hatch, the fry too. They can take a few attempts to get it right, sometimes the eggs just don't fertilize properly or the conditions aren't quite right. Fingers crossed, you'll see some fry in a few days.

[Asteron]

Here's a pic of one of my Kribs' spawnings, not the best photo I'm afraid.

[morley]

Things changed again today, woke up this morning and the male was in the hide, female was hiding behind the filter for a couple of hours. Had to move the tank to another room, so I took a quick peek in the hide but couldn't see any eggs. The female's belly did look a bit flatter yesterday, so I'm wondering if she might have laid eggs and something happened overnight.

[Asteron]

Don't worry, it's not uncommon for them to need a bit of practice. Just be patient and they'll likely try again soon.