seahorse Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi!! I'm new here. Thanx to Pegasus for introducing me to this site. I have a bit of a confusing problem that I hope someone can help me with. Back at xmas time I purchased a breeding pair of Blue rams and about 2 months later the one that I was told was the female died. I have since bought 2 more supposed females, but the sex identity factor here is what is confusing me. I have been told that the males are the most brightly colored and that the front rays on the dorsal fin are longer. Females have a pinkish spot on their bellies. My confusion lies in the fact that all 3 fish have extremely extended rays on their dorsals but only 2 of the three are highly colored, although all of them have bright pink bellies. HELP!!!!!!!!!! I also have a sex identity problem with my Kribs!! I have been told on one hand that the males are the most brightly colored of the two and that after the eggs are laid that he does most of the tending. I have had 3 lots of fry from my original pair, since then the one I was told was a female has died also. I was just browsing 2 weeks ago in my local pet store and found what I am fairly sure is a male krib, but this blows every thing I have been told out of the water, as he has none of the bright colors except for a touch of pink on his belly which darkens as he shows an interest in my other two Kribs.The reason I think it is a male is that his dorsal fin is longer than the others and comes to a definite point at the end. Am I right?????? The reason I am confused on this issue is the same as for the Rams. Can somebody please help me to clear this up as it is starting to drive me crazy, what with all the conflict in advise. Sorry for the long drawn out letter........but....... Looking forward to some responses Seahorse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi Seahorse, With kribs, it is the female who is the more brightly coloured. Females also have rosy bellies, particularly when eyeing up a mate. The males are generally larger with pointed dorsal, anal and pelvic fins. The female fins are rounded. Sorry I can't help you with the Rams but hope this helps the krib sexing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 In addition to the features you mentioned, in female blue rams the blue spangling (spots) along their upper side should go over that black splotch they have, in the males the spangles don't go over the black splotch. The pale fish may be a stressed/non-dominant male. I definetly wouldn't say that female rams a plain janes perhaps a little less colourful yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorse Posted April 17, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 Het there Caryl and Rob. Thanx for answering me so quickly. On the Krib side of things this means a big hooray as I have 2 females and 1 male. I have had to move one of the females though as the other two seem to have paired off already and I think there may be some eggs.(dont want to disrupt them) Consequently they seem to be picking on the other female, so I have moved her to the community tank. Thanx for your help on that Caryl!! As for the Rams, I think that I have one large male ( the original fish) and two smaller females. Still a bit unsure of these two as one the spangles do go through the black blotch( this is the lighter colored one) the other has one or two spots over the blotch but mostly all around the edge of it. They are still quite young thigh, so do you think perhaps I would be better to wait a while and see what develops?? Sorry to be such a pain and to show sooooo much of my ignorance, but thats why I have been looking for a site like this. Antway enough prattle, Thanx again for your help, and be sure I will be back with more questions soon as My Convicys have also laid and I think I'm in for some fun!!! I'm going to be visiting the welcome page too. I'll spend a bit of time introducing my tanks and their set ups. It will be interesting to hear what some of your thoughts are on them. Anyway Thanx heaps again Kind Regards, Seahorse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 17, 2002 Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 I'd be inclined to see what develops - the fish will let you know when/if they're inclined to breed. Remember that they're open spawners rather than cave spawners so a few flat rocks around the place (referably with some nearby cover) may encourage them (along with correct water conditions, good food, a nice bottle of wine, soft lighting :lol: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorse Posted April 22, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2002 Hey Rob. Thanks again for all your help. I had come to the same conclusion about waiting for a while, although at this stage it is looking strongly like I have 2 males and a female. Is that a good thing or am I better, when it looks like mating time, to remove 1 of the males? Regards Seahorse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 22, 2002 Report Share Posted April 22, 2002 Personally I'd remove one of the males (either the least interested one or the more poorly coloured one) when it looks like they're gearing up to spawn, also make sure that there is plenty of cover in the tank that the female can hide in if she's not in the mood. If you keep both males in the tank you may run the risk of the males bashing each other up competing for the female or/ the female not being able to escape the attentions of 2 amorous males. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted June 13, 2002 Report Share Posted June 13, 2002 You'll have to keep an eye on the Rams. During breeding, the male (as usual) can be quite agressive. It the spawning is unsuccesful, the male will sometimes kill the female. Its just something to be wary of, after all Rams are not cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 18, 2002 Report Share Posted June 18, 2002 about kribs, I found them to be little buggers! They (2 females) annoyed my fire eel no end so I traded them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted June 18, 2002 Report Share Posted June 18, 2002 me too Benny. I had a solo female Krib once too and it went around constantly taking bites out of all my other fish, including fish like gouramis that were three times as long and probably about 10 times the weight of the Krib. Not to mention it killing off dwarf gouramis by seriously wounding them. This wasn't a small tank either (150L). Definitely not a peaceful fish, it was a little bugger and went back to the shop too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 18, 2002 Report Share Posted June 18, 2002 Kribs are extremely territorial when breeding and will attack anything that moves - regardless of size. Nice fish, shame about the behaviour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorse Posted June 18, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2002 Hello everybody. A quick thanks to all the new replies to my posting. Have had quite a few developments since I was here last. One of which being the death of both my smaller Rams with no apparent cause. Still have the larger male but he will stay lonely for a while as my Kribs have been very busy and produced another lot of fry which I am pleased to say are all doing well. But because of this I have had to set up a nusery tank and this has been keeping me busy. While I am here, can anybody tell me the best Ph level for Cichlids please. I have been having a few ups and downs in my community tank and would be interested to know as they don't seem to have minded either way (bar the deaths of my Rams) Will be posting more questions on Ph levels in the very near future as I am having real problems bringing it back from 6.0. Thanks again for all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 18, 2002 Report Share Posted June 18, 2002 it depends on their origin. I believe kribs come from delta rivers in africa so i would imagine they like a slightly basic pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 How's the water Seahorse.... Any change yet? Hope it's stabilized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 I take it your pH is low and you want to raise it. You can add Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) to raise the pH and KH. Only add a small amount at a time. If your pH keeps falling it could be due to something in the tank, - maybe a log releasing humic acids... Best pH for breeding Dwarf South American Cichlids is 6.5-7.0. I've bred heaps in this pH. Their natural pH in the wild is usually from 5.5-7.0 (Amazon River and Tributaries). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 Seahorse said... >... can anybody tell me the best Ph level for Cichlids please There is a school of thought that says pH is almost unimportant when it comes to fish health (assuming the extreme end of the scale is avoided) and that you don't have a huge ammonia problem and high pH. Some people say that what's really important in the amount of dissolved solids and that it's just a case of tanks with low pH *tend* to also have a low level of disolved solids since these can buffer the water and therefore make it resist swings in pH. Dwarf South American cichlids (such as Rams) seem to appreciate soft water (and least when they're wild, or close to it, stock) with soft water you often get a low pH. Kribs are from western Africa and originally came from similar water but have been tank bred for so long now that they seem to do well in almost any water that can support other fish life. There are a plethora of web sites and mailing list archives that discuss water chemistry and how it relates to fish especially cichlids. The archive of the Apistogramma mailing list would be a very good place to start, IMHO. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorse Posted June 23, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2002 Just a quick message to sat that yes my Ph level has been restored thanks to the tips of using baking soda. I've done it very slowly as suggested and things seem to be fine now. I'm still a bit worried as to the cause, as it was a sudden change and I haven't been doing anything differently. But I will keep an eye on it and there were a few other suggestions from my posting under Freshwater thet I am intending to follow up on. Thanks every one for all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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