Will these two ever pair?

[Scapexghost]

So, if you've seen my Journal, you know i've gotten a male and female krib. Unfortunately, the two are not getting along. The female is chasing the male. This seems limited to feeding time, and the male is able to get away since there are a lot of hiding spots, although his tail fin is a little frayed. It has only been a few days, as i got the fish on saturday. I am watching them now, and it seems like sometimes shes ok with him being close, but then she'll snap and chase him away? Will they ever make a breeding pair? Do i need to seperate them for his safety? 

[anewbie]

*IF* they pair it can take several weeks..... and yes there can be a lot of fighting until then. Of course there is no guarantee they will pair.

[Scapexghost]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:16 AM, anewbie said:

*IF* they pair it can take several weeks..... and yes there can be a lot of fighting until then. Of course there is no guarantee they will pair.

So is waiting the way to go?

[anewbie]

If you want a chance they will pair then yes you have to wait - and yes they can kill each other.

[Scapexghost]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:19 AM, anewbie said:

If you want a chance they will pair then yes you have to wait - and yes they can kill each other.

Ooh thats rough. I guess thats just the natural order. Im sure in nature a lot of kribs get killed trying to find a suitor. I guess its worth risking 1 or 2 kribs for the goal of creating dozens of kribs.

Will adding a third krib make things better or worse? 

[anewbie]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:23 AM, Scapexghost said:

Ooh thats rough. I guess thats just the natural order. Im sure in nature a lot of kribs get killed trying to find a suitor. I guess its worth risking 1 or 2 kribs for the goal of creating dozens of kribs.

Will adding a third krib make things better or worse? 

In the wild they are not constrained by a small glass cage and one can easily escape the other. Adding another female will make things much worse as one will likely die unless your aquarium is large with lots of hiding places. Adding another male - she will chase both off until she picks one and then both of them will gang up on the other male.....

-

It is all about tank size and layout. In a 40 with lots of hiding places you shouldn't have much concern about actual death - in a 10 - well....

Edited February 8, 2023 by anewbie

[Scapexghost]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:26 PM, anewbie said:

In the wild they are not constrained by a small glass cage and one can easily escape the other. Adding another female will make things much worse as one will likely die unless your aquarium is large with lots of hiding places. Adding another male - she will chase both off until she picks one and then both of them will gang up on the other male.....

-

It is all about tank size and layout. In a 40 with lots of hiding places you shouldn't have much concern about actual death - in a 10 - well....

I definetely could have gone about this better. Still, it seems like the aggression has died down. She is letting him stay near her for far longer than yesterday. I only saw her half heartedly chase him off once or twice while is was doing my chemistry homework, and i had a lot of chem homework. That said, i did not feed today, so tomorrow when i do will be quite telling. The female has also colored up quite a bit since getting her.