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Soft water kribs

splatteredbrainz

splatteredbrainz

Member
Joined
3 Jun 2017
Messages
94
Location
US
Don't understand why I'm losing fish. Had 6. Sold 1. 3 died. They all got beat up (presumably by each other, only females died from what I can tell) and started panting/swimming upside down. Sucks because I had a pair too. Of the 2 remaining fish one is particularly spectacular. Tank is aprox 40 gallons long, heavily planted
ph 5.5
Apistos/regular kribensis/yoyo loaches
49f4114b9b32a003629794c10d92a693.jpg
6538d53aa45cec34a77c743fca2d3969.jpg


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What is the KH .... I believe u r getting PH shock at night when no light , more co2 n resulting flactuation in PH ...it may go below 5 ....

PH 5.5 is quite low as well

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U may want to select species which does well in low ph

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Enigmatochromis lucansi

Here's a before/after of the tank. I keep it at around 26 degrees with co2 and high light for 6 hours a day

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Kribs Pelvicachroms pulcher are among the sturdiest of fish - especially captive bred lines - they are found in natural waters ranging from pH 5-7.5 & 0-12 GH & even brackish .... I doubt very much that your listed water parameters are the issue

While often compatible in groups (as in unlikely to fight to the death but expect a good deal of infighting & squirmishes)
If you get a spawning pair, the rest better have a good escape route or large tank - though there are reports of breeding kribs residing peacefully in community tanks there tend to be more of the "everyone else had to leave" sort ...

So consider if you had a pair that spawned, leading to constant harassment and stress related deaths - spectacular fish is likely the dominant male, other fish may be sub male or unwanted female (like most cichlids they prefer a selection of partners to find a compatible pair)
Or if fish may've gotten sick?

Without any more detail, I'd suggest daily water changes for the next week & then twice weekly before returning to weekly water changes of 40 - 50% depending on stocking etc
 
It's supposed to be a soft water variety: enigmatochromis lucansi

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I'm not much of a "krib" person so don't know anything about this particular species but would expect it to be wild caught or F1 or F2 etc & much more particular about tank setup & parameters

Again I'd just go with the daily water changes & increase tank maintenance (ie water changes) - most natural waters are pristine compared with aquaria

I was just reminded of that recently, I have (wild caught) S vaillanti in a planted tank & try to do twice weekly water changes of 60-70%, lately it's been more like weekly & one day I realized how quiet & apparently shy they'd become & even some occasional fin clamping ...
not wanting to medicate without some indication of what I should choose, I decided to do several large water changes - they were immediately happier :)
I've been more consistent with the water change every 3 days & they are back swimming all over the tank
 
Hi all,
splatteredbrainz said:
Enigmatochromis lucansi
Click to expand...
These are quite a rare fish, so their may not be a lot of information about keeping them. I don't think it is a pH issue, and the tank looks fine.

You could try contacting <"Peter Clarke">, I know he has bred them fairly recently.

The top picture is definitely a male, I can see the spotted fins.

cheers Darrel
 
Ok so the spots indicate a male also it seemed the females were a bit smaller. I'm down to 2 males now. I know for a fact they were bred in captivity. They're even more rare here in the States. The only info available online is from the U.K.

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