Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
New Project: plants, kribs & ...?
- fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
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I'm starting a new project, always very exciting

What I have so far :
80 liter tank (cycled, 2 filters running - if everything ok after plants grow I will keep only one slightly undersize for tank filter running, and heater set at 26 C), a few plants already planted, two coconut houses, and two kribs (boy & girl) that are adjusting to new environment (so far are a bit timid and scared).
My idea would be to have a low tech tank - kinda Walstad-hybrid - with lots of plants and fish. The plants are going to be a mix of submerged and emergent plants.
I'm looking to add other type of fish to the tank, as I said I have two kribs and if possible try to keep them there, the questions are: do you think I can keep them there? what other fish can I add?
I need hardiness (ie fish not too finicky), fish that can be good companions to kribs and others (and possibly not wipe out the fry!), fish not very timid, and color.
What about live-bearer? Or Dario Dario? What else?

Is there anyone that has experience with this kind of set up?
Thanks a million

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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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but i personally would be a bit paro about having a potential breeding pair of kribs as my first set of fish in the tank, cause if they get going witch i say they will fairly quick any new member will get bullied and a new bullied fish wont last long
but thats just me im sure you'll get plenty of help in the next day or two
hope it works out well for yeh
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- fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
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In that case???? What should I do? Take them out, put other fish and then reintroduce them, or just leave them alone for the moment?
I had to take them out of the other tank because the evil catfish got twice in their cave and -i believe- ate the eggs/fry. Both of them were quite stressed, female loose all her color, male started to chase her around. In that tank I also have 3 catfish, 2 angelfish and 4 full size tetra... it didn't look good at all.
In the new tank they are again all colorful and lovie-dovie. So if at all possible I'd like for them to stay in the new tank.
I probably need fish that use upper portion of tank, not bottom/cave dwellers. Right?

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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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to much stress taken them out again if their happy now leave them to start to get jiggy with it,
if you want the fry to have a chance i would go for no bottom feeders at all let them rule the bottom,
tank mates i would go with 8 barbs and 8 tetras (not neons)
no slow movers and no long fins is what works well
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- fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
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I do not have a good experience with tetras, I still have 4 of them and they are very aggressive, nip at every other fish, and plants, learned how to pick pellets of food (including algae wafers) from bottom, juggle them and push them against the glass to eat them. Even thou I have to say they are quite smart, I will not replace them, I kind of like peaceful community aquariums..... When the kribs were in the tank with tetras, it was a constant fight for the food, and both were nipping at the angelfish! I do not have experience with tiger barbs, but I was told they are also a bit aggressive, I have 1 indian veil-tail rosy barb left and she is a delight, unfortunately she stays a lot on the bottom, searching constantly for food, and she has long fins, which I believe are a no-no with kribs.
Any other ideas? Maybe some other forgiving cichlids, medium-upper tank dwellers? Would they prey on the fry?
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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as for your 4 tetras, all tetras and barbs need to be in a shoal of at least 6 thats why i said get 8 and this will ease the aggression, but they will always go for a long fin fish like the angels ect.
what about the keyhole cichlids and convicts both slow growers and very hardy just dont get male and females of same fish, i use to have 2 (m+f) kribs, 2 (m) keyholes, 2 (f) convicts and never had any probs a few scraps but nothing to mad nearly all cichlids will have a quick scrap anyway
ive found that a breeding pair of kribs can be tricky to mix with most community fish, but the fish ive mentioned is the route i went down, and it worked out for me, maybe another member can shed a light on what other fish is suitable for your tank size in this situation
just reading again the end of you post (forgiving cichlids) not a chance, and i think all fish will prey on fry its in the nature
if you wanted to save the fry the best way is to remove the fry to a grow out tank when you see them for the first time,
i have done this before and my female killed the male, so its a tricky one
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- fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
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Sorry last question, promise, why not female and male of keyhole cichlids and convicts together?
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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male and female keyholes and convicts can be kept together but what i ment is, say the convicts i wouldn't pair them up cause the breed just as much as the kribs and the last thing you want is 2 different cichlids in the same tank defending their fry their would be mayhem
so if you went for keyholes i personally would get 2 males their cool and their fins are really nice when they get a bit bigger than what you would buy them at
and if you went for convicts i would personally go with 2 females i have 2 and they show off some beautiful colours hoping to find a male
you could go for a male juwel cichlid too their cool with nice colours
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