Around a month ago, I bought a male and female crib. The female adapted right away to my tank (37 gallon, all numbers are excellent, 4 mollies, 4 platys, some plecos, coreys, ottos, harlequins and two golden nuggets). The male instantly seemed stressed out, breathing heavily. Two days later, he was dead. Today, I bought another female and male. The female adapted right away, the male instantly had the same symptoms as my other male - breathing heavily. I put him in a 2 1/2 gallon filtered hospital tank using maracyn. He has calmed down alot. Are males prone to stress or am I doing something wrong?
Crib Problem
- Thread starter lisa1124
- Start date
I'm not sure to be honest. I have a professional that takes care of my tank. He came over yesterday to clean my tank and all the readings were excellent with the exception of phosphates which were a little elevated. I am having an overgrowth of algae but I did not have that the last time when my prior male crib died at that time, the readings were excellent. Every fish and plant is thriving.
It's hard to give you an answer without some basic information. 
Do you have any test kits to test yourself between services? What does your professional say about the kribs? Exactly what fish and how many of each are in your tank? You have a heck of a lot of plecos and general bottomfeeders in there.... How long has this tank been set up and what has been its history?
Do you have any test kits to test yourself between services? What does your professional say about the kribs? Exactly what fish and how many of each are in your tank? You have a heck of a lot of plecos and general bottomfeeders in there.... How long has this tank been set up and what has been its history?Two months. I'll ask my professional for numbers this evening. He is coming over to check on the crib. I have 2 golden nuggets, 4 tiny ottos and 4 coreys. He assures me my tank is not overcrowded. I have alot of bottom dwellers because they are just so adorable. All my fish are thriving. The new female crib I added yesterday is doing great and bonded instantly with the other female crib. If you saw the male crib, you would think he is nervous. He looked much better today - no heavy breathing. If he still looks good this evening, we are going to add him to the tank but acclimate him very very very slowly.
I was wondering the entire stocking of your tank. In some of your past posts, different fish were mentioned as being in this tank and I was wondering about the entire picture.
I am a pleco fan myself and have a small starter colony of Ancistrus sp. in my 55, another Ancistrus in my 44 corner tank, a rubberlip with my Endlers, and a common in another tank. (I sold two HUGE commons at recent fish auctions) However, plecos are poo factories and your water quality, especially in a tank of that size, can plummet in no time if you're not careful. Golden nuggets get good sized (a foot or so), what is your exit strategy for them? If you enjoy the bottom feeders, maybe it's time to join those of us who have a bad case of MTS (multiple tank syndrome) -- there are support groups for that condition, you know (aka, MFT.net ) Does your professional bring/sell you your fish or do you get them elsewhere?
I'm glad to hear your krib seems to be doing better. BTW, it's Krib for kribensis, Pelvicachromis pulcher usually, but there are other "kribs" available in the hobby as well, just not anywhere near as common
Be sure, when you have a fish who is doing poorly to not use chemicals unless they're for a very specific purpose. CLEAN water is as good a tonic for many fishy ailments. Think of having a cold and someone spraying Lysol in the air when you're trying to breathe..... Sometimes, adding something to the water doesn't help but may harm instead -- sometimes, another medication is indicated and now you need to totally remove the first thing you added or run the risk of the correct medicine not working or even reacting adversely to the first one.
I am a pleco fan myself and have a small starter colony of Ancistrus sp. in my 55, another Ancistrus in my 44 corner tank, a rubberlip with my Endlers, and a common in another tank. (I sold two HUGE commons at recent fish auctions) However, plecos are poo factories and your water quality, especially in a tank of that size, can plummet in no time if you're not careful. Golden nuggets get good sized (a foot or so), what is your exit strategy for them? If you enjoy the bottom feeders, maybe it's time to join those of us who have a bad case of MTS (multiple tank syndrome) -- there are support groups for that condition, you know (aka, MFT.net
) Does your professional bring/sell you your fish or do you get them elsewhere?I'm glad to hear your krib seems to be doing better. BTW, it's Krib for kribensis, Pelvicachromis pulcher usually, but there are other "kribs" available in the hobby as well, just not anywhere near as common
Be sure, when you have a fish who is doing poorly to not use chemicals unless they're for a very specific purpose. CLEAN water is as good a tonic for many fishy ailments. Think of having a cold and someone spraying Lysol in the air when you're trying to breathe..... Sometimes, adding something to the water doesn't help but may harm instead -- sometimes, another medication is indicated and now you need to totally remove the first thing you added or run the risk of the correct medicine not working or even reacting adversely to the first one.
I hope I don't have too many fish. Other than the bottom dwellers, I have 4 platys, 4 mollies and 2 small angels. Once the nuggets get too big, they will go back to the fish store. They have two zebras that they are trying to breed - it is going to take alot of willpower for me to not buy two because they are gorgeous. The guy that takes care of my fish works at the store where I buy them. He's wonderful and quite the expert. Thanks for all your help.