krib id help

[bushie]

g`day guys,

I have a kribensis that does not look anything like your standard pelvochromis pulcher type krib.

apart from his colouration, he is a lot larger than a normal male.
also there seems to be a slight difference in body shape.

would anyone have a positive I.D. on him and will he cross with a stardard female, or this a bad thing and should I house him seperately from the females?

thanx for your help in advance.

[wickedglass]

hi bushie,
to me he looks like a beautiful young male krib ... just look at the red blush on his tummy. they don't all have ocelli (eyespots) on their tails.
here's a link for a picture of an older buck without the spots on his tail or dorsals.

http://www.akvariumas.lt/zuvys/cichl...is_pulcher.jpg


the belly on your male is somewhat more concave than I like, is he eating ok? with some good feeding, he'll fill out a lot more and become deeper in the body.
kribs can get quite large, they're one of the species my girlfriend breeds and the more mature bucks can get to 10cm body length.
I hope it doesn't come as a disappointment that in my opinion you do have a P. pulcher there ... but regardless, I think the "common" krib is anything but common and is still one of the most underappreciated and most beautiful fish in the hobby!

[Robdog]

I'll agree with Wicked. I think you've got a nice male krib there although the first thing I noticed was the shape of his belly. In a perfect case it should look like a smile and not a frown if you know what I mean. Could be a sign of internal parasites or could just need a good feed.
I lost my male a while ago and he would have been about 4 yrs old and about 10-12cm. And beautiful to the day he died!

[bushie]

thanx lads

yeah I know he is a bit hollow bellied.
he was like that when I got him and then he did some time in quarantine.
I don`t feed em when there in quarantine to let them clean out.
he is a little fatty already now.

so, the different marking in kribs, is this a regional thing?
have there become differences due to selective breeding?
or is there just normal variations within the normal population?

I also remember reading somewhere that the name kribensis has wrongly been given to pelvochromis pulcher, when in actual fact the name relates to a sub type of Pelvochromis Taeniatus.

do you keep others form the pelvichromis family?
I have seen Pelvochromis Taeniatus (nigerian reds) around but there are about 8 or 9 sub species in this group from memory.
are they allowable imports?

thanx
bushie

[Robdog]

I think Noddy has a pair or two of nice Pelvicachromis but not sure which one. I think Tankwatcher has some too

[wickedglass]

there's lots of different pelvicachromis spp. in australia. a heap of the varieties of taeniatus are available, as you mentioned the nigerian reds, which are beautiful ... I've also seen "moliwe", "wouri", "makoure", p. subocellatus "matadi", p. signatus, p. humilus "liberian red" and p. sacrimontis around ... all of which are very nice fish.
I'm pretty sure Neeran in Mulgrave (heinz's old place) has "matadi" and I've had "moliwe" from him in the past.

[TW]

Hi bushie

Your krib male is very nice looking.

I'm late to this post, but Robdog is right, I do have some PT Nigeria Reds. Following are a couple of shots. Firstly, here is one of my 2 males. He is in the community tank, without a wife.

[TW]

not the best shot, but here is one of the other male with his wife. They are in a tank on their own & stubbornly do not mate. I have tried both males with her. I think it is the fault of the males, as she does flirt with him - but the males don't seem interested & nothing ever happens.

[Namn8r]

Sure thats a female of the same species?? The females all look alike but if they arent the right species they wont breed. I think kribs are very specific on parters, i dont believe the hybridise

[Th0mas]

Had to agree that the female in the picture looks more like a pulcher.