# Kribensis



## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

I want to add some more fish to my semi aggressive tank, and my local fish shop recommended Kribs to go with my tiger barbs and red tail black shark. do you think they will be ok together


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## Guest (Jan 27, 2010)

How big is your tank?


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

60l and is now fully cycled


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

I had 2 kribs they are beautiful fish and i imagine they should be fine in your tank witht he other fish but i am not too sure about the size! I don't know about that stuff only my own!!


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

did they attack other tank mates?


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

AngusChild said:


> did they attack other tank mates?


No mine were fine. But they will 'stand' their ground. If another fish was getting to 'annoying' they would get a butt out of the way!

I had mine with 2 big Angelfish, a big Albino shark, 2 huge silver sharks, one very big plecco, and a big parrot fish.

They were the smallest in the tank but they all got on great.


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## Guest (Jan 27, 2010)

Assuming that this is the same tank as the one in your other thread, then I wouldn't recommend adding the Kribensis. As I have pointed out the RTBS needs a bigger tank and I would try to address this before buying more fish. 

Like other species from the Pelvicachromis genus, Kribensis can be hit in miss compatiblity wise. I had two pairs in a 4ft tank that tore a group of Corydoras to shreds, yet another pair that I had in a 2ft tank left everything alone.


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

The shark is fine, but un like corys, surely tiger barbs and the shark would fight back if they were being attacked, as they are semi aggressive


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## Guest (Jan 27, 2010)

Neither Tiger Barbs or Red tailed black sharks are 'semi-aggressive', the correct terms to use for the latter would be moderately territorial, that is, territories will be established and the fish will generally keep to themselves (in most cases). They won't 'fight back' if provoked by other fish.

Tiger Barbs are actually quite peaceful but are somewhat attracted to fish with long fins, hence why they are commonly labelled as 'fin-nippers'. Both Red tailed Black sharks and Kribensis inhabit the mid-lower areas of the tank, so skirmishes may result. 

Going by the age and length of the RTBS (as you stated in your other thread), it appears that it is suffering the effects of stunted growth (through no fault of your own of course). While the damage may not be evident externally at the moment, given time the signs will start to show.


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

may I ask what makes you so sure about everything, you told me that the shark was meant to be at 5" at the age she is. I have done a lot of research and apparently she is the correct size for her age.


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2010)

AngusChild said:


> may I ask what makes you so sure about everything, you told me that the shark was meant to be at 5" at the age she is. I have done a lot of research and apparently she is the correct size for her age.


One word: experience...

I've absolutely no idea where you're obtaining your information from, but a 2 year-old RTBS should be fully grown by now if it is has been kept in normal conditions. The average lifespan of these fish is between 5-8 years, and they reach sexual maturity (that is, they are fully grown) at around 2 years old. This leads me to believe that either the shark has been kept in inadequate conditions or it isn't as old as you are making out, I'd personally go for the latter.

If you don't want to listen to my advice, then that's fine with me, you can always go elsewhere.


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

im going by what i was told by the shop keeper about the age


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2010)

Ok,

A lot of fishkeepers will tell you that many aquatic and pet stores will give you bad or incorrect advice, this is true to an extent and you have to remember that these people are running a business which is founded upon on thing: profit. While there are several reputable stores out there (i.e Wildwoods, Pier aquatics, Trimar, M&R Dogfish to name a few), others will give you bad advice, often intentionally to cause problems to get you to come back and spend more money rectifying the problem. I don't mean to sound like a cynical, orthodox nutcase however I would recommend only obtaining advice from reputable sources on the internet, in particular forums.


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## AngusChild (Jan 13, 2010)

Good Friends - my red tail black shark, and one of my tiger barbs Pet Photo Gallery - Upload & Share Pet Photos - picture

YouTube - Tiger Barbs Fighting - video, though sorry for the music, the sounds coming from the camera were to annoying.


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## Fishyfins (Feb 28, 2009)

as pleccy says, it all comes down to experience. now i dont know Pleccy in person, but he knows a lot more than me about fish, and i have over 12 years experience keeping and breeding tropical and marine fish, and 6 years actually working in my LFS. i have a reference library of over 200 fishkeeping books, of which i have read and digested every single page. Id like to think i know about fishkeeping, so saying Pleccy knows more than me says something about what he knows!

what he says is absolutely 100% correct about this. one rule is to NEVER trust your LFS, as they will usually tell you anything to sell you anything. think about it this way, to them its a buisness. there have been many cases where pLFS workers tell you the wrong advise. you go away, and use that advise, and the fish get sick. you go to them for medicine they say will fix it, which it doesnt, and the fish die, so you go back and buy more fish, which get sick, which they sell you medicine for, which doesnt.... you get the picture. we have nothing to gain from telling you what we know, but they can gain from telling you what they tell you. be very wary about them, especially if they are giving you advice like that.

edit: seems Pleccy replied saying this as i was typing this out XD


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