Can grow up to 10cm. Females develop a deep wine-red patch around the belly. Easy to keep, not fussy about water conditions and peaceful. Ideal for tropical community tanks. However, it is recommended that a rock cave should be provided.

Kribensis are omnivorous and a pair can be easily kept in a ten gallon tank. They are a secretive yet prolific spawner that defend their eggs very aggressively.

This Old World cichlid species has 48 chromosomes (Post, 1965). Heterotilapia multispinosa, Neotroplus nematopus (Thompson, 1979), Lamprologus leleope and Tilapia grahami (Post, 1965) are the only other cichlids to share the same chromosomal trend with New World cichlids (as in 48 chromosomes).

Spawning and parental behaviour

The parents display deep reds and blues when they are courting. The female will swell up and rest most of the time. One courting behaviour you may notice is the female submitting to the male in an arch. Another common behavior is the cleaning of the desired spawning site (often by both parents).

The kribensis spawns around 150 eggs. The fry hatch in 2-3 days and are sustained by their egg sacks. Within 3-4 days they will become free swimming and can be fed on newly hatched brine shrimp or commercial food. They will swim with there parents for 2-3 weeks while the parents guard both eggs and fry aggressively. The fry can be fed on adult food at the age of 2 weeks.

The fry will start to display blues and pinks at approximately 4 weeks old. Once the parents have spawned, they are very hard to stop, some spawning after only 8 weeks

Other Information

When trying to lay eggs it is a good idea to give it a flower pot to lay the eggs on the side of the wall. The fry  are grayish with little black stripes and will be able to sell by the time they are 4 months old.

Information contributed by:
Jerry Waggener waggener@ethergate.com
94tclee@mail.bartholomew.oxon.sch.uk
Jorge Ivan Rebelo Porto jirporto@internext.com.br
Ophir Family ophir@wn.net