When to pull Frontosa fry from tumbler?

[Crazylegs78]

Nice mate. I love Blue Zaire variants. I had a group of Mikula but lost most in a power outage whilst I was visiting my parents in Australia.
This is my lonely male

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No worries man, I think these fish look just as good as a single specimen or a colony tank!

 

[Crazylegs78]

I like Zaire variants as they stay blue all the way to adulthood. Mbambwe and Burundi develop more massive hump, but they tend to lose the blueness and barring in adult, and some turn pitch black. Here is my lone 10 year old Zaire Twembwe that looks like yours. Seriously, I don’t know if it is a male or female. Mine is 11 inch. How old and big are yours.

Look like yours are juvenile or subadult. How big are they. I’m surprised they are already breeding as male Front don’t reach sexual maturity untill 3.

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That's a magnificent fish! I prefer the more blue of Zaire collection points as well. I got mine in two wild groups around May 2022. There are 8 total with 4 sure females, my dominant male hides constantly and is maybe 8". The sub male is 6" and the rest are about 4-5". I keep them in a 210 gallon that's 72"x24"x30. My dominant male is pretty much blacked out, but my tank is fairly dark.

 

[Crazylegs78]

What size tank and filtration?

What size tank and filtration?

It's an aqeuon 210g with two corner mattenfilters from Swiss tropicals. Easiest filtration ever! Thanks Ken!

 

[phreeflow]

Can you give a closer pic of your mattenfilter? Never seen them used on a large tank. Thx

 

[Crazylegs78]

Can you give a closer pic of your mattenfilter? Never seen them used on a large tank. Thx

Here's some better pictures I had before it was a frontosa tank. There's one in each back corner.

 

[phreeflow]

Here's some better pictures I had before it was a frontosa tank. There's one in each back corner.


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Nice festae! Did the sponge ever look unsightly and full of crud? How often did you clean it? Thinking I may try this

 

[Crazylegs78]

I have never removed them and cleaned them. I have vacuumed them off when lots of stuff got stuck, but that was mostly plant leaves. They are black foam on a black background in a dimly lit frontosa tank, so I really don't even notice them.
I just took these pictures, sorry for the glare.

 

[phreeflow]

I have never removed them and cleaned them. I have vacuumed them off when lots of stuff got stuck, but that was mostly plant leaves. They are black foam on a black background in a dimly lit frontosa tank, so I really don't even notice them.
I just took these pictures, sorry for the glare.
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Hmmm….sounds simple enough. I’m gonna give it a go. Thx

 

[Crazylegs78]

I use them in all my tanks because they suit my style of tank maintenance. The high surface area of aerobic bacteria is able to break down all organic waste, so not much need to really clean the filter. As the waste breaks down and becomes soluble, the water in the tank will begin yellowing. I use that as a water change indicator and do about 50% every other week.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

 

[phreeflow]

I use them in all my tanks because they suit my style of tank maintenance. The high surface area of aerobic bacteria is able to break down all organic waste, so not much need to really clean the filter. As the waste breaks down and becomes soluble, the water in the tank will begin yellowing. I use that as a water change indicator and do about 50% every other week.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

Very helpful…thank you. I’m in the process of simplifying things but have only seen these in small tanks. Never thought they’d hold up to larger fish. Good to see an example