210 gallon Frontosa build
- Thread starter Caperguy99
- Start date
looking good now.
Do you find they favor the shadier side in the aquarium being a deeper found species?
Do you find they favor the shadier side in the aquarium being a deeper found species?
Its hard to tell, really, as the light is only on for about 1 hour a day or when I’m looking at the tank.
If I had to guess, theres one that does seem to like the dim side - but it’s possible that it just happens to prefer the way the cave is structured on that side of the tank.
One thing I have definitely noticed is the difference between keeping four and six specimens. With six, they’re almost always out and hovering above the rockwork - with four, they were always hiding inside the rocks.
danotaylor
What does holding look like for a female Frontosa?
One of the large new females has sequestered herself in a cave on one side of the tank. Seems to shy away from my attention and is sort of burrowed in. I can’t get a good look at the mouth, so can’t really tell.
My male definitely isn’t old enough to fertilize the eggs, but I’m unsure of the age of these females - they could be two years. Would they produce eggs at that age and try to hold them? If they do this, do they hide away?
Otherwise, I’m worried again that something would be wrong. Again, I’d have no idea what the problem would be, though, as all of the other fish are totally fine and the levels are normal. No big water changes anytime recently either.
Gibbersoa don’t mature sexually until 4yrs or older typically. During the cyphos.com days there were claims of females laying earlier, like 3yrs plus. I have seen 4.5” females holding, but they were still older & perhaps stunted from poor water quality. With a persistent dominant male females will sometimes hold gravel or even air bubbles to fool him.
Females holding will typically be more reclusive. Perhaps you can find out from your source a more accurate age on them to try to allay worry. In the absence of that info, keep your water clean, and watch for signs of bloat or float or other visibly evident diseases.
You could add 1tbsp/5gal of Epsom salt incase of an early intestinal issue. This will not harm or affect the fish in the tank if it is not intestinal.
Females holding will typically be more reclusive. Perhaps you can find out from your source a more accurate age on them to try to allay worry. In the absence of that info, keep your water clean, and watch for signs of bloat or float or other visibly evident diseases.
You could add 1tbsp/5gal of Epsom salt incase of an early intestinal issue. This will not harm or affect the fish in the tank if it is not intestinal.
I will also say sometimes young females will go to the top of the tank and gulp and hold air. I have seen this behavior in the past. Not sure why they do it as it is not ideal as if they continue to do it they can impare their swim bladder. It's called float, when they hold air and float around the tank, only to release the air bubble later.
I have also seen it when Fronts are fed with floating foods, which is a no no. They will gulp air and it could take a few days for it to pass through. You will notice that they float and or their backside with rise up slightly when the move and their head is slightly downward facing.
I have also seen it when Fronts are fed with floating foods, which is a no no. They will gulp air and it could take a few days for it to pass through. You will notice that they float and or their backside with rise up slightly when the move and their head is slightly downward facing.
This doesn’t feel like that. The fish isn’t floating at the top or even swimming around. Also, I only feed sinking and haven’t seen them go to the surface.
Behavior wise, it’s like the fish is posted up inside the cave on one side of the tank. It comes out periodically, but goes right back in. It’s also exhibiting what looks like fear of me - when I try to look at it, it sort of crams its face into a small hole in the rock, or backs into the small fissure to try and get sway. The first day I noticed anything amiss was when I approached the tank and the fish went nuts, zooming up and down and crashing into the sand - then has been sort of hiding in the cave since.
Do they hide and get fearful like this if they are holding?
It hasn’t eaten in three days, but the colour seems normal. It hasn’t darkened up like the other fish I had pass away, but I must say I’m a bit freaked out by the behavior and - if it is sick - I’m totally at a loss for what the problem could be.
Do the rest of the group eat well and behave normally, ex/ frequently interacting with each other by nudges and small perfunctory chases?
The others are all absolutely normal. Normal interaction, come to the front when I approach begging for food, etc.
The fish that seems to be hiding isn’t laying on the bottom or anything - it’s still swimming normally inside the little cave. Just a whole heck of a lot more skittish than usual and not coming out to eat. When I get close to look into the cave, also, it sort of shies away.
Edit: I was able to snap a few creep shots of the fish in question
