210 gallon Frontosa build

[Bwirtz]

I have had my group for three years and they are still a bit skittish at times. Walk past the tank and they bang around. These are 7-11 inch fish. Other times they are puppy dogs waiting to be fed.

I noticed in one of the pictures that there appears to be some posturing with some gills flaring. I only see that usually with females on females or males sparing for dominance with other males.

Keep doing your normal feeding and maintenance, and keep an eye out for bullying. She will eat eventually. If you do feed frozen brine periodically I would give that a try as well, as it's crack to small and juvenile cyphos.

Another thing to try would be to re-scape the tank minimizing hinding spots and see if that will get her in the open and reset the heirachy.

 

[danotaylor]

She is definitely not holding mate

 

[Caperguy99]

She is definitely not holding mate

Good to know! Thanks so much.

Something clearly happened - must have fought when I wasn’t watching or something. The fish came out of the cave and ate today, brine shrimp, but still super skittish. If it went for the same piece as another fish - even the smallest one - it would dart and zoom back into the cave before mustering up the courage to come back out and chase another piece.

Odd for the second largest fish in the tank, but I’ll keep an eye on it and see how we go.

 

[Caperguy99]

She is definitely not holding mate

After watching today, it’s definitely something relating to breeding. The fish in the cave cleared off a flat section right on the bottom, and was rubbing its belly there just like on videos of Frontosa spawning that I’ve seen on YouTube. No visible breeding tube though, as far as I can tell.

My suspected male has also been mulling about the cave entrance - but it’s like he doesn’t know what to do.

I know there’s no chance of babies considering the ages of the possible males, but wow what a cool thing to see!

In this photo you can see the section inside the cave cleared down to the glass, and the female inside is looking at her possible boyfriend like “What now!?” lol

 

[ken31cay]

Approximately how old would you say they are again?

 

[Caperguy99]

Approximately how old would you say they are again?

The two new females - which were larger than the ones I’ve had for a year - I don’t have an age on. I bought them at 4-4.5 inches or so from a shop in Ontario. This is one of the ones who is exhibiting this behavior. Perhaps I will contact the owner and see how long he had them for.

The 4 smaller ones I bought last summer from Cichlids and Herps - they were really small when I had them, so I’m guessing a few months old? Alison didn’t say, but I’m guessing she sells them quite young. For this reason, I’m certain they likely won’t breed for another few years.