Frontosa Aggression Help

[DustyBZoo]

I'll try to keep this short. I saw frontosas a while back and I love them. I also love big tanks.

I know fronts need large tanks. I want to eventually have 3 in either a 120g or 150g. Right now I have a 55g that had nothing in it so I set it up for fronts. I bought three to start and one is bigger and ugly! Not just because it's black, but it's face in not very symetrical. Well I think he bullied the smaller prettier ones to death. However, he was perfectly healthy looking/acting.

Here's my delima. I bought another front to go with him tonite that is similar in size. The new one looks nice and has a nice hump at about 5-6". My ugly one has been chasing and bumping the new one around. Should I be worried or surprised? As of now my plan is pulling the old one out, rearranging the tank, giving the new one some time relax, then trying to introduce them again.

If they are 2 males will they likely fight to the death?
Also if they are two males, would introducing a female help?

I know it would be wiser to have a 6 foot tank and a colony and all that good stuff. But I'm not going to spend that kind of money until I can keep at least two alive.

Please give me your 2 cents!

 

[johns]

2 fish equil aggression. To small of a tank, aggresion 2 males no Females, You get the picture. try rearanging the tank, may Help. I have 3 males and 5 females in a 6 foot tank, Pretty ugly in that tank right now.

 

[tr6]

Too small of a tank for frontosa.
Really need a 6 footer. Sometimes a 5ft could work if the group is passive.

I'd not get anymore frontosa till you get that 6 foot tank, otherwise you will most likely keep losing newly introduced frontosa in that 55.

Its not you who can't keep the fish alive, its simply nearly impossible in a small tank.

 

[MpimbweBreeder]

agreed

 

[Ash]

tank is to small if the fronts are already a good 4+inches... you can try to re-arrange the tank but you simply just dont have enough room/territory so its probably not going to work out in your favor. I wouldnt bother with it untill you have a larger tank. Dont add females to offset the agression the tank is to small.... yes it would help... but no you dont have the room for more fish or for them to have territory (and youd probably want them around the same size incase of bullying) and it wont help your water quality either cuse you would need more than one female for them not to fight over the one female.

 

[DustyBZoo]

I put the aggressor in a bucket for a few hours and rearranged the tank. Once the new fish seemed pretty comfortable I put the old one back in. So far things turned out pretty good. I'll have to take a picture of the setup and show you. I agree that I shouldn't put anymore fronts in this tank. However the 2 seem pretty happy at this point. They're not chasing or pushing each other. They seem pretty tolerant of each other.

As far as water quality, I'm over filtered and very watchful of parameters. If I was dealing with schooling fish or a community tank, I could get away with ALOT more fish than this.

I'm going to wait until spring and set up a 150g if things go well. Then I can use this 55g for a grow out for fry and/or calvus.

I'll have pics in a day or so.
Today is my B-day, so I have much celebrating do.