Frontosa questions. Please advise

[Kashif314]

In my city frontosas arent available. I contacted one shop in a different city and they have the following frontosa available:

My question are:

1) I want to know what kind of frontosa are they?

2) Also I don't see they having a hump head, is it because they are juveniles? They are 3" in size. I love Frontosa because of their hump kind of head so will this type develope hump head with time?

3) I heard they are slow growers so how much time it will take them to grow to a size where they have hump head? (If they do develop it)

4) Is it ok to mix them with Africans mabunas (not very aggressive mbunas) and other like peacocks.

5) How many frontosa for a 100 gallon tank? 5 feet long. 55 cm high and 45 cm in width tank.

Please advise. Thanks.

 

[Ozzie73]

1) They look like Burundi
2) Too young for hump yet. Humps will start forming in a few months.
3) Mine are about 1.5 years old and 2 males creeping up on 8" and the females maybe 4-5"...Mine are a different type though
4) I do have one OB Peacock that was a jerk in his other tank but all good so far in with the fronts.
5) I have 8 in a 125, and at age and size stated above, I'm currently searching for the right deal on their forever 220g. They still have time in the 125 currently.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[RD.]

) How many frontosa for a 100 gallon tank? 5 feet long. 55 cm high and 45 cm in width tank.

IMO not a good fit for a 100 gallon tank.

 

[Kashif314]

1) They look like Burundi
2) Too young for hump yet. Humps will start forming in a few months.
3) Mine are about 1.5 years old and 2 males creeping up on 8" and the females maybe 4-5"...Mine are a different type though
4) I do have one OB Peacock that was a jerk in his other tank but all good so far in with the fronts.
5) I have 8 in a 125, and at age and size stated above, I'm currently searching for the right deal on their forever 220g. They still have time in the 125 currently.

Hope this helps a little.

Thanks. Do Brundi develop little bluish colour when they grow and reach to adult size? I seen some videos on YouTube and they have little bluish shade to their fins.

Can I house like two or three in a 100 gallon?

IMO not a good fit for a 100 gallon tank.

Not even two or three fish even?

 

[Ozzie73]

I was standing next to one at a show this weekend and he was pretty blue, and liked to stare...lol.

Growing out in the 100g would be ok but keep in mind they get big. You'll definitely have to upgrade at some point down the road so they're comfortable. Mine are still doing good in the 125, but not for much longer. Frontosa do better in a colony.

 

[islandguy11]

Personally OP I would think twice about keeping Frontosa with esp. Mbuna -- not saying it's impossible, but there are only a couple of mbuna that can be considered somewhat non-aggressive, and with Peacocks, they may or may not directly bother your Frontosa, but their near constant bickering and fighting can often stress out Frontosa which are much more relaxed in nature.

This stress can in turn result in health issues like it did for a Frontosa I tried keeping with Peacocks some years ago. As Ozzie73 mentions it would be easier if one were keeping multiple Frontosa, but as RD. alludes your current tank size isn't really ideal for that, except perhaps as a shorter-term growout.

 

[neutrino]

Burundi frontosa vary in how much blue they'll get. While some wild locations and breeder strains can have a good bit of blue, some never have much and are essentially a black and white fish. What you feed may or may not influence this. A common tendency is for them to have more blue as babies and lose it as they age, often true of strains coming from many generations of captive bred.

I would not keep frontosa and mbuna together, even milder types of mbuna that are okay in terms of aggression tend to be too nippy. During over a dozen years I spent on a Cyphotilapia forum I saw a lot of people try them with yellow labs-- it's tempting because of the color combination, especially with the bluer types of Cyphotlapia. However, quite often they'd eventually remove the labs when they realized they were nipping fins.

Sometimes Aulonocara-peacocks are okay with fronts, often not so much-- again it's the fin nipping problem-- some Aulonocara species are less prone to this than others, A. ngara sometimes work. A few Haplochromis tend to be okay with fronts in a large enough tank, Placidochromis sp. 'phenochilus' is one, Otopharynx Lithobates can be another. But such combinations tend to work better when the fronts are the main fish in the tank. There are those who keep fronts in Malawi tanks, I did it myself a long time ago in a galaxy far away, haven't done it for nearly 20 years and wouldn't do it now. Sometimes it's okay, while other frontosa will not be happy at all that way, but again there's the fin nipping issue.

Cyphotilpia are not a high energy fish and do better in species tanks or with other fish that suit their temperament. A small group of fairly low key Otopharynx is one thing, a crazy group of peacocks or mbuna is another.

 

[Ozzie73]

To touch on neutrino's comment...Brichardi, even though Tangies if that's the type of tank you want to set up in the long term, stay away from mixing them with Brichardi....lol. I have the one Aulonocara in there causing no problems luckily, but once anything arises, or the fronts hit that maturity to start spawning, deals off and he comes out of there.

 

[RD.]

Some great advice being given for those down the road, but IMO the OP has no plan on buying frontosa. This is just another endless chapter of their nonsense that has been posted in the 30 days since they joined.

 

[Kashif314]

I was standing next to one at a show this weekend and he was pretty blue, and liked to stare...lol.

Growing out in the 100g would be ok but keep in mind they get big. You'll definitely have to upgrade at some point down the road so they're comfortable. Mine are still doing good in the 125, but not for much longer. Frontosa do better in a colony.

Personally OP I would think twice about keeping Frontosa with esp. Mbuna -- not saying it's impossible, but there are only a couple of mbuna that can be considered somewhat non-aggressive, and with Peacocks, they may or may not directly bother your Frontosa, but their near constant bickering and fighting can often stress out Frontosa which are much more relaxed in nature.

This stress can in turn result in health issues like it did for a Frontosa I tried keeping with Peacocks some years ago. As Ozzie73 mentions it would be easier if one were keeping multiple Frontosa, but as RD. alludes your current tank size isn't really ideal for that, except perhaps as a shorter-term growout.

Can't speak on the Hikari Gold but personally feed a variety of pellet to a couple of African Peacock Cichlid . They are in with other species of fish but no issue such as bloating. A couple brand of pellet I offer does include algae such as Spirulina.

Burundi frontosa vary in how much blue they'll get. While some wild locations and breeder strains can have a good bit of blue, some never have much and are essentially a black and white fish. What you feed may or may not influence this. A common tendency is for them to have more blue as babies and lose it as they age, often true of strains coming from many generations of captive bred.

I would not keep frontosa and mbuna together, even milder types of mbuna that are okay in terms of aggression tend to be too nippy. During over a dozen years I spent on a Cyphotilapia forum I saw a lot of people try them with yellow labs-- it's tempting because of the color combination, especially with the bluer types of Cyphotlapia. However, quite often they'd eventually remove the labs when they realized they were nipping fins.

Sometimes Aulonocara-peacocks are okay with fronts, often not so much-- again it's the fin nipping problem-- some Aulonocara species are less prone to this than others, A. ngara sometimes work. A few Haplochromis tend to be okay with fronts in a large enough tank, Placidochromis sp. 'phenochilus' is one, Otopharynx Lithobates can be another. But such combinations tend to work better when the fronts are the main fish in the tank. There are those who keep fronts in Malawi tanks, I did it myself a long time ago in a galaxy far away, haven't done it for nearly 20 years and wouldn't do it now. Sometimes it's okay, while other frontosa will not be happy at all that way, but again there's the fin nipping issue.

Cyphotilpia are not a high energy fish and do better in species tanks or with other fish that suit their temperament. A small group of fairly low key Otopharynx is one thing, a crazy group of peacocks or mbuna is another.

To touch on neutrino's comment...Brichardi, even though Tangies if that's the type of tank you want to set up in the long term, stay away from mixing them with Brichardi....lol. I have the one Aulonocara in there causing no problems luckily, but once anything arises, or the fronts hit that maturity to start spawning, deals off and he comes out of there.

Thanks a lot everyone. I had already put some mbunas and peacocks so I will stay away from frontosa then. Maybe in future I will put blue Zaire type in this tank when I re home African cichlids but so far I am liking them so I ll stay away from frontosa. I ll better add more African cichlids.