Frontosa talk
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it is super tough to tell them apart when young... Many I can not tell apart at all... well the kigoma are a little easier
cichlidgirl;2064621; said:This thread has some great info, sorry i missed it earlier on. I personally keep two different "variants" or "strains" . I keep 6 stripe burundi (I will continue to call them "frontosa" until the discussion is completed LOL) and also a Tanzanian Variant known as Mpimbwe or Mpimbwe blue. I have noticed and heard some things about these two types of fronts that i can share. These are mostly things i have seen in my own fish and are my own thoughts on it :
1. The mpimbwe (as are the zaire and zambians) are a much more intense or brighter blue than the burundi.
2. The mpimbwe have a thin lone ranger type mask around the eye area instead of a long vertical stripe that goes up and down over the eye like a burundi. The zaire have a similar mask but slightly wider.
3. All tanz, zambian, and zaires have a mask instead of a eye stripe.
4. The mpimbwe seem to have much more personality and interaction with me than my burundi. If i put my hand in the tank they will come over and eat right out of my hand, the burundi on the other hand hang back and just watch...
5. Zambian and Tanzanian look so similar it is extremely hard to tell the difference.
6. Zaire are also so similar it is often almost impossiable for the regular guy to tell what type he has purchased just by looking. Even experts can often only make a guess. You will see them often ask the person "what did the seller say they were ? " That is because they often cannot tell. It is the same for most of the Tanz. variants as well.
7. There is often a different look or shape to the masks and quality of blue color that will tell tanz from zaire though.
8. Burundi is the most common frontosa found in popular LFS. Burundi is the type that has been around the longest .
9. All Burundi get humps on the head, even females. Alpha males often get truly "massive" humps when kept in same conditions as tankmates.
10. All Gibberosa also get humps on the head but they are often much smaller and more refined looking.
11. It is very hard to tell juvie fronts apart until they start to mature and develop masks and color intensifies. One thing i noticed is that my Tanzanian juvies do not often (if ever) display what is known as "the stress bar" (a dark horizontal line going down the sides of the body in the light stripes that comes and goes with mood). My burundi juvies all displayed this and it would photograph easily. The mpimbwe almost never had that. One other thing i noticed is the blue on the mpimbwe fry at one inch or larger was more evenly distributed over head and dorsal than the burundi and was a different shade of blue, burundi was more ice blue/white and mpimbwe more robin egg blue or sky blue. The burundi blue also seems to be most concentrated on the lower parts of the body getting lighter as it goes up. Mpimbwe seem to have even bright blue all over.
12. I have noticed that it is often the case when someone is not sure of type of front they bring out words like " poor quality or hybrid". I have also found if you buy your fish at a LFS that marked them as "frontosa" and did not specify a location or collection point that even if they are pure burundi or other variant you will most often be told that they "must be low quality or hybrid" simply because of the belief that these stores do not order good stock. I find this to be true at most frontosa specialty sites. While in general you should get better stock from a breeder i have not always found that to be true. I personally have seen nice fish come from Lfs just as often as from a breeder. Its simply that most LFS dont specialize in fronts and dont know the difference, that does not mean the breeder or supplier of those fish didnt know either. That said i have also seen horriable stock from breeders. Use common sense when buying from a LFS, do your research first. I would recommend that you attempt to get good stock from a reputable breeder but if you cant find one in your area and the fish look healthy with nice stripes and good form and color at your local LFS then get them and dont worry about what other "experts" say. My burundi are from Petco and look like burundi and act like burundi. I am perfectly happy with them. I had one expert tell me once i should flush them and buy some "pure" fronts from him instead. Unless its some genetic faults such as lip deformity, broken stripes, 6 stripes on one side and 7 on other etc... avoid those.
Here are some pics :
Here is one of my 2 inch mpimbwe juvies (notice how the intense blue is not just on the lower fins but also the whole body and head area and dorsal fin ?)
Here is one of my 4-5 inch burundi (notice the fins are nice and blue but the body stripes are much lighter blue almost a ice white ):
The two larger fish in front are burundi (notice the stress bar i mentioned earlier on them?) notice the smaller mpimbwe behind them do not display that mark .
THANK yOU !!!! So much for great info and pics that are outstanding.l..
Your welcome. LOL, when you clicked quote or what ever you just made my extremely long winded post repeat itself pics and all !! LOL LOL.
cichlidgirl;2064746; said:
i know...but it does not matter..those pics and info are worth seeing again...
Oh, i like you LOL. If im ever down i can usually just post some nonsense on this or that and you always have a nice comment to cheer me up and make me feel useful LOL.
cichlidgirl;2064782; said:
I really really appreciate your help... there is alot of info to dig up about fronts.... so you are very very useful.... don't ever underestimate your self worth..... we can boost each other..
WOW! I didnt know there were that many different kinds!! haha I feel so educated now!
To make it long story short, found an add on craigslist for free fish.. Turned out we got a 75g tank complete setup, included in the fish were two frontosas. I have never had them and the guy said hes had the male for 10 years, and the female for 5 years. I dont even know if shes a female
. I tried reading here and tried to figure out what types they are, but I guess Im not the brightest crayon in the box! I used to think a frontosa was a frontosa! Its awesome to know theres so many kinds!! great thread! So sorry if its the wrong place/time to post this I apologise!!.. what are mine? Iokola?
Heres the "female"
To make it long story short, found an add on craigslist for free fish.. Turned out we got a 75g tank complete setup, included in the fish were two frontosas. I have never had them and the guy said hes had the male for 10 years, and the female for 5 years. I dont even know if shes a female. I tried reading here and tried to figure out what types they are, but I guess Im not the brightest crayon in the box! I used to think a frontosa was a frontosa! Its awesome to know theres so many kinds!! great thread! So sorry if its the wrong place/time to post this I apologise!!.. what are mine? Iokola?
Heres the "female"
The male is likely a burundi because he has a eyestripe, with the closeup cant count black stripes to rule out the 7 striped kigoma though. Count his stripes, if he has six black stripes (counting the one through the eye) then he is burundi (also called sp. north frontosa) or if he has a extra stripe (7) then he is a kigoma 7 stripe frontosa. The female is very dark and I cant really see the markings on the eye and head area , if she has a stripe like the male and not a mask then they are likely the same species (burundi) if she has a mask then we would need better pics to ID her.
Very nice hump on the male by the way, I cant wait till my burundi look like that.
Very nice hump on the male by the way, I cant wait till my burundi look like that.
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