Frontosa?
- Thread starter carterhh
- Start date
carterhh;4976876; said:
No. Don't even get it if all you have is a 55 gallon. These fish will not be happy or grow to their full potential in that small of an aquarium. The smallest tank you should put them in when they are full grown is a 6' 180 gallon or larger. I would highly recommend if you want to keep fronts that you get the tank first then buy the fish.
They perfer colonys and a tank of 55gal is not big enough for even one full grown front (while the interwebs tell you 12" max, they can get larger). For a small colony a 125gal minimum I would personally go for a 150gal or lager. I have kept them with 3" africans before when the largest was 9 inches and that was iffy for me. I ve seen people keep them with smaller fish and larger fish. I would mix them with something that is at least 5-6 inches and you want to stay away from agressive malawis as tankmates or you will just stress the front out (yes its done and has been done and the fronts almost always look stressed out or in bad shape). I would suggest looking into calvus or synodontis catfish for tankmates. You will need to feed them sinking foods, you dont want them to take in any air from surface eating or you will have issues. Search for frontosa diet and threads should come up with the different diets people feed them. I know there are a few threads on it somewhere in here as its been asked more than once. You will need hiding places and rockwork/decor for territory and you want way more females than males (or really 1 male). I have kept several species and notice out of all substarte mine have liked sand the best and love to sift it, so I would suggest a sand substrate. Also I have read several places to keep the tank at 80 deg., I wouldn't and I wouldnt keep the tank any warmer than 78deg., imo.