Hows it going everyone I am thinking of getting another tank originally wanted to do texas cichlids but came across frontosas and think thats what I want. Anyone these any info on them would be great what size setup and etc thanks
Frontosa's
- Thread starter bigboired
- Start date
its best to get them in a group. They are farily slow growers so a 55 is a good grow out, but ideally a 150 would suit them well. go with a sand bottom, vary their diet, and do frequent water changes. Fronts arent hard to take care of, but they are very enjoyable
Good info on Frontosa Care here:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/frontosa_corner.php
Never kept them myself but it seems to have lots of good info....
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/frontosa_corner.php
Never kept them myself but it seems to have lots of good info....
I also have a post that has some info on them in the eudcating mfk on africans thread. Anywho Fronts are awesome fish usually do best in colonys. I would suggest 6 or more and when full grown I wouldnt go under 180gal and if you only have 4 or 5 then 125gal tank is the minimum size for these fish. You would need to switch up the diet as they eat both meaty foods and veggie foods, and a good mix is healthy for them. They are slow growers and max out at 10-12inches - Females being smaller. Sand is the suitable bottom type for them but you can use gravel (although I would suggest sand). They are really cool fish! =)
Hmmm... let me reach in here and pull out this link http://www.frontosa.com/ The biggest advice I can give you is do your homework if you are going to do fronts (seems like you already are). The generic inbred, crossbred, that you'll likely get at most lfs are pretty inexpensive these days. Wild-caughts and some of the newer variants go for over $100 each 
Burundis are the most commonly available. They are usually pretty hardy fish. If you do tankmates they don't like "busy body" fish like Tropheus or mbuna. They tend to get shy though you can often teach them to eat from your hand. If you go for juvies then you don't have to start with as big a tanks since they don't grow too fast. My Mpimbwe colony always looks to be more "floating in space" than swimming in water. They are naturally from lower depths so, at least to me, keeping them in lower lighting seems to work well. If you check out the link make sure to read some of the articles especially like Cyphomaniac.
Burundis are the most commonly available. They are usually pretty hardy fish. If you do tankmates they don't like "busy body" fish like Tropheus or mbuna. They tend to get shy though you can often teach them to eat from your hand. If you go for juvies then you don't have to start with as big a tanks since they don't grow too fast. My Mpimbwe colony always looks to be more "floating in space" than swimming in water. They are naturally from lower depths so, at least to me, keeping them in lower lighting seems to work well. If you check out the link make sure to read some of the articles especially like Cyphomaniac.Frontosa are an amazing fish, full of character. Like said before be sure to do your homework, the link for info on this site and cichlidforum should help alot. It is best to get a group of atleast six or more, I personally started my group with 15 F1 fry half from one breeder and half from another. I keep my colony in sand and only have a few larger round rocks in the tank, gives them enough shelter to feel secure but not enough to hide and claim territory all the time.
The diet is key as everyone else has mentioned, I feed mine a blend of krill, plankton, spirillina, flake, and tetra sinking cichlid pellets, you want to avoid floating foods as some fronts can get air bubbles trapped from swallowing surface are, ive never had this problem but know those who have.
There are several variants to choose from, each having its own great features.
Zaire/kapampa/moba are a darker deeper blue and usually cost a little more for it
Mpimbwe/ikolo are a lighter blue, more of a carolina blue
Burundi most commonly seen in the hobby, known for its very large nochal hump
there are many more but these are my favorites, of these I choose to go with mpimbwe as they are a much more active variant, commonly refered to as the puppy dog of the frontosa.
The diet is key as everyone else has mentioned, I feed mine a blend of krill, plankton, spirillina, flake, and tetra sinking cichlid pellets, you want to avoid floating foods as some fronts can get air bubbles trapped from swallowing surface are, ive never had this problem but know those who have.
There are several variants to choose from, each having its own great features.
Zaire/kapampa/moba are a darker deeper blue and usually cost a little more for it
Mpimbwe/ikolo are a lighter blue, more of a carolina blue
Burundi most commonly seen in the hobby, known for its very large nochal hump
there are many more but these are my favorites, of these I choose to go with mpimbwe as they are a much more active variant, commonly refered to as the puppy dog of the frontosa.
I started out with mine in a mixed tank and it got beat up. They are in a tank with one peacock and they do fine. If you go ahead a mix them up with other fish you might lose them. Like malawinut said, only mix them with peaceful fish if you must such as a keyhole cichlid or geophagus jurupari.