I am setting up a new Frontosa tank. I am hopping to finish up with 7 or 8 Females once they are grown. SO if it were you, How many Fry would you start with? Thanks for your input.
Arkangel77
Arkangel77
How many F1 Moba Frontosa would you Get?
- Thread starter Arkangel77
- Start date
I don't really Understand how tank dimensions apply to the question I asked...
I currently have -
a 60 Gallon 36 x 20 x 20
a 90 Gallon 48 x 18 x 24
a 120 Gallon 72 x 24 x 24
a 125 Gallon 72 x 18 x 21
& a 360 Gallon 96 x 30 x 29
Thanks, Arkangel77
I currently have -
a 60 Gallon 36 x 20 x 20
a 90 Gallon 48 x 18 x 24
a 120 Gallon 72 x 24 x 24
a 125 Gallon 72 x 18 x 21
& a 360 Gallon 96 x 30 x 29
Thanks, Arkangel77
If you want 7,8 females (plus at least one male, I assume?), then tank size is a huge factor for them as adults. Adult females alone, you're talking about 8-9 inch fish, sometimes larger, and males can easily be 11-12 inches, some larger. Both have some bulk and weight to them, especially males, of course. Also, (unlike Malawi cichlids) they shouldn't be-- and don't like to be-- crowded.
There's not really a definitive answer or magic number to guarantee M/F numbers when growing out juvies. You can start with the assumption of close to a statistical 50/50 ratio on average, but it doesn't guarantee what will happen in any particular group, which can be either male or female heavy. A lot of people start with ten, hoping for at least some males and some females, but you might get 7 females or you might get 2-- I've seen both happen multiple times. If I wanted the best odds of 7,8 females I'd definitely start with more than 10.
Is your objective to get a breeding group, an all female display tank, or...?
There's not really a definitive answer or magic number to guarantee M/F numbers when growing out juvies. You can start with the assumption of close to a statistical 50/50 ratio on average, but it doesn't guarantee what will happen in any particular group, which can be either male or female heavy. A lot of people start with ten, hoping for at least some males and some females, but you might get 7 females or you might get 2-- I've seen both happen multiple times. If I wanted the best odds of 7,8 females I'd definitely start with more than 10.
Is your objective to get a breeding group, an all female display tank, or...?
Thatn you for the responce. Thats Kinda where my head was at. I just was wondering what others thought bassed off there experiances. I guess I could mention over the last 15 years or so I have had a few different Wild Caught Groups. I am aware of the sizes adults can reach. I even had a group that was breeding although I was not very good as pulling the eggs.
I guess my head was going in a different direction. Strictly going off numbers, I would get as many fry as I could afford to comfortably grow out to a sexable size, keep the final group, and sell off the rest. Same applies to any group of juvies. As
neutrino
stated, m/f ratios in groups of juvies can go in any direction. I recall years ago when a local breeder friend bought a large group of WC Tropheus Ilangi from a very well known importer in the US. I believe it was a group of 24, supposedly sexed adult fish. To get them up here to the frozen north I believe each fish ended up costing $40+ CAD. A sizeable investment, over 1K. A stunning colony of Tropheus but after a year of only ever seeing a single female holding, out of frustration one day he removed each fish one by one & carefully vented them. To his horror there was only that one single female. So he put her, and a male, in a large tank full of Malawi cichlids and they bred for him for a number of years. The males he dumped at a loss.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that this vendor pulled a fast one, he simply didn't do his due diligence, netted out a large group of fish, and assumed that there would be a reasonable mix of males to females.
