Need advice about fronts.

[LD50]

So, I'm closeing in on getting my used but new to me 180 up and running but I have come to a cross roads. How to set it up. I was planning to put my Long fin oscar and royal pleco in there with a half dozen geos. However I think I may grow tired of fighting my water, being as I live on a giant slab of lime stone my tap water has a PH of 8.5-9 and is liquid rock. So I blend it with RO to make it suitable for the SA fish, and doing this with the 180 is going to be a real PITA. So I was dreaming about fish last night, and I thought why not a front colony? I could just dechlorinate my tap water python style and never worry about buffering it and I always thought they were beautiful fish. So if I were to go get some juvie fronts my questions are

1) How many fronts could I properly house in a 180 for life?

2) On average how long will it take a front to mature into an adult?

3) do they have a substrate and decor preferance?

4) what would be some good/unique bottom feeders to house with them that thrive in the same water conditions and are pref. from the same habitat.

5) tank flow, do fronts prefer a lower flow, 4-6x turn over tank like discus? or will they be happier with a higher flow rate such as 10x turn over?

 

[alexmuw]

Sounds like a plan to me. I don't know about higher pH (high 8 to 9), but my brother has a healthy Front that lives in 7.6 pH and it is fine.

For my tanks, I have well water (no chlorine) and has a pH of 7.8 -8, and a medium hardiness!

 

[Crispy]

Fronts are great fish to keep a colony of. They like lots of cover and grow kinda slow. Took my 4 years to grow mine out, but well worth it. They are shy fish at times and won't do well with any aggressive tankmates.

 

[LD50]

So how many full grown adults can I keep in a 180? What should my colony look like? What would be some suggested bottom feeders/clean up crew?

 

[F.F. Julio]

you have to remember that these fish get upwards of 15 inches in length so I would say maybe 5 or so fronts in the 180. As for your water params look at the PH of the lake they come from they are from a rift lake in africa called lake tanganyka sp. so that tells you the ph is going to be fairly high, your ph is actually alittle low if you truly wanted to replicate the actual water params but if not your water is just fine to keep them in and I am alittle jealous lol. I have six baby fronts growing out now and when they get alittle bigger I will prolly thin the group down to just one nice male.