New Frontosa enthusiast looking for MFK guidance

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Prophet714

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 17, 2008
145
1
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S. Cali
Hello there MFK community,

I have a couple of questions concerning frontosas since I recently wanted to add them to my 125 gallon tank. I know i could find massive amounts of info online, but its time consuming, and I'm limited on time. So I decided to ask you guys, the experts, so i could tackle the questions directly.

First off, I'm planning to have him with my Datnoid and Arowana soon. Do they grow slow? Ive been seeing them in the first store around 2 - 3 inches. If they do grow slow, how much time should i give it before i decide to add a juvenille arowana?

How come some frontosa's dont have that bump on the top of its head? I'd like mine without. Is there a way I could distinguish if they would have it or not when they are young?

are they ok alone? with minor hidng spots? and are they aggressive diggers?

Thanks in advance for all your help. Cheers MFK!

aggressiveness of frontosas?
 
Frontosa are peaceful fish, they need to be kept in tank where there will not be a whole lot of aggression.
All male fronts will eventually get the hump on their head. No way around it, they will eventually grow a hump.
Fronts do best in a group setting. You should ahve a few of the in the tank that you are keeping them in.
They grow really slow, it will take a few years for them to become fully grown.
 
I would add that yes all male frontosa get humps but that the burundi and kigoma variants get a much larger hump than any of the gibberosa species (tanzanian , zambian , or zaire). Those burundi fronts get truly massive humps while a mpimbwe by comparison has a rather small hump in comparison. Female frontosa also get the hump or prominant forehead but tend to get it on a smaller scale, but i have seen pics of giant old female fronts (usually burundi or kigoma) with a bigger nuchal hump than most adult alpha males !!

They are rather slow growing. For example i got my first fronts a year ago in oct. They are now approx 5-7 inches with the alpha male being the biggest. I would describe it as normal growth but on the slow end compared to other cichlids. I understand that frontosa will do the most growth the first and second year then very slow steady growth each year after they reach 7 inches or so. Eventually these fish should top out any where from 12-16 inches but that will not happen for many years and will depend alot on tank conditions and diet and over crowding etc...

If you got a arrow and a front and put them in the same tank as 1 inch juvies i think the arrow would end up eating the front since they grow so much faster. The way you could get around this is to purchase or rescue a adult frontosa (many people have to sell grown adult males since the alpha does not care for other males around his females). If the front you get has a good sized body all ready and is a couple years old (say in the 8 inch range ) then i think you could get away with it. Maybe get a couple other males for it and make sure there are no females to fight over and just keep adult males in your tank. I have seen people keep arrows with adult frontosa and massive oscars before and they have reported some success with it. These other species were said to be very peaceful slow moving fish like the fronts were though. You would not want to do it with aggressive fish , fronts can be extremely mean to each other but tend to be total wimps with other species. Mine certainly are. That said, i personally dont like to recommend that you mix frontosa with non african species and then only with extreme care.

Sorry that was so long, just in a mood today LOL
 
Hopefully that covered it. Let us know if you need any more info.
 
Thanks you guys (and gals) for the response. and no, your post can never be too long. The more content, the better =)

with their slow growth, i could see why it would be beneficial to pick up one that's already an adult. but for my preference, i get more joy out of it if i was able to grow them out from below 3 inches. I was plannin to just have one frontosa too since i wanna save room in my tank to add other species. I guess chances of me ownin one is pretty slim now =/

and would u guys happen to know how to distinguish the difference between male and female? I'm thinking of getting a female one if I decide to do a grow out tank. thanks in advance
 
males and females look identical to the eye. You have to check by doing whats called venting. You look for small differences in shape of the genital openings. Its difficult and even the pros sometimes have trouble doing it.

Sounds like you might want to look for a different species to keep in that tank. Fronts do best in with other fronts only or a select few similar tempermented african species. You will likely run into trouble especially if you have your heart set on growing them out.

What other species were you thinking of adding in there ? That arrow will get superbig. Wont it quickly grow out of a six foot tank ? Im not a arrow expert but i never considered getting one cause i thought for sure they would dwarf my six or even seven foot tank.
 
no i think that u can tell by size and personality i have three young ones and 99% sure they are 2m and 1f firstly because the first male is the biggest by far and the do minant fish also mine is 3" and already has a total horizontal head just because of his hump then he bully's one other fish very badly so im guesing hes a male and then the final fish is aloud to swim around without being chased and also doesn't have a hump so im guesing thats a female.

also i planned on doing the same with my frontosas in an 8ft as i no a wholesaler im thinking of getting about 15 small arowana, 15 teacup sting rays, more zaire blue frontosas big and small then some cyathopharynx furcifer Kigoma, and they should get on fine so i would say go for it as from my experiance frontosas are fighters and they will fight any other fish, or is that just mine anyway i would say go for it mate
 
You should also consider water quality. Arowana like acidic while Frontosa thrive in Alkaline. Fronts are also very shy around other species. They will get nasty with each other but will not be agressive with other species.
 
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