C. Frontosa

[§tudz]

Hey all,

I have been reading up on frontosa, as I have admired them from a far for a while. Would these fish be capable of eating 8" spanner barbs, 12" polytertus senegalus and Polypterus delhezis?
I know frontosa get to around 14" which in comparison isnt all that large, but I would imagine they have large mouths as they are piscivores?


As I currently have the above (although the spanners are only about 4" at the moment) and a datnioidea microlepis in one of my tanks, now I know the Dat is more than capable of taking these fish when it is bigger, but due to thier slow growth rates its not something to worry about just yet.

Would the frontosa out compete these fish for food? as currently there is a nice order to the tank and everyone seems to get more than their fair share of food.

Thanks for any help on this.

 

[bullit]

Fronts could potentially eat anything that fits in their mouths. The other thing is mixing fronts with your fish is gonna look rather odd imo.

 

[Davo86]

They should be fine with fish of that size IMO but tbh I would say the spanner barbs could even be too boisterous for them if you have a good sized group.

 

[§tudz]

Its a shoal of 8 spanner barbs, they are mainly in the tank as dither fish for the Dat, which works amazingly well.
He is well coloured 99% of the time, he does go dark when he has a mood swing still, lol.

As for looking odd, yeah it might do I suppose. The tank isnt a biotope by any means, but then on that not you get quite a few polypterus species in Lake Tanganyika as they are from the same part of the world.
Granted the Dat is from Sumatra though but the dietry requirements meet well.

If the Frontosa arent too shy I could move the barbs, if they cause an issues.
Anyone got any info on the size of their mouths when extended? as Im sure they will grow a lot faster than the siamese tigerfish

 

[Davo86]

Anyone got any info on the size of their mouths when extended? as Im sure they will grow a lot faster than the siamese tigerfish

Mouths are likely to be around a good 3"-4", although for such a large cichlid they are slow growers, (very slowly compared to the likes of Oscars)

 

[§tudz]

Ok thats a good size, and yeah I had two oscars a few years back, but they beat the hell out of everything in the tank.
Slow growing is good

I just need to sell some more fry and then I can afford some, lol.

 

[jollysue]

Hello, James.



Fronts are really a shy cichlid. I actually had one in a tropical community tank once. It was a 12" w/o tail pimbwe. But he had been trained to only eat dry food. Most posts I have read by front enthusiasts recommend sticking to Tanyanika Rift fish. Best tank mate for a front is 5 or 6 fronts, second best Alto. comps or calvus., next Synos. I have fronts, comps, S. multis, some hybrid Syno, Clown loachs, and 2 common plecs(which I hope I can soon replace with BN.)

The fronts bother no one but each other. The plecs and Synos move them. On the other hand I was advised not to put S. lucipinnus in as they would be very expensive snack food.

That pimbwe was with a large Oscar before I got it, and it was being terrorized.

Fronts are really gentle compared to other Africans and most American cichlids.

I probably am not telling you anything you didn't know already.

 

[§tudz]

Hi Sue!

Long time no see (mainly my fault, for not being around)

Thanks for the information, I am probably going to move the barbs on, as I got them for a bit of movement in the tank and as a dither fish for the Dat.

Mainly because a 4" Dat, 5 Polypterus senegalus and 2 Polyterus Delhezi dont make for a massive amount of action

At the risk of derailing my own thread, How have you been? Ive been very busy setting up North Wales Aquarists Society and also moving house.

Its always good to get feedback from a keeper, as you know I do my research (normally, ok then... sometimes!) and I have read they are very timid in comparsion.

I will probably have them in with the Dat and the P. delhezi (as the P. senegalus are now in a species tank) ok the Dat isnt Biotopically correct, but you do get Polypterus in lake tang' but just no P. delhezi,
If I have issue with the dat, either I divide the tank, get a bigger tank and divide it, OR I get another tank for the Dat

Another tank would be great, but at 21 tanks Ive got little room left so I would have to make some MASSIVE changes arounds lol.

 

[jollysue]

I haven't been around for a couple of years either. I was burgled repeatedly. I pretty much dropped out of everything. I am just getting around to checking TFF. I had just begun to make headway in breeding and selling and had to just stop. But my Mobas are breeding and my cory population has diminished so I can reduce the # of tanks. I want to breed my starlight plecs.
Maybe breed some comps or calvus too. I lost some spectaular fish through all this. One or two that I was one of the few successfully breeding. Oh well, new directions.

Anyway, it is good to see you traveling in quality circles.

The fronts are handsome fish, I think, but they are not exactly a thriller movie spectacular. And I haven't got a clue what those other fish are. LOL I know what barbs are, never had them.

 

[§tudz]

Sorry to hear about that bad times you've had lately. Glad to see you're getting back into it though, I had to sell most of my fish when I moved out but I'm back up on stock now and have a lot more tanks lol.

And just so you know, polypterus are known as bichirs and Dat is a Siamese tiger fish

 

[jollysue]

TY, studz. It is all finally settling after a constant rude bombardment for 4 years--even my dog got killed.

They can't keep us down for long!

What kind of front are you looking at. Will you have room for a colony?

 

[§tudz]

sounds like a REALLY harsh time

Ive been looking at Moba, Congolese or Tanziana blue, Kalolo blue is quite nice too, but I dont really like the Kavalla 'Gold Top'
But we'll see what we can get

I want to source a load of them and then get males and females from different lines.

They will be going in the 120gallon tank, so enough room for a nice amount maybe 1 male and 3 females.
Then I will sell on the others.

 

[jollysue]

I am looking forward to seeing your choice.

I am not sure it matters so much in the wild caught about different sources. They come from large breeding colonys when they are caught, right? So if they are healthy young from a colony, they have diversity. It seems to me it is at the F1 stage of breeding that the F2's would start to lose the clear lines and get muddy and moons. My colony is from one catch (well, I am guessing here) and they throw perfect F1's. Beautiful. It is all about the quality of the wc.

I have not bred the F1's, and so I have no experience there. I have Mobas and it took them 3 or more years to breed after I got them. They were at least 2 or more when I got them and were pre-adult. Some species mature more quickly I understand.

I have had a 12" F1 pimbwe, a pair of Bismarks and a grand old Burundi. I sold them all once I got the Moba Zaires.

 

[§tudz]

Thanks will be a while off

Unless I can sell a lot of fry lol