Frontosa tankmates

[freshcichlid]

ok i am looking into getting a pair of frontosa for my 40galon and they are going to be small when i get them, but they will get larger which i know, but i want some yellow tankmates for them, i lvoe the yellow labs but was wondering if anything else like the Ps. Salousi would be ok and not get eaten ? if not good then what else can i get ?
also can you put rams in with them ? thanks

 

[glolite]

There are a number of issues here. Firstly, frontosas can live for 25 years so you need to be willing to dedicate yourself to them. Secondly, if you want to breed them then the ratio is one male to a group of at least 3 females, otherwise the male will harrass the female to death. Thirdly, another tank is needed to remove the male after breeding as he may eat the fry. Then of course, as you probably know, frontosas grow to about 15 inches and need a minimum of 125g if you have a group or 90g for a single fish. They will grow to full size within 2 years if kept in a spacious aquarium, if not then their growth is stunted.

Rams would be a lovely snack for them!!! I learnt the hard way that anything that fits in a frontosas mouth is basically food. 1 small silver shark was lunch for mine

Rams are dwarf central american cichlids. Dwarf cichlids need separate tanks from large cichlids and central american cichlids need separate tanks to african cichlids (frontosas being from lake tanganyika). Tanganyikan cichlids need separate tanks from lake malawi cichlids etc etc. The list is endless but basically cichlids need species tanks. Hope this helps.

 

[freddyk]

Yup, yup, yup and yup, I think you've covered it all.

 

[freshcichlid]

well that was a lot of info ! haha thanks though
i do not plan on breeding them, i was planning on getting two females, they are smaller for one and i dont want to breed so a male is not needed.
i am aware of there size and plan on getting something larger once they start to reach a larger size, i will be getting them as babies and will have time to get a larger tank.
it is either frontosa and yellow labs or demasoni and yellow laba and im kinds scared about getting the demasoni because of their hostility toward themselves.
i guess those cute little rams wont work, but thanks for the help !