Frontosas Question Concerning How Many Can I Stock?

[didz04]

Hi

How many frontosas will I be able to stock in a 680lt setup and what type of decoration inside will they need e.g. do they prefer a rocky setup or planted and what type of rock ect..? How big will they maximise to in an aquarium? My lfs is also stocking red frontosas are these the same as the originals except the colour change?

Thanks

 

[hamfist]

You would get more chance of replies in the Old World/African cichlid section of the forum, as that is where the Frontosa comes from.

 

[star4]

Not seen red frontosa, not sure if they are a colour morph or an actual type (there are lots of different types of frontosa) Frontosa males can reach approx 12"+ you would need a hareem setup one large alpha male and mix of various size females and a smaller male, for a species only tank the recommended minimum is about 6, although not generally aggressive they will chase each other. Fine gravel bottom is best as they are horrific diggers, if you do use real rock make sure you put it in the tank first then gravel around the rock as they will dig underneath, personally fake rock is best, or pipes. Low level lighting is required for frontosa they do not do well in brightly lit tanks as they are a deep water fish and plants are a waste of time.

 

[didz04]

Thanks you have given some really good advice and its also made a picture in my head of what it should looks like lol.
They like high ph so ocean rock should be fine, I have got lots of ocean rock left over so it will raise up the ph in water. type in red frontosas in google images and you will see what they look like. I will be getting black sand and will setup the rock before I put in the sand. Couldn't I keep more than 6 like 8 of them in just a species tank or what if I try out 6 2 males and 4 females and will I be able to keep other fish like a fire eel with them and a type of catfish, I will deffinitely be keeping them at juvenilles first around 2". How fast do they grow and how can you tell from male to female when juvenilles? Females grow lumps on there head to but is there a difference between the size of the males lump compared to the females?
Will it be good to combine the white and blue light together or will that be too much lighting?

Thanks

 

[star4]

Be careful adding other fish, I found frontosa are terrified of plecs, I lost 2 through shear fear when I added a plec . Ocean rock is fine. Both male and female get the head hump although early on the males does tend to devolop first and is more rounded than the female, but then thats just guesswork. Bodylanguage is the easiest with small fronts, females tend to stand on their tails when a male is around in a submissive posture. Black sand or gravel is best I have found although other small gravel is fine as they love moving it about LOTS!!. You would be better off with 2 blue lights. My tank has a blue sheet for the background and its lit from behind, I found overhead white light they just hide all the time. You will also need good airiation in the tank as they tend not to surface as other fish do. Hope this helps, I am still learning about these fish myself

 

[didz04]

Yeah thanks thats a lot of help
I am just thinking that I wanted more than one species and I have always loved frontosas in their looks, I just read that those red frontosas have been coloured by man they do look nice and they are more expensive at lfs £15 each 1". I am really shocked to hear that they get stunted by plecos lol never thought anything like that. Are they slow moving fish generally when they are small because I could try out other slow moving fish. So isn't it possible to keep other fish with them or is it just not recommended to because I wanted home with them a tanganyikan eel which takes high ph because it lives around african cichlids.

Thanks

 

[star4]

You can add other fish, I have 5 ellioti in with my fronts (although will be moved soon) it was just when I added a small 4" pleco they went nuts and got really stressed, the plec hardly moved. I have seen them in with plecs at a LFS but the fronts were one end and the plec the other! You can mix americans with frontosa but its a little trial and error, if you get them all small they should be ok.

 

[didz04]

Oh right I see..its probably the looks of the plec that keeps them from getting any closer lol. My lfs always has atleast one plec with all their cichlids and with the frontosas but since they are over stocked anyway I think it really doesn't bother them. Well I will have to think about it and got a lot of time because I haven't got my tank yet but hopefully will pick it up soon. I am looking for black cabinet at the moment. The tank I am getting already has fish but I know someone who has even a bigger tank that I can rehome them to really nice setup, but might keep them for a while. I am going to definitely stock them as juvenilles first. Them ellioti look really nice are they common and how big do they grow? Have you ever breeded any frontosas and are they usually easy to breed, at what size are they mature?

Thanks for your time and help & hopefully I will work it out.

 

[star4]

Sadly no success yet with frontosa I had 4 3-5" females all holding at the same time and lost all 4. I fed them fresh prawn and as they hold food in their mouths for the babies I am guessing the prawn was too big for the babies and it went bad killing the females. Its highly unheard of and some people have told be it was doubtful but the males were fine it was just the females holding I lost Ellioti are not that common you see more of their cousin the firemouth, but the firemouth is more aggressive.

 

[didz04]

That is sad to hear so how many females have you got left? Actually that brings me up to my last question, what should they be fed? I know a lot of meaty foods like blood worm is not good all the time but what cichlid pellets be good? Hopefully I will be able to breed a pair

Thanks

 

[star4]

I am not sure 100% whats left. I now have 10 fronts, the biggest origional male he is about 7-8" the rest are all from 2"-4" I know there is definately 1 female as she was holding not long ago, but as it was her first spawn I think she ate the fry the others I am still waiting to see, I still have the origional small male too, the 2 males I am keeping and if any of the others turn out to be male they will have to be sold on.

As for feeding, feed them as much variety as possible, snails (ramshorn are a particular favorite) prawn, cichlid pellet, floating and sinking mine are fond of tetra prima, but I need to get the next size up now!, flake food, you can buy a specialist Tanganyika food, more chips than flake, thats very good too, brine shrimp if also a favorite. I tend not to feed live bloodworm but thats just a personal thing, but bloodworm pellets go down very well. They tend to prefer meatier foods rather than the veggie diets of american cichlids. But as I said earlier this is all just from my experience so far and tough wood the remaining ones are doing great now.

 

[didz04]

Blood worm in pellets and tanganyikan food I'll try them out once I have it all sorted. I know I will be very greedy and will want to give them tank mates but hopefully I will be getting all as juvenilles no doubt. I don't know if you have had experience with eels but I think they should be fine with a tanganyikan eel. I will still do the research, will frontosas fight for territory even when they are not spawning? Sorry the last few questions before I can make a decision because the fish I stock I want as juvenilles and what to see them grow and hopefully breed a pair. I will be getting another 20g ready fully matured for fry to be kept in.

Thanks

 

[star4]

I dont mind the questions nice to be able to help! they shouldnt fight so long as they have plenty of holes to claim as their own. I have pm'd you a link to someone that sells resin rock, its utterly fantastic and being resin you can silicon it together or build up as is as it is light and wont harm the fish if it falls. I went nuts and bought loads of it, its great as its all hollow and allows the fish to territories of their own. Its mainly the males that will fight, I have only had one serious lip locking fight between the alpha male and one of the others (the other one I lost when I put the plec in) they were only an inch or so different in size, but now I have my alpha who is probably now 3 times the size of the smallest male there are no problems. The females done sqaubble really, odd bit of chasing occasionally, they tend to hover round their chosen area and when the male shows up the stand on their tails submissively and he swims on by, even when the previous females were ready to spawn the behaviour was the same.

 

[didz04]

Thanks I will take a look at the link.

Do they only post or do they have a shop, if so where abouts are they. They really do look professional in their work and the setups are really nice. Have you got your resin rock posted to your house? They look good in everyway and much lighter instead of 35kg heavy ocean rock in my tank lol. Also another problem with ocean rock is you can see algae growing all over and makes the aquarium more green which in someways it makes it look more natural but prefer it not being there

Can they colour it black as I want black sand and rock setup then the fish colours will stand out much more. They will also feel more safer in their environment. If I ask them to custom build resin rock for my setup will they just sketch a picture or show me what they already have or will I have to sketch the design?

If they do colour it black then I might go for it otherwise I'll go for another type of black rock which I have seen on youtube but not sure on what its called, they look like sandstone.

If you get a chance to take pics I would love to see your setup

Thanks

 

[star4]

They are based in London somewhere, mine was posted, sadly the first batch I had was delivered by Royal Mail and dispite being marked fragile the boxes looked like someone had played football with them , But Chris sent replacements striaght away and they arrived perfect. I dont know if they colour them, might be worth mailing and asking, but I know they do a structured rock background to fit, that looks I dont have a camera, but I must admit people that have seen the set up are very suprised to find out the rock is not real it does look that good.