Cyphotilapia frontosa

soler

Hi guys long time, I have a couple of questions due to I am planning to get these guys and of coarse give them the best. I now I am asking a lot but current I am researching. Building the aquarium and get staff and mid summer this project should be up and going. Asking a lot due their price in my Country Malta(Europe) aren't cheap, also even what I heard world wide.

1) So any suggested amount?
2) The Size of the aquarium?Length
3) Sand what type?Rocky or few?
4) Best food?
5) Best temperature?

I am just keeping them alone

7) Filtration rate needed?
Cool Water changes?The percentage and how frequent?

Any other tips?

I found a lot about these guys, peaceful wonderful, but I always believe ppls experiences give me the best outcome.

Thanks!!!

Gage

oooook

1) i assume you are talking about # of fronts? i usually say 1 male per tank. but it all depends on tank size as to how many fish

2) i would prefer at least a 6 foot tank for frontosa, though a small colony could be kept in a 5ft, that extra foot makes a huge difference for them.

3) they are usually kept with very finely ground up sand, go for coral sand, it buffers up the PH to a good level for Frontosa (inbetween 8-8.6, the higher range being better)

4) well, they are piscivores, which means they are hunters for live food in the wild, of course, live food is a big nono in the fish hobby, so meaty foods are great for them, i always like feeding my frontosa mysis, of course, as with all fish, some form of vegetation is always an added bonus to there diet, so add some spirulina flakes or something to there diet, i find the best pellets for any fish are NLS and Omega.

5) as far as temp goes, when i had my frontosa, i kept them at 77-79.

(you skipped 6 and went to 7 lol)

7) as far as filtration, try to double it, so if you have a 100g tank, get 200g worth of filtration, this is the ideal.

50% water changes once a week is perfect, i always make sure the water is the same temp, give or take a couple of degrees F

i found mine were very peaceful, but they do there best to catch live food and anything that can be classified as live food.

hope this helped.

soler

yes thanks,

How about any common disease that these fish encounter, they are quite hard from what I read and saw.

Ever breed them?

I am worried live food would have high protein which is bad for cichlids, thus this apply to fronts

herefishy

I kept my fronts in a 180g. I use aragaonite sand, although I really didn't care for the light color. Having kept them as juvies in a tank with darker substrate, the lighter sand seemed to wash the colors out. Temperature is maintained at 78-80 degrees F.

Filtration consisted of (2) Magnum 350 canister filters, (2)Emperor 400 power filters, (2)Fluval 4+ internal power filters and (4)Marineland 1140 power heads with foam filter adaptors. I used some aragonite as a media in the Emperors and the Magnums.

The decor was Lace rock with some driftwood for texture.

Other fish in the tank included a large Synodontis decorus, about 10" long, a pair of parauchenoglanis macrostoma(dwarf giraffe catfish) about 8" long, with 1m and 3f Fronts.

One thing that makes these fish so expensive is that they are not real abundant in their native waters. Add to that the fact that even though they are a large fish, their spawns are not all that large. And there seems to be a higher mortality rate the first few weeks for some, although I have not had that problem, many have.

Gage

they are very hardy fish

no, ive never bred them, never had the space

like i said, in the wild they are primarily piscivores, they eat pretty much if not only live fish.