I want a frontosa

[mike the zealot]

Just one.

And I want some various cyprichromis.

Is this possible?

Also some other in between type fish to balance it out, but I haven't decided...


basically my experience with fish is limited to south american varieties that fit in a 20 gallon, and now I want to get a 72 gallon and do some africans....

cichlid-forum.com wouldn't reply to my post, so I thought I'd try you guys, as I've gotten some good responses in the past. Maybe some day I'll be cool enough to post at cichlid-forum.com, but for now I'll settle for you guys. haha.

*celebrate


-mike

20 gallon - 1 Angel, 1 Blue Ram, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 5 Cardinal Tetra, 5 Rummynose Tetra

 

[catfishmike]

hey any place where they don't respond sucks.i mean yea sometimes questions get asked and go without anwsers but ususaly ones that no one here has an anwser to.i would go bigger than 72 gal. for a frontosa.from what i have heard these are one of the largest cichlids commonly avaliable.i'm not too sure about the cyprinchromis going in because i can't remember all the fish and their names,but ihear that frontosas are a real mean fish so you would need lots of space if you want to keep some more fish with it.i could be wrong on all of this so anyone who reads this correct me if i am.i have been looking into keeping a frontosa as well,i don't know why but i think i would be a cool fish to keep.kinda like a show fish ya know?

 

[catfishmike]

hey i poked through the fish reveiws and most said that frontosa
are territorial and and come from deep waters.said the minimum is a 55 gal.

 

[wayne]

55 gals isn't a lot for an 8 inch fish. Frontosas seem to grow pretty quickly so don't buy a tank just 'to make do'. Having said that they are famously lazy and inactive.
2 things to note - the natural diet of fronts is cyprichromis so they will become snacks eventually unless you can really keep the front happy, plus I've heard solitary fronts can become very nervous, they're much happier in a group. But I've never kept them and that's all hearsay

 

[bobrob]

My lfs has a few in a tank theyre about 2 inches. I love the look of frontosa's and want to own one someday.

 

[SoulFish]

for fronts minimum 150-200 gal, group of minimum of 8, fronts are wonderful fish, id try reposting a cichlid-forum, also cyps are too small and too active for fronts, the cyps would disappear in the night to the fronts and the fronts would be stressed out by their over activity, fronts are best kept in species tanks and should have a fairly large group to make them feal safe

 

[mike the zealot]

Well I've bought a 55 for cheap and I'm getting a Fluval 304... would 1 male and 2 females really be unhappy in it? My LFS seems to think I'm silly for even worrying, but they also think Discus should fit in a 20g...

If they won't spawn in it then I'm not interested I guess, as spawning is a good indicator of a fish's security with they're habitat.

 

[AnThRaXiD]

well frontosas like living in colonies of 6 or more fish...
1 male 2 females.. would end up with 2 dead females... the male want lots of females so he can choose with which one he will mate... so like soul said the minimum is 150-200g... good luck!
with your 55g you could go for a single nimbochromis venustus..

 

[mike the zealot]

haha I just sold the nimbo that came with it. Those fish are fugly. I guess I'm not interested in a big ass fish just for the sake of having a big ass fish. I want a frontosa cause they're beautiful and graceful.

hmm.. maybe some Neolamprologus tretocephalus. Anyone ever kept those? Same coloring scheme as a front w/out the fat head. I guess I just dig blue fish =P

 

[SoulFish]

venustus need bigger then a 55, there are lots of other great africans that could fit in it, i have no experience with trets, ill get some info from people who have though, you could get a group of calvus or comps which are both graceful, with a school of 8-10 cyps, julies or leleupi and some syno petricola dwarfs

 

[mike the zealot]

cichlidrecipe.com gave this outline for a 55 gallon:

1 trio Protomelas
1 trio Aulonocara
1 trio Copadichromis
1 trio Labidochromis or Cynotilapia
4 Neolamprologus (larger species)
2 Eretmodus or 1 trio Haplochromis
2 Julidochromis (larger species)
1 Synodontis Catfish
1 medium sized Plecostomus

But it's not much of a help, as I don't want any malawis, just tangs. And all the tangs listed don't interest me. I'm dead set on at least one tret now though =)

Probably 2 or more syno. multipunctatus

how would adult cyprochromis fare with trets? I love the colors on those little guys.

calvus and comps are butt-ugly haha

 

[wayne]

Trets are pretty agressive for tangs, but are substrate hugging, so they might well be ok with cyprichromis

 

[mike the zealot]

Well I think I've got my list together now...

1x Neolamprologus tretocephalus
a trio of Cynotilapia afra "Cobue"
a trio of Pseudotropheus polit
a trio of Labidochromis sp. "Red Top Kimpuma - Super Red"
a trio of Synodontis multipunctatus

That's 13 fish, which is how many have been thriving in my 20g, so I guess it's my lucky number

 

[SoulFish]

i wouldnt do the above combination, definately not the one posted a little bit above, cichlidrecipe has some good info but there suggestions are way over stocked and in too small of tanks, take out the trets and make it 1m 3f for each and add another species and youd have a nice setup, also may want to think about removing the multis, they can live with mbunas but mbunas may pick on them

 

[mike the zealot]

arrrgh!

are you kidding me?

I'm ordering them all from a breeder online and I talked to the dude on the phone. He assured me this set up would be fine, well actually he said 3 females to each male, and that having only 1 male tret (no females) would be just fine too.

Before I made it a mbuna tank I would just get 1 male 3 female trets. period. those mbunas were just to take up space haha.

and wtf! Reuben is in the bottom two! (it's commercial break, american idol hahaha)

seriously though, that's screwed up if this guy is going to sell me $200 in fish just for them all to get to get thrashed by the tret...

 

[stik6shift98]

get them at a breeder its the best way to go...i have 15 of them currently so one day hopefully soon they will decide to breed

 

[SoulFish]

it may be ok, but its not a mix id trust, why not just got all tang?

 

[mike the zealot]

stik - you have 15 trets?

soulfish - the only tangs I'm really interested in are fronts, trets and syno multies. we've already determined I need a swimming pool for fronts ;P

hows this: 1m 3f trets, 1m 3f syno multies?