Frontosa

[recky]

I was wanting to get an African cichlid tank and had a few questions. One, would a longer tank be preferred as to a taller tank. Is a frontosa compatible with malawi blue dolphins,giraffe cichlids, a calvus, or tropheus duboisi? Also would a 100-120 gallon tank be suitable for a tanks setup like this? I love the frontosas but would like to have other fish with them what set ups would work? Also i herd that frontosa eat sleeping fish would shell dwellers be safe in the tank if there were plent of small crannys and shells? Thanks and sorry its a bit more than a few questions.

 

[Colin_T]

Frontosa are predators and will eat anything that fits in their mouth. They do best in groups but can be kept individually. They get big (10-14inches) and the minimum size tank for one would be 100gallons.
They can be kept with other cichlids like the blue dolphin (C. moorii). The calvus might get eaten eventually but would be fine while the fronty was small. The tropheus is a vegetarian and mixing carnivores and vegetarians together dooesn't work very well. The tropheus is likely to eat some meat food for the fronty and then develop bloat and die.
Perhaps look at peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) and maybe some of the Mbuna like electric yellows.

 

[recky]

Frontosa are predators and will eat anything that fits in their mouth. They do best in groups but can be kept individually. They get big (10-14inches) and the minimum size tank for one would be 100gallons.
They can be kept with other cichlids like the blue dolphin (C. moorii). The calvus might get eaten eventually but would be fine while the fronty was small. The tropheus is a vegetarian and mixing carnivores and vegetarians together dooesn't work very well. The tropheus is likely to eat some meat food for the fronty and then develop bloat and die.
Perhaps look at peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) and maybe some of the Mbuna like electric yellows.

thank you would haps fit in?

 

[Colin_T]

Haplochromis species should be fine with Frontosa

 

[recky]

Haplochromis species should be fine with Frontosa

cool thanks. do you think if I got the calvus when the frontosa(s) were little and the calvus a bit larger it would make a diffrerence?

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on the fronty. Some will eat anything that moves and others will ignore things that don't resemble their normal food. You could have them together when young but there is no guarantee the fronty won't try to eat it when bigger. The fronty would be less inclined to eating a tank mate it grew up with compared to a new fish that was just added.

 

[recky]

It depends on the fronty. Some will eat anything that moves and others will ignore things that don't resemble their normal food. You could have them together when young but there is no guarantee the fronty won't try to eat it when bigger. The fronty would be less inclined to eating a tank mate it grew up with compared to a new fish that was just added.

sorry im asking so many questions just so confused with african cichlids. Here is what I was thinking. 120 gallon tank plenty rocks and that sort.

1 male frontosa 3 females
a school of malawi blue dolphins

i got that part set and then i would like to have a malawi eye biter, aulonocaras, red empress', giraffe cichlids, calvus, and rusty cichlids

this is just me putting a bunch of fish i like together so if you could tell me wich would work with which that would be great. basically could you stock my tank? lol


thanks for your help so far

 

[Colin_T]

I'm not sure a 120g tank would be big enough to house 4 adult frontosa and all the other fishes. They would be fine until about half grown, then they would need a bit more space. You really want a 6x2x2ft tank for adult frontys.
Fronty & blue dolphins will be fine together. Aulonocaras and red empress should be fine too. Not sure what a giraffe cichlid is. Calvus would be fine until the frontys are big then might get chomped. Rusty should be ok. I don't like Malawi eye biters (D. compressiceps) because they do exactly that. Bite out eyes. Not always but sometimes, so I prefer not to keep them with anything expensive, ie: frontys and calvus.
If you put a group of those together as young fish they should be fine but you will have to watch the water quality. As the fish mature they will need a bit more room and or more water changes to compensate for the extra waste produced.
You could get a double tier stand and have two tanks 100-120g on it. The top tank to house the fish and the bottom tank can act as a sump to hold extra water. This would increase the total volume and allow you to keep the fish in a slightly smaller space with less water quality problems. You could then keep a group of calvus in the bottom tank without having to worry about them being eaten.

 

[dthoffsett]

I'd probably skip the rusties (iodotropheus sprengerae), they'd probably pic on the fronts when they're small, and then become food for the fronts when they grow. Rusties are also herbivores, and the other fish you like are all carnivores, feeding would be difficult.

The giraffe cichlid is likely Nimbochromis venustus , they get up to 11" and are aggressive. I've never kept them, but would suspect they'd pick on the fronts. And, like the fronts, will eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

 

[recky]

I'm not sure a 120g tank would be big enough to house 4 adult frontosa and all the other fishes. They would be fine until about half grown, then they would need a bit more space. You really want a 6x2x2ft tank for adult frontys.
Fronty & blue dolphins will be fine together. Aulonocaras and red empress should be fine too. Not sure what a giraffe cichlid is. Calvus would be fine until the frontys are big then might get chomped. Rusty should be ok. I don't like Malawi eye biters (D. compressiceps) because they do exactly that. Bite out eyes. Not always but sometimes, so I prefer not to keep them with anything expensive, ie: frontys and calvus.
If you put a group of those together as young fish they should be fine but you will have to watch the water quality. As the fish mature they will need a bit more room and or more water changes to compensate for the extra waste produced.
You could get a double tier stand and have two tanks 100-120g on it. The top tank to house the fish and the bottom tank can act as a sump to hold extra water. This would increase the total volume and allow you to keep the fish in a slightly smaller space with less water quality problems. You could then keep a group of calvus in the bottom tank without having to worry about them being eaten.

that sounds like a great idea how would you connect the two? a hose? also after looking at the giraffe cichlid, Nimbochromis Venustus, it seems they like vegetable matter would they get bloat? One last thing how many of each fish should i get and what other similar hap species could i get
thanks

 

[dthoffsett]

also after looking at the giraffe cichlid, Nimbochromis Venustus, it seems they like vegetable matter would they get bloat?

Did you click on the link I posted (click on the species name)? Venustus are carnivores, they are open water predators, and as I said, will eat anything they can fish in their mouths.

 

[Colin_T]

If you want to have a tank and a sump you can get a couple of holes drilled in the base of the main tank when it is being built. Then you use PVC pipe and attachments to let the water drain from the top tank into the bottom one and the same for the water to be pumped back up. More info on systems like this can be found in the marine section under trickle filters & sumps.
This set up works great on marine tanks but also works superbly on freshwater, particularly rift lake cichlid tanks that contain lots of rock. The sump gives you extra water and that helps to replace the stuff that is lost by all the rock in the main tank.

The Nimbochromis venustus used to be called Haplochromis a long time ago. You could have one in with the frontys but as mentioned by dthoffsett, they get pretty big and would compete for space with the frontosa. I have kept the two species together without any problems but males can get a bit boisterous when big and wanting to breed. They are a big predator and love small fish. I would probably avoid them and keep the frontys as the main big show fish and have smaller species hanging around.

If you have 2 x 100g tanks connected and once the filters were established you could go for 3 frontys, 3 moorii, a couple of aulonocaras, a red empress or two and maybe some synodontis multipunctatus or suckermouth catfish in the top tank. Then you could have a group of 4-6 calvus and a pr of rustys in the bottom.
You would have to monitor the water quality and keep an eye on feeding, but that would give you a pretty well stocked system. The only problem you might find is if/when the frontys start to breed they might hassle the other fish in the tank.

If you went for a couple of 150g tanks then you could have a couple more frontys and other fish in there. The main thing to consider with big tanks is the strength of the floor. If you have wooden floors then get a structural engineer to check it first before buying anything. Concrete floors are normally fine.

 

[jumpman]

When keeping Fronts they display and act their best in a colony of at least 6+ IME

If you are intent on keeping them then I would base the other fish around them. Moorii should be fine with them as they also get pretty large. maybe a trio or quad of these (1 male). If you get the Fronts young they will be hard to sex, so starting with a group of at least 9 would be good. Maybe a single Calvus in there for something different, then some synos.

A single 6 ft tank (around 150g) will be big enough with a couple of decent sized external filters at each end. Unless you are def planning on having two tanks of course....

hth

 

[recky]

thanks for everyones help, sorry i did not see dthoffsett post before i replyed, if you goto http/www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/afric...hlid/100008.asp (scroll down to the bottom) it says the Venustus eat peas and lettace which makes me think they are herbivores, but itt makes sense they are predators because of their size. The two tank setup seems ideal but very expensive, and i dont know where i would put it. I will definatley keep researching because the species seems very intresting. Even though i was just brainstorming a tank, i thank you all very much for your input.