roypark05 Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) The large blue frontosas with the big bumps on their heads are just about the coolest thing in the hobby. I rarely see large frontosas for sale in pet stores, but I frequently see the baby fronts that look like this: They look cool, too, but I was wondering if they grow up to look like the really awesome ones you see on the internet...you know, a foot long with a huge bump on their head like this guy: Any help there? Has anyone here ever had a frontosa from a 1" or baby to a 12" monster? How long did it take? Any advice if I buy a front? Edited September 25, 2008 by roypark05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) the males will get the bigger humps.I got one when it was 1 inch I had it for 3 years and it was 9 inchs when i sold him. Edited September 25, 2008 by rED O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 The most common Frontosa's you will see at LFS is the Burundi, they are collected from the northern part of the lake tanginika(sp). You can join a frontosa group at www.frontosa.com or you can simply do a search to find the species that most capture's your eye. I have decided to go with the Kipili frontosa's, mine are still young and all under 2" but I plan to keep them until they reach monsterhood...haha... I can try and get you more info, if you want some just PM. Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Of course they will eventually grow into the marvelous large creatures that they become, given that you don't stunt their growth or anything. Males will develop larger humps on their heads...some species will be more significant than others. I have had my 2 mpimbwe blue fronts and 1 burundi front for around 8 months now, they have grown from about 2" to about 4", so yeah it will take them probably 3-5 years to reach their full potential, but well worth the wait. Fronts tend to grow faster when small, then at about 4" slow down in growth rate a bit. Also you have to remember there are several different species of fronts, some having blue in their bodies, and some being more purple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roypark05 Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Yeah I've seen pics of the purple fronts and they are cool too for sure. Thanks for the info guys. When you said "given that you don't stunt their growth" what kind of things should I be careful of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roypark05 Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Oh and another question...when buying front babies what is the best way to determine if it is a male? The ol' pointed dorsal fin trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 If you want to have at least one male, I would suggest buying at least 4-5 of them, this way pretty much guaranteeing you get a male. It is practically impossible to tell which ones will be males at such a young age. Although I guess you can choose one that appears to have a more pointed dorsal, I just don't think it will be very accurate if they are still really small. I usually always buy about 5-10 fish at once and I never have any problems with having too little of one sex. Fish get their growth stunted if they are underfed when they need to be fed more when growing, or being kept in tanks way too small for them. Discus for example will become football shaped instead of round if they are not fed alot when they are juvies. Other fish will appear fat and short when their growth is stunted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 You won't be able to tell the sex for at least 5". Venting is the best way to tell. Burundi by far will give you the biggest hump on the head though it is not the best color of all the variants. If you like personality, Mpimbwe in general has that puppy dog behavior everyone likes and they have some nice blue in them. But if you like the deepest blue or purple with the best contrast of the stripe, you can't go wrong with any of the Zaire variants... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 The zaire or 7 stripe frontosa is supposed to be the most aggressive of the fronts. But they are gorgeous. I saw a group of them at golds, don't know if he still has them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-man Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 The zaire or 7 stripe frontosa is supposed to be the most aggressive of the fronts. But they are gorgeous. I saw a group of them at golds, don't know if he still has them. He still has them and they are for sale. I used to breed 7 stripe before and they are a little more aggressive but still not bad if you have a big enough tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 The zaire or 7 stripe frontosa is supposed to be the most aggressive of the fronts. But they are gorgeous. I saw a group of them at golds, don't know if he still has them. Zaire and 7 stripe are totally different types of frontosa. Kigoma or usually named as 7-stripe frontosa is the true frontosa. Zaire types which includes Kitumba, moba, kapampa, kalumba, tembwe are gibberosa. I actually found more people complain about the aggression issue with Mpimbwe (a Tanz. type) the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 It was probably the kigoma I was thinking of then. I was told that the 7 stripe were supposed to be one of the more aggressive fronts. I guess only time will tell if my mpimbwe will be very aggressive or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roypark05 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 Well I ended up getting a very nice Mpimbwe. His fins have a good deal of blue, and he has a medium sized bump on his head. He is very nice looking. For the record, he has been showing some signs of aggression. He bites at my other fish when they go near him, but he doesn't chase them much. When another fish bites at him he rarely retaliates right away, but he will usually bite at them first next time he sees them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 Nice, where did you end up buying him from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roypark05 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 I bought him off of Frank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.