Frontosa Advice

[Blue Ram]

I have a very nice young frontosa (approx. 2 to 2 1/2") in a 75 gal tank with some haps and peacocks. All of the fish will be sold and I was wondering what the possibility is of keeping the frontosa with rainbowfish and possibly a couple of angelfish?? The frontosa has left the vals and anubias in the tank untouched but would it eat other tasty plants if they were added?

[Darren88]

he would be fine for now but frontosas are slow growers and will dominate the tank when they get bigger and will probably terrorize whoever cant handle themselves

[JLake]

Agree with Darren. WHen they get older and larger they will eat whatever fits in their mouth. Mine has never bothered a plant yet, totally ignores them.

[Burbot]

A friend has a large 7 stripe in a 75gal. He lives happily off the endless supply of Lamp. beuschri up to 2". He has killed off all other fronts that were raised with him, male or female.

:beer:

[Noodles]

frontosas are slow growers

They'll grow 4-6" in the first year then slow down to 1-2" per year the next couple years. They don't eat plants but if they don't like where they are they'll dig them up.

[Red]

My buddy has a 5 foot 120 and had 4 fronts in there. one is aggressive to only the fronts and is about 6 inches. There are also rainbows in the tank and he doesnt bother them at all. They are larger rainbows 4". and there has never been a problem. Even his brichardi and tropheus dont bother them.

[JLake]

The only fish my fronts ate were young cyps and than of course any fry it could catch. He has occasional fights with the red back scraper male for tank boss but other than that he never bothers any fish of 3 inches or greater.

[fairdeal]

I've had fronts for many many years and I can tell you that their behaviour is not predictable at all with the exception that they will never eat plants but will definitely eat zucchini. My watermelon plecos have to be pretty quick and get to it before the fronts or it is gone so I drop it right in front of them when the lights go out to give them even half a chance of getting a few nibbles. Fronts are piscivores (fish eaters) and live on cyps in the wild. Any fish that is long and slender is at risk of being eaten at any time. I have even seen plecos live in my tanks wuth them for years and then one day I see a front swimming around with the tail of a 4" pleco sticking out of its mouth. If you can get them on pellets and shrimp it cuts down on the need to eat other fish for fulfilling that need to feel full.

They are generally only aggressive towards one another and again that is something to behold. Their shear size intimidates any other fish in the tank so dominance issues are quickly resolved if they even surface. A gentle push aside with the mouth is all that is necessary to let any other fish know that they are not to be messed with. I've had 2 males and 4 or 5 females together for years and all of a sudden one day the dominant male goes ballistic and kills the other male or even a female with no apparent provocation. The victim usually looks like it got dropped in a meat grinder and the dominant male will not even have a scale out of place. Then all is well again - until the next time.

So in answer to your question re: eating plants - a definite no but they will unintentionally pull them out of the substrate as they move around in the tank as they get larger. If you have them planted in pots or have rocks around the plants it will tend to cut down on that pulling out.

As for eating other fish it is just a guessing game with the exception of long slender varieties - always at risk as they just slide down like spaghetti and that is the type of fish they eat in the wild. If you have ever seen a 10" fronts mouth wide open you would know what I mean. Keeping them well fed (but not to the point of being overfed) reduces the chances significantly of them being tempted to taste their tank mates. Putting culls and fry in the tank to get rid of them just increases the chances of them turning fish eaters again.

[JLake]

Great advice Harold, Ive noticed that my male front stopped eating so much nls, after a month where he prolly ate 20 freshly released fry from the red back scraper pair. He lets the pellets bounce off him for a few days or a week untill he comes back around. Yeah the male back scraper has tried to fight the front in the past. The back scraper basically lost a portion of its lips for a few weeks. And now just takes off if the front wanders over.

[Boom]

I wouldnt be so sure about them not eating plants. I put a fake (plastic) plant in my 180 with my 11 Mpimbwe fronts and the first thing they did was try to munch the leaves! Haha.

They also eat any fish small enough to even come close to fitting in their mouths. I lost a dozen firecracker lelupi's within a few days when I tried putting them in with my fronts. That really ticked me off. Anyway, I would avoid both if I were you. FWIW.

Boom :boom:

[dunl]

Two things that haven't been mentioned ( or I missed them). They are known to wake up *before* other fish....therefore simply swimming up and gobbling the fast asleep meal. Also, some people have mentioned that they will sand sift, taking in shrimp and other critters, and blowing the sand out of their gills.

I've never kept them, so take that for what you will. :smokey:

[Boom]

Two things that haven't been mentioned ( or I missed them). They are known to wake up *before* other fish....therefore simply swimming up and gobbling the fast asleep meal. Also, some people have mentioned that they will sand sift, taking in shrimp and other critters, and blowing the sand out of their gills.

I've never kept them, so take that for what you will. :smokey:

Actually they don't "wake up before other fish", they just hunt at night. And by "hunt" I mean they are very lazy hunters, they like to wait till the other fish are asleep and slowly settle lower in the lake, then they just snatch them up. That being said, I have thrown feeder fish in for my fronts and have seen them very actively chase and catch anything that moves.

Regardless of their method, they WILL eat anything small in the tank that they see as edible. My synodontis cats have been alright tho.

Boom :boom:

[fairdeal]

In their natural habitat these fronts live in water so deep they are in constant darkness. The divers capture them in 60 to 100 meters and have to decompress them in wire cages very similar to skin divers who have been deep diving or they risk bursting their swim bladders and then they are worthless to a hobbyist. I have read that sometimes it takes 3 days to get them to the surface.

They are indeed opportunistic piscivores but then again which piscivores aren't? Their natural prey (cyps) feed in shallow water during the daytime and move into very deep water for the night. As they settle to the bottom the fronts simply vacuum they off the floor of the lake until they are full and then don't have to eat for 3 or 4 days. That is why fronts prefer dimly lit tanks or blue lights - used to total darkness. I have seen mine moving around the tanks at night like they are looking for an easy meal and seem to have no apparent problem manouevering around the tanks in pitch black.

It is important to keep the fronts well fed but not overfed to cut down on tankmates becoming an easy meal at night.

[Boom]

In their natural habitat these fronts live in water so deep they are in constant darkness. The divers capture them in 60 to 100 meters and have to decompress them in wire cages very similar to skin divers who have been deep diving or they risk bursting their swim bladders and then they are worthless to a hobbyist. I have read that sometimes it takes 3 days to get them to the surface.

They are indeed opportunistic piscivores but then again which piscivores aren't? Their natural prey (cyps) feed in shallow water during the daytime and move into very deep water for the night. As they settle to the bottom the fronts simply vacuum they off the floor of the lake until they are full and then don't have to eat for 3 or 4 days. That is why fronts prefer dimly lit tanks or blue lights - used to total darkness. I have seen mine moving around the tanks at night like they are looking for an easy meal and seem to have no apparent problem manouevering around the tanks in pitch black.

It is important to keep the fronts well fed but not overfed to cut down on tankmates becoming an easy meal at night.

All very true (from my research as well), but I think the instinct of hunting will kick in even with a well fed fish. Or should I say a "normally" fed fish. They can consume alot, and in a lake how much waste they produce is no concern of anyone, of course. But in an aquarium setting, feeding so much that they are "not interested" in live prey is very unlikely, and if done, will result in a very dirty tank very quickly, no matter your filtration and cleaning regiment.

I don't think a "well fed" front in an aquarium setting will help much with their inherent desire to hunt smaller fish. Even on the best diets.

Has anyone had long term success with keeping small fish with fronts? I'd love to hear other's experiences.

Boom :boom:

[JLake]

I kept cyps with em but as the front grew his ability to eat larger cyps also grew. Many fish share the same rule, if it fits ill eat it!