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Originally posted by myjohnson View Post
Ahh man, Thai....I hate this discussion. Even if you are right (or the experts are right) I think they should just leave it alone. They're all Frontosas to me.....Leave a comment:
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good......long......advice........Jesper.....LOL. He's right about everything he said. I've had my guys for over a year now and they are only around 5". I tried to vent the other day and its dang near impossible. Even though Fronts are in fact piscovores, i've had success (so far) keeping them with Brichardi, Tropheus, Calvus, Synodontis Cats, and I've had SOME luck with Leleupi. In my opinion, you arent going to find the QUALITY of fish in a LFS as you would from some of the members on this site. (i strongly encourage you to find a box member by the screen name "khister". I got my Fronts from him really cheap. I think I spent $200 on a colony of 15.) Welcome fellow Frontosa lover!!.
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As a general rule, anything being collected from the top half of the lake is called frontosa and anything from the bottom half is called Gibberosa.
Tetsumi published a studied and reported the 7 stripe kigoma (but are also collected at bangwe and boulomboro) is really a color morph of burundi types. So they are really all "frontosa."
But before this study, Tetsumi reported the kigoma were the only true frontosa. It was just later disproved by the above mention study. But you know how it is, most people still only think the kigoma are called frontosa.
You guys might fine this interesting.
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Like Newb said, how much you want to spend.
Fronts as far as I know are hardy fish. Personally I like the Mpimbwe and Zaire Moba's as they display more blue in their body and fins, but there are many species of Fronts.
They are generally grouped today in 7 different fish with subspecies under that, Burundi, Kavala, Karilani, Mpimbwe, Zambia, Zaire, and the 7 striped Kigoma.
Scientifically the Kigoma is the only Frontosa, the southern 3, Zambia, Zaire, and Mpimbwe are Gibberosa, and the remaining three are cyphotaliapia sp North.
The Kigoma is 7 striped.
The three southern species show blue in their body and the three northern Cyphos show more of a body with just black and white.
The most popular Fronts (as they are all called) are the Burundi, Zambia, Zaire and the Kigoma.
What Newb said is very true. If you want fish that are ready to breed the moment they hit the water, expect to pay well over $100 a fish, and wild caught can cost you over $200 each.
Remember these fish are large, they will reach a full length around 12". They do not mature until between 36-48 months. Males mature faster than females.
Fry will range from as little as about $15 each to well over $40 each depending on the grade of fish you are looking for. Please remember that hobbiest have spent years waiting for fish to breed.. they take a LONG time to get started.
Personally if you want to see them grow out and enjoy their full life span from the start, you can obtain fry 1-2" in size for a reasonable cost. For a 180g tank you will need to get about 20 fry, let them grow out. You have to know from the GET GO, that once they are about 24 months old it will be time to thin out the heard.. In your tank size keep no more than 3 males, and the rest females. Since its impossible to vent them until they are 8" in length with any for sure guarantee you will need to do this when they reach 2-3 yrs of age. Vent them split the females out of the group and then look at the males, choose the biggest and most beautiful and return three back. Make sure that you get three that are about the same, or else the smallest one will most likely not make it.
Fronts are deep diving fish, they are usually found around the 60-100 ft level, and come towards the surface at night to hunt. Low amounts of lights are needed, they will not thrive well in bright aquariums. Cyps are their natural food.. dont keep torpedo shaped fish with them, unless they are adults.. or else they are going to end up as food. They are piscavores and no matter if tank raised or WC they will always want live food.. Basically dont give them the opertunity to get used to it. They will eat out of your hand once they have settled in. As they grow feed them larger pellets of food upto 3mm as they can eat healthy meal.
Fronts are awesome fish, and if it wasnt because I am on the tropheus bug, Fronts would be on the top of the list of other fish I would keep.
When you are ready to pull the trigger on the fish, there are several QUALITY breeders of Frontosa's here on the board. I would HIGHLY recommend you ask what is available.
If Zaire blue (aka Moba's) RonR has both regular and a rare black momma moba, which spits some of the most beautiful fry. Again be ready to spend some good money on getting fry.
Cesar has a colony of a different region of fronts that have now started to hold for him. (like I said it takes years for them to mature)Leave a comment:
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Good advice!
If you are into these fishes, you will never be disappointed with getting anything for Zaire. Very nice deep blue color and rare.
Rex, you do more water change than me foo!Leave a comment:
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I'm gonna say go with Zaire Moba, Zaire Kapamba or Kipili. I have a colony of Mpimbwe and they are pretty cool. Hit up RonR, he usually has Mobas for sale. Check out Frontosa.com for ANY info on the species. I have found the Frontosa to be the easiest fish I've ever had to care for. I feed mine an even mixture of Dianichi and NLS Thera A. I usually do a 50% water change every 3 or 4 days (sometimes I get lazy and only do it once a week and thats perfectly ok). If you have any other questions, I'd be more than happy to help you out. PeaceLeave a comment:
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FYI,
Burundi and Kigoma = Frontosa
Zaire, Zambian, Tanzanian = Gibberosa
Get anything from Zaire.Leave a comment:
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