# Juvie frontosa diet.



## mikebaker (Feb 4, 2006)

Hi all,
I'm the proud new owner of 6 juvie fronts in my 6' 125 gallon. They are all close to the same size, around 1.5". What kind of diet would you recomend for them? I'm currently feeding a mixture of cichlid flakes, and spirulina flakes to bring out the blues. What else would you add? Thanks for any help.
Mike


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

mikebaker said:


> Hi all,
> I'm the proud new owner of 6 juvie fronts in my 6' 125 gallon. They are all close to the same size, around 1.5". What kind of diet would you recomend for them? I'm currently feeding a mixture of cichlid flakes, and spirulina flakes to bring out the blues. What else would you add? Thanks for any help.
> Mike


Hey Mike,

Congrats! Please post pics :wink:

I feed my fry a staple mix with the following:
- Ocean Nutrition Flake: Cichlid Omni Formula
- OSI Spirulina Flake
- NLS 1mm sinking pellets
- Freeze dried mysis shrimp
- Freeze dried krill

I have been very pleased with the coloration on my fry using this staple mix. Here's a couple pics of some current and previous batches of fry and their coloration...




























Pic without the flash


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## mikebaker (Feb 4, 2006)

They look great! Thanks for the input... i'll post pics tomorrow.. my lights are out for the night now.


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

I feed a good high protien sinking pellet as soon as they can eat it and flake food when they are very small, as they get bigger i add in ripped up re hydrated freeze dried krill. I also hand feed them hikari vitamen enhanced freeze dried tubiflex worms. (this brand is the only brand i feed since tubiflex worms are often dirty and have contaminants in them, i cannot vouch for any other brand). They really like these and were eating out of my hand everyday at 3/4 inch fry . They still do this and i noticed the 60 percent protien in these worms really packs the weight on and they like the texure and taste of them,even my older burundi that were shy now eat them from my hand LOL. I also feed them some seaweed sheets (rip a small piece off ) when i can get them eating it.

Now that they are grown a bit more i feed the same diet but have added in cooked shrimp and they go nuts for it.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

cichlidgirl1 said:


> I feed a good high protien sinking pellet as soon as they can eat it and flake food when they are very small, as they get bigger i add in ripped up re hydrated freeze dried krill. I also hand feed them hikari vitamen enhanced freeze dried tubiflex worms. (this brand is the only brand i feed since tubiflex worms are often dirty and have contaminants in them, i cannot vouch for any other brand). They really like these and were eating out of my hand everyday at 3/4 inch fry . They still do this and i noticed the 60 percent protien in these worms really packs the weight on and they like the texure and taste of them,even my older burundi that were shy now eat them from my hand LOL. I also feed them some seaweed sheets (rip a small piece off ) when i can get them eating it.
> 
> Now that they are grown a bit more i feed the same diet but have added in cooked shrimp and they go nuts for it.


CG, your cyphos have some great color :thumb: What you are doing must be working.

Russ


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

Well thanks Russ. Your fish are great examples of how a frontosa should look too. Yours always have exceptional color . I feel the most important things for outstanding color are diet and clean water, black sand and backgrounds and lighting. Mostly in that order LOL.


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

cichlidgirl1 said:


> Well thanks Russ. Your fish are great examples of how a frontosa should look too. Yours always have exceptional color . I feel the most important things for outstanding color are diet and clean water, black sand and backgrounds and lighting. Mostly in that order LOL.


This may be a silly comment, but depending on what you mean by good color I think you could probably reverse your list. If you mean good color in person I would agree. But I have noticed that certain ambient conditions can really affect the apparent color of fish in pictures - especially frontosa. So if you were to list the most important thing for good color in pictures then I would reverse that list.

Everyone knows blue/actinic lighting helps a lot, but actually I think the biggest influence in a picture is the camera flash. I have seen several posts where people will post with and without flash and it makes a world of difference. In some pics the fish will look like white fish with black strips and a blue tint and in other pictures (of the very same fish) the look like blue fish with black stripes. The closeness of the camera/zoom also seems to make a difference. Close-ups tend to make the fish more blue.

Like I said its probably a silly comment, and I don't mean to cause a stir, I just think its really interesting. I noticed it once and now I have been keeping track. I would think this could also be a warning to people buying fish online based solely on pictures of the fish.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

boredatwork said:


> This may be a silly comment,...


Actually, it is not a silly comment (not at all). I actually felt guilty putting up flash only pics and that is the main reason I put up the pic without the flash. Flash and lighting make a big difference. The 1st, 3rd & 4th pics are from the same group. They have some truely amazing color (that maybe why I have kept them). The regularily show that blue that you see in the third picture but without the flash they tend to have just a dash a purple. When they are in the mood to turn on the contrast they look like the pic without the flash. I took a lot of pictures of this group trying to learn how to capture their "true color." What is "true color" that can open a hole new discussion.

I don't know how I would rank or re-rank that list but I would have to add genetics to that list and mood (and mood is greatly affected by those items on high CG's list). Lighting and aquascaping also can play a role in color too. Goes back to my question of what is true color. My favorite condition is when I see my adult kaps in their new tank (without black sand), with the ligthts off and natural sunlight coming in the room. Their color is amazing, the contrast on the white and balck strips is incredible and the blue on the fins is, well, amazing (that is also hard to take photos with the glare from the sunlight). Here's a trick to try, turn all the lights off in the tank and in the room and then take a picture of the fish. You will see those white strips turn very blue and dark.

You did make a good point for folks to be careful about buying fish based on pictures from the internet. That is a very valid point and I am glad you mentioned that. When I deal with a serious buyer (on the internet), I send them pics with and without the flash and I even send a video of the fish in dark conditions so they can get a good idea of what the fish will look like in various conditions. The flash and black sand really make their colors pop (makes for some nice pictures). Pics without the flash tend to, IMHO, show off more of their true coloration. Good pics w/o the flash are hard to take too.

In any event, your point is well taken. Good discussion.

Thanks,
Russ


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## myjohnson (Dec 28, 2007)

i feed mine uncooked meat. and they are growing faster than ever!


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