# Frontosa biting another Frontosa's fins



## frontosaman21 (Apr 25, 2015)

hi. i am new to this hobby and i brought 3 frontosas a week ago. i have a 240l tank with 3 8inch fronts, which i think are 1 male and 2 female. i also have 2 5inch plecos. one of the females has been recently sitting at the bottom near the gravel and has dug a massive hole which i think means that she is getting prepared to spawn. however the male keeps biting their fins and harassing them. it looks like one of the females (the one that hasn't dug the whole) has some sort of disease on her fins. however my water parameters are good with the ph being at 8.2 and the ammonia and nitrates at 0, the temperature is 27 degrees celsius and i feed them Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets. today i separated the really damaged female with a mesh in the same tank, just like you would if she was pregnant, however it is too small for her so i can keep her there for too long. have you got any ideas of what i can do about it? thanks. PS: i am not sure if they are fighting or mating as they always open their mouths as wide as possible and go mouth to mouth (they do not lock mouths). should i be worried? is on of my fronts going to die?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

They are fighting. The female needs a hospital tank. I am not a frontosa keeper but I think they are harem breeders and you may need to add females to spread aggression. There are lots of frontosa keeper members, so I'm sure someone will post soon.

If they are already 8" they will do better in a 72" tank.


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## Handyjoe (Jan 11, 2015)

Agreed with DJRansome. They are fighting, and the damaged fish needs to be put in a hospital tank (mine is 20 gal. /37 L) and be treated with Epsom salt and/or Melafix. Are you sure you have one male and two females? Without properly vented them, we don't know for sure. You might have two males fighting for dominance. Fonts don't dig hole in the gravel is fof spawning. The fish is finding a place to hide from being harassed. You need more hiding place in the tank for them to feel secure. Either rock caves or large PVC, ABS, Styrenic plastic fittings will do. The fins on the other font is probably got damage from fighting. Without a picture so I am just guessing here. Yes, like DJ mentioned, you need more fonts to spread the aggression. However, your tank is too small to accommodate any more font. Go bigger  ! A minimum 2m tank (~125gal and up) is better for keeping a colony of fonts. There are more advice from others here, I hope they will shed more lights into this. Hope this help a little.
Joe.


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## frontosaman21 (Apr 25, 2015)

Thanks a lot


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## frontosaman21 (Apr 25, 2015)

i rearranged my tank, now i have 3 caves so each one can have its own hiding spot and a massive log in the middle which makes my tank look beautiful  and gives them a little bit more protection(i hope). is this going to solve the problem? also i think i have 1 male and 1 female for defo but not sure what the other one is. are they going to be able to breed? i only have 3 fronts and 2 plecos(5inch). do you know what the signs are when females are ready to spawn eggs? it does seem as if her belly bit at the bottom near her anal looks fatter and more oval than the other two. also if she does spawn and then put them back in her mouth would she be able to still eat, i feed them Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets hope thats a good food, i have some dried freeze shrimp but they don't eat it at all. thank you all


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## frontosaman21 (Apr 25, 2015)

Now that I rearranged the tank 1 of the fronts keeps chasing the other one, it doesn't seem to be hurting it, is this a sign of mating?


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