# What Species is this Frontosa?



## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Hi all, Bought a 90 Gallon aquarium and inherited the Frontosa but the previous owner did not know which species and I have not found any Frontosa's that are black like this one...

Any help in the identification would be appreciated.










Thank you


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Burundi.

Whenever the previous owner does not know what it is... it seems it is always a burundi :wink:

BTW: very nice frontosa you got. Congrats!


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## Sailfin (Sep 9, 2008)

A Burundi.


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Thank you very much for the identification. Yes it is one of my favorites and now am starting to look at thinning out the tank a little as the previous owner had too many cichlids of varying tempers that I don't want the Frontosa to be stressed by them.


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

Nice burundi. Buy it some more fronts for company. How long is the tank ? How many gallons ? If its a 4 foot tank i would only buy one more front for the tank because of size. Frontosa are usually kept in a 6 foot or bigger tank so you can keep them in a colony (usually 6-8 fish) of one male and 4 or 5 females.


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## GJx (Mar 13, 2003)

A heck OF A NICE Burundi!!

=D>


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Its a 90 gallon, 60Lx18Wx20H (almost 94 gallons...) The previous owner had too many mixed cichlids to control aggression but as I mentioned I will be starting to part out some of the cichlids but am getting the itch to have Frontosa's as the main type... My daughter is trying to get it to feed from her hand after I told her it can be done but so far nothing but she is willing to be patient.


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Its a 90 gallon, 60Lx18Wx20H (almost 94 gallons...) The previous had too many mixed cichlids to control aggression but as I mentioned I will be starting to part out some of the cichlids but am getting the itch to have Frontosa's as the main type... My daughter is trying to get it to feed from her hand after I told her it can be done but so far nothing but she is willing to be patient.


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

Groovylad said:


> Its a 90 gallon, 60Lx18Wx20H (almost 94 gallons...) The previous had too many mixed cichlids to control aggression but as I mentioned I will be starting to part out some of the cichlids but am getting the itch to have Frontosa's as the main type... My daughter is trying to get it to feed from her hand after I told her it can be done but so far nothing but she is willing to be patient.


oh, be careful LOL. He is a bit big to be learning that trick. They do have teeth and can draw blood like a big oscar LOL. You wont lose any fingers or anything but it wont feel too good if he gets the end of your finger instead of the treat LOL. I saw a video once , i think it was oscars being hand fed and the fish stuck onto the ladies finger and she yelped and whipped her hand back and the fish stayed on and fell onto the carpet, it was very funny, fish went back into the tank and everybody survived it but her finger was dripping a small amount of blood and had some scratches that looked like cat scratches around her knuckle LOL


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

I am going to read alot more about them, everything that I have been reading so far did not talk about these being close cousins of pirahna's...lol I will definately be careful now and advise my girls (they are teenagers acutually so it may not sink in until after being bit...lol) to not put there fingers in the tank.

Besides venting, is there another way to tell if its a male or female?


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## bitterman (Mar 27, 2006)

Groovylad said:


> I am going to read alot more about them, everything that I have been reading so far did not talk about these being close cousins of pirahna's...lol I will definately be careful now and advise my girls (they are teenagers acutually so it may not sink in until after being bit...lol) to not put there fingers in the tank.
> 
> Besides venting, is there another way to tell if its a male or female?


I'm near Ottawa also... If you need it vented, I might be able to vent it for you, but I am by no means an expert yet. I see you must of pick that up on Ovas.ca seen the tank posted.

Bruce


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Hi Bruce, yes I did buy the tank from hamstercaster through OVAS. He did not know the sex and I am really liking this guy and seriously thinking of getting a couple more... Is there a way to age these fish also?


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## bitterman (Mar 27, 2006)

Aging any fish is next to impossible, unless you know when the egg was layed. Conditions (food quality and quantity, age, sex, water changes, Water temp, stocking levels in the tank) all play a role in how fast a fish will grow.

If its a Male getting females will be harder and expensive as you will need adult breeding sized females. If you want a colony it might be easier to start with a bunch fo fry and grow out the colony yourself.

Additionally your tank really is not big enough for a colony. 60"x18" footprint is too small for even a quad of Frontosa (I don not recommend a trio), if the tank was 60"x24" you might get away with it but at 18" wide you will most likely have aggression issues. Next is when fish grow up together they seam to tolerate each other allot better but introducing females to a mature male can be touch and go at times, hence the recommendation for a larger tank. If rare cases a male will even kill a female(s) (not very often with Burundi but more common with more aggressive variants)

If you wait till the BA boxing day sale last year they had 125's for 229.99 why not get one and do a Frontosa tank it it?

Bruce


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## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

The 90 gallon will be my only tank for awhile so I will stay content having 1 Front for now, maybe in the near future if I get a bigger tank then I will consider a Fronts only tank... I definitely don't want to put any fish in an environment that may cause injuries or death. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.


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## myjohnson (Dec 28, 2007)

100% B-u-r-u-n-d-i


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