Frontosa

Water parameters

Tolerated range for this species. Aim for the middle of each band rather than the extremes.

Tank and habitat

Substrate: sand.

Behavior

Plant interaction: destroys most plants.

Typically wild-caught; acclimate slowly.

Feeding

Carnivore. Cichlid pellets, frozen krill, silversides, prawn. Feeds naturally at dawn and dusk in deep water; in captivity will eat during the day but feeding at dim-light times reduces stress.

Nocturnal feeder; drop food after lights out.

Compatibility

• Deep-water predator that hunts shoaling fish small enough to swallow, and will eat any tankmate that fits in its mouth
• Slow-growing and slow-moving for a large cichlid. Not a basher like oscar or jack dempsey; dominance is established through posturing and the occasional lip-lock
• Keep in groups of 1 male to 4-5 females. Harems work; single pairs often fail because the male focuses aggression on one fish
• The cranial hump develops with age and is larger in males; immature frontosa look nothing like the adults on magazine covers. Patience required; full size takes 4-5 years
• Not compatible with mbuna; the smaller mbuna harass the slower frontosa and steal food

Origin and habitat

Cyphotilapia frontosa is a large cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it occupies deep rocky habitat in the northern part of the lake. Its southern counterpart, Cyphotilapia gibberosa, was split off as a separate species by Takahashi and Nakaya in 2003 and carries a taller, more upright forehead hump; the two were long lumped together in the trade. Frontosa is a deep-water fish, most common roughly between 30 and 120 metres down, and the biggest individuals tend to come from the deepest water. It is a slow, deliberate predator that moves up the rocky slopes toward shallower water to hunt shoaling fish small enough to swallow. The adult's signature feature is the nuchal hump, a fatty forehead deposit that builds with age and grows largest in dominant males; young fish look plain by comparison and take years to develop the shape. Many fish sold simply as frontosa are actually regional colour forms, and some of the prized deep-blue lines, such as the Blue Zaire fish from the southern lake, belong to C. gibberosa rather than to true C. frontosa.

Breeding

A maternal mouthbrooder with one of the longest incubation periods of any Tanganyikan cichlid. The female takes a clutch of roughly 30 to 50 large eggs into her mouth and holds the developing eggs and fry there for around five to seven weeks, eating little in that time. The eggs are large and the fry emerge well-developed, able to take baby brine shrimp straight away. Spawning happens within a group where a dominant male courts several females, and the standard breeding setup is one male with four to six females in a very large tank. Because the fish grow slowly, they may not spawn until several years old, and the fry grow slowly too. Keepers avoid mixing geographic forms to keep the locality types distinct.

Common problems

This is a decades-long commitment in a big tank. Frontosa reach around 30 to 35 cm, with males larger, and can live past twenty years, yet they grow so slowly, over several years, that owners are tempted to keep them in tanks that soon become far too small. The water has to match Lake Tanganyika: hard and alkaline. Aggression is quiet rather than explosive, so a dominant fish can wear down subordinates over time with no obvious fighting, which makes plenty of rock structure and open space important. Bloat, the protozoan gut infection common in Rift Lake cichlids, is the main health worry and is best avoided with clean water and a sensible, varied diet.

Bioload

Further reading

• How to cycle a fish tank
• Stocking ideas by tank size