[Lesley]

Hey guys... I got this little guy (far left in pic) in trade from the local fish store.
I had a Haplochromis obliquidens, meanest, nastiest fish I've ever come across, well over four inches long, fish store offered me what I think is a Frontosa (birundi?) in exchange for him.

He's quite timid, spent all his time hiding behind the powerhead til I got some tiger barbs as dither fish. Now he's out all the time. I've had him three weeks.

 

[chago]

yeap..... almost sure its a Burundi.... anyways a nice looking fish! :thumb:

does it really work with the tiger barbs?, how well do they do with the cichilds' water parameters?

 

[Lesley]

They seem pretty happy, healthy and don't have any problems with the cichlids.
They are permanently hyper, never stop swimming at top speed, eat like they're starved (sometimes snatching the food almost out of the bigger cichlids mouths) and not at all timid. They're kind of hilarious, their mouths are going all the time so it looks like they're constantly mumbling.

 

[cichlidgirl1]

your yellow labs will likely be ok with the front, not sure on the barbs (should be ok?) but your going to have to watch that maingano you have (the dark blue mbuna) They can be very aggressive and Frontosa do not do well at all with aggressive fish that chase or nip them. They can stress out so much from it they just keel over dead from stress not wounds. Fronts are a very quiet calm fish. They can be quite mean to eachother but in general leave other species alone and even though they get very large as adults ( 12-16 inches as adult depending on conditions , age and gender) they are not known for defending themselves against aggressive fish.

Just a heads up for you.

Hope you like the frontosa. It is a burundi frontosa. It should grow to around 5-6 inches the first year. It continues to slowly grow each year but the fastest rate of growth is usually the first year. I have a burundi right now that i got as one inch baby in oct and he is approx. 5 inches now. Since fronts get very large as time goes by you will need a big tank for him. Especially if you get him more frontosa as tankmates. A six foot tank is usually recommended. IMO if you had only one you could get by with a 75 gallon tank and just one or two quiet tank mates for it. That said, that is not the recommended thing to do since they get so large and usually are housed in fairly large groups of 6-10 fish, thats why a six foot tank is the norm.

 

[Lesley]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, he is really a peaceful guy. The maingano doesn't bother with him at all, but I have a large female convict that doesn't like him.
I'm thinking I may move him (for now) to my 35 gallon, with two really gentle parrots. They're getting pretty big too, so a large tank is definitely in the plans .

 

[cichlidgirl1]

Thats good news. He will surely love the bigger tank, easier to move around and wont feel crowded for him as he grows. Make sure you check the classified ads for craigslist. I found out after i spent over 1100 dollars for my new six footer that there were beautiful new ones listed on craigs list that included everything for around 400. I was so upset LOL. So i highly suggest craigslist and other classified ads. The nearest large city should be filled with tanks. Good luck and keep the pics coming.

CG