Feeding Frontosa

I recently acquired a juvenile Frontosa, placing him in a tank with a
variety of other fish. Everything seems okay except there's a concern at
feeding time. All the other cichlids go to the top to feed on the offerings,
however, the Frontosa rarely joins in. By the time he even seems interested
the floating food is gone. Question, is this a potential problem or is it
necessary to feed him some type of sinking pellet. Currently, he is only
about 2".

"Pokey" wrote in message
. ..
I recently acquired a juvenile Frontosa, placing him in a tank with a
variety of other fish. Everything seems okay except there's a concern
at
feeding time. All the other cichlids go to the top to feed on the
offerings,
however, the Frontosa rarely joins in. By the time he even seems
interested
the floating food is gone. Question, is this a potential problem or is
it
necessary to feed him some type of sinking pellet. Currently, he is
only
about 2".

Yes, you have a problem. Frontosa are big but slow eaters. If you do
nothing, the Front will usually eventually get more aggressive about
feeding, so even though he doesn't get enough to really prosper, he will
probably not starve. Try using foods which sink & disperse so the Front
gets some (ie: thawed bloodworms, brine shrimp etc). Another strategy is
to use large pellets which fit in the Front's mouth and are too big for
anyone else. You might need to hand feed him a bit (dropping 1 pellet at
a time, directly over him). Carnivore sticks are handy, as are
earthworms.

NetMax

Yeah, I have also had this same problem...

I feed all the other fish first then I feed the frontosa something only for
him....I think they now know which food is for the frontosa and which is
theirs.

my frontosa likes blood worms and krill a lot, but at such a small size, you
may want to stick to just blood worms.

keep in mind they grow pretty slowly anyway.

what kind of fish are you keeping him with, btw

Bob


"Pokey" wrote in message
. ..
I recently acquired a juvenile Frontosa, placing him in a tank with a
variety of other fish. Everything seems okay except there's a concern at
feeding time. All the other cichlids go to the top to feed on the
offerings,
however, the Frontosa rarely joins in. By the time he even seems
interested
the floating food is gone. Question, is this a potential problem or is it
necessary to feed him some type of sinking pellet. Currently, he is only
about 2".

Having bred, & raised Frontosa for some 6 years now, it is certainly not
uncommon for the fronts to wait on their food to come down to them. As
Max stated, the Front won't starve, he'll learn to compete for the food
if need be. But Bob's & Maxs' suggestions are certainly on the money,
krill & blood worms are quite alright.

As far as tankmates, the combination that I currently have is decidedly not
even close to ideal. I've got a couple of angels from my previous tank, ten
mixed mbunas (from a discount LFS), yellow jakes, julies, electric blues and
a sailfin pleco. They're all juveniles, so everyone is currently getting
along. Comments on what you think the future has in store?


"Bob" wrote in message
.. .
Yeah, I have also had this same problem...

I feed all the other fish first then I feed the frontosa something only
for
him....I think they now know which food is for the frontosa and which is
theirs.

my frontosa likes blood worms and krill a lot, but at such a small size,
you
may want to stick to just blood worms.

keep in mind they grow pretty slowly anyway.

what kind of fish are you keeping him with, btw

Bob


"Pokey" wrote in message
. ..
I recently acquired a juvenile Frontosa, placing him in a tank with a
variety of other fish. Everything seems okay except there's a concern at
feeding time. All the other cichlids go to the top to feed on the
offerings,
however, the Frontosa rarely joins in. By the time he even seems
interested
the floating food is gone. Question, is this a potential problem or is
it
necessary to feed him some type of sinking pellet. Currently, he is
only
about 2".

Pokey, some people have had tremendous success without any problems
mixing frontosas' or other lake tanganyikan cichlids with Malawi
cichlids, & other type fish. But most cichlid collectors will separate
the two. ( It's what I do). Books, etc. will say keep frontosa with
other "mellow" cichlids, but in my experiences, I havn't any problems.
But in fairness, I've only housed Fronts with Cy. Moori (blue dolphin),
Victorian Obliques (semi-aggressive), and some Mbuna...