Tropheus or frontosas?

[stephen86]

Hi I'm looking into setting up a cichlids tank with either Tropheus or frontosas or could I keep both? Also would like other species in there too? What would you recommend?


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[dalto]

Those are really different fish.

Frontosas are large growing and fairly docile in an established aquarium. Relatively easy to care for as long as you consider their needs. You need a minimum 6ft tank for Frontosa. Tank mates for frontosa should be large enough to not be eaten by them and not too rambunctious.

Tropheus are an aggressive active fish. They should be kept in a colony to reduce aggression. They require fairly specific attention to diet and water quality but are not that difficult to keep for the experienced aquarist. Tank mates for tropheus can be difficult do to there aggression levels and feeding habits. Typical tank mates include Petrochromis, Julidochromis, Spathodus or Etetmodus species provided sufficient space is available. Tropheus need a 48"x18" tank at minimum

[stephen86]

Ok so I will probably go with Tropheus I have a 60x24x24 tank with a 36x18x18 sump how big of a colony would you have?


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[stephen86]

Could I also keep different types of Tropheus or just keep the one type?


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[toddnbecka]

You need to maintain a single species of Tropheus, you could easily keep a couple dozen adults in that setup.

[stephen86]

Ok thank you and what about tank mates?


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[dalto]

I started with 15-20 adults. Through initial aggression I usually end up with 12-15 fish. It doesn't take ling before there are 30+ Tropheus in the tank.

When I grew them out from Juveniles the initial pruning didn't happen. But I am impatient so I would get adults if I were doing it all over again.

I kept mine with Julidochromis and Spathodus erythroden with good success. The tropheus will dominate the upper to mid-level of the aquarium so if you want something with them in that area it will need to be pretty aggressive like a Petro.

[stephen86]

Yea I'm going to get them as juveniles and grow them im in uk where's the best place to get them from? I've heard the suffer from bloat easily?


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[Anthonysafricans]

As long as you feed them herbivore food never will have bloat and mikes rift cichlids I believe is in UK....I would do tropheus and gobies...he's very knowledgeable on both and tell him an ecc member from the USA sent ya

[stephen86]

Ok thank you very much for all your help is there anything that I am missing?


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[Anthonysafricans]

I have 31 ikola in a 75g tank

[Anthonysafricans]

Www.riftvalleyaquatics.com is mikes Web page