Fronts Getting Darker

[ianheyian]

Any ideas why some of my fronts are getting darker ... almost black and blue with barely any white? I have 8 in the tank, got them roughly 6 months ago at about 2" long. Now they're roughly 5" long. Some have remained with fairly clear black / blue / brown with white bars .... some have gone very dark to the point you have to look fairly closely to see the bars?

Tx.

[ibr3ak]

Could be showing aggression, what are your male to female ratios?

[ibr3ak]

Something like this?:

http://www.geocities.com/bluespeacock/mp2.jpg



Oh and any idea what region your fronts are from? There are burundi frontosas that get dark like the one on the pic above, while kigoma fronts look like the typical frontosas you often see.

[ianheyian]

Exactly like that ... perhaps even a little darker. I don't know what region they're from but I got them from the same place so I figure they would all be the same. I was told that the ratio of males to females in juves is roughly 20% male to 80% female. As best I can tell it's beginning to look like I have three males and five females ... although it's a little early yet.

[Coler]

see any excessive aggression between them ?

[ibr3ak]

Try this link, it shows different front variants:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/frontosa_variant_map.php

And this article:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cyphomaniacs.php

[ianheyian]

I have never noticed any aggression whatsoever between the Fronts. Thanks for the links ... I'm beginning to think somehow I might have two different strains ... or possibly half of them are just younger than the other half? I'll have to post some photos.

[Rbishop]

Would love to see the pics. How big of a colony are you planning?

[ianheyian]

I was planning on having 8 or so .... 2 males, the rest females.

[Rbishop]

um..tank size?

[mostlycichlids]

I was planning on having 8 or so .... 2 males, the rest females.

Wow thats a huge colony....you must have a huge tank!

[ianheyian]

200 gal