Planning a Bigger Frontosa Tank - Please guide me

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nagukush

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Jan 1, 2008
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Hi Friends,

Hope all is well and great !

With great difficulty and after a lot of borrowing, taking up loans etc, I have finally managed to save enough to get a Bigger tank made for my fronts. I guess they're growing and are getting more aggressive with each passing day. 2 of my smaller fronts have already been beaten up badly by the big guys and I think will have to do something if I want to keep these guys...

Anyways, I have ordered a 6.5 Feet (Length) x 2.5 Feet (Width) x 1.75 Feet (Height) tank made from 12mm Glass. I wanted to go for a 15mm glass but couldnt afford the extra cost... I guess that will be more than 200 Gallons and I hope that it will be a good size to keep a colony of 12 fronts. Kindly guide me on this.

Friends, also wanted to request you to kindly guide me on a substrate choice and aquascaping the tank. I was planning to do something similar to this - http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/hobbyist gallery/Frontosa Tank-2.JPG but I guess it will take too much space and will reduce the volume of the tank. Kindly guide me on a simple, easy to maintain and fairly natural looking setup that I can plan...

Desperately awaiting your kind help and guidance, Friends...
Thanks a lot !
Regards and Care
Kush
 

AfroCichlid

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Jan 10, 2008
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The tank you're looking to mimic looks good, but I think I'd try for at least a few more caves. Have you given any thought to the type of rocks you want to use? Razzo would be a good person to drop a line to as he has been successful with his Front tank. Good luck!
 

Razzo

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Hey Kush,

I really like the look of a lot of big rocks in a fish tank; however, that type of aquascape may not be the most practical. In my Frontosa tanks, I like to have a lot of open space up in the water column. I also use PVC/ABS for tunnels. Tunnels are important with Frontosa so that a less dominant fish can out dodge and aggressor. Also, Frontosa spook and will fly into anything in their way - so the less things in their way the better.

For me and my Frontosa, they are expensive wild caught fish that I purchased to breed. With that goal in mind, I wanted to aquascape to help the breeding program. Again, I love the look of big rocks too, but, from my experience, that is just not practical.

Now, the few rocks that I do have, I searched hard for atheistically pleasing rocks. Here are a few pictures of my 265 tank (7-foot). I have eight C. Gibberosa Kapampa in there (2m/6f).

On the right side of the tank there is an ABS wye underneath some boulders. I have removed the wye to the far right.


This is the left side of the tank. Again, an ABS wye under some rocks.


This is the center of the tank and what I call my frontosa bank. The alpha has claimed this area.


My beta in frontosa bank


Alpha chasing out beta


Alpha about to chase out beta


Alpha in FB


Here's a video that will give you a good idea of how they use the ABS. Sorry, it is poor quality video, but you will get the idea.

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/ts13b41/?action=view&current=P8030001.flv
 

Pittbull

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Hey Kush all sounds fine my friend.. the rocks look good as well.. Razz is right if your looking to breed these guys and want to pull the females to strip her than a slightly bare tank will suffice if you aren't worried about breeding than go for it on the rocks aye..

A good crushed coral substrate will be fine..
 

nagukush

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Hi Friends,

Thanks a lot for the kindness and for caring, Friends. Really appreciate it a lot !

Thanks for the pics and for guiding me Razzo - If I may say this, your fronts are truly beautiful and I wish I had such fronts.

Anyways, If I may speak personally, I really wish that this dream of mine (of building and buying this tank) comes true. The total budget for making this tank here is 20,000 in my currency ( about 410 USD) and so far I've only arranged half - that is 10,000 ( and that too after borrowing from many sources). This was the advance that I had to pay for the tank and the work has started. I still need to arrange the balance 10,000 before the tank will be delivered to me... I'm planning to sell a few of my Guitars and Instructional Materials to arrange the fund but lets see what happens eventually... Anyways, I really hope that I manage it. Will keep you friends updated.

Pittbull, I'm having trouble finding different kinds of gravel here. I was really satisfied with my Black Sand like substrat that I have in the current tank but I'm not able to get it again here. I've attached a pic of the same.

The current tank is 4 x 1.25 x 1.5 and the gravel is about 2" thick. Just wanted to know if the same will be enough for a 1" layer in the new tank that is 6.5 x 2.5 x 1.75. Kindly guide me Pittbull...

Thanks again for all the help Friends. Please wish me that my dream comes true...

Have a Wonderful day and keep smiling, Friends !
Lots of Regards to all,
Kush

fronts-1.JPG
 

Razzo

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Kush, to help with aggression in the current tank you'll need to break down that moutain on the right side. You need to give them tunnels where they can escape an aggressor. If you have access to PVC or ABS, I would put about 3 or 4 wyes or tees in there. Don't worry about athestics for the time being, you have an aggression problem and you need to keep them from getting stressed to death.

Not sure how big your fronts are, looks like you may be able to get away with 3-inch PVC or ABS. I think mine is about 5-inch for mature fronts and I suspect the females could get into 3-inch PVC/ABS if they wanted to.

Bonne chance!
 

Pittbull

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Hey Kush yeah use the substrate you have now a one inch sand bed isn't a bad thing i would go with egg crate if you are going to keep those rocks..

Razzo comments on PVC piping you can incorporate this into your rocks as well..
 

Muske

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PVC is easy to hide under rocks....

Nik's Misc. Pics. 449.jpg

Nik's Misc. Pics. 449.jpg
 
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