New Frontosas not eating

[JohnnyTBags]

I have a 150 gallon tank. Stocked with assorted African cichlids. I decent adpoted 2 decent size frontosas. Biggest fish in the tank but they are extremely shy, not pushing anyone around, and they haven’t eaten in 4-5 days. Any suggestions?

150g
Water Q good
20+ smaller African cichlids
4 juvenile frontosa
And 2 6-7 inch frontosa

my guess is I might have to unload all the other cichlids and only jeep the fronts. Which doesn’t make me sad. All front tank with limestone might be cool.
Thanks in advance.

 

[1234fish]

I would say this much - fronts generally take longer to adjust to a situation, even more so if they are larger fronts in my experience. With that said it is probably not an ideal situation with the other fish in the tank. I might suggest still giving it some time however as I currently have a tank that is mixed with frontosa and other fish (mainly peacocks and haps). Other than the largest frontosa, the other 6 fronts were late additions as someone had a tank burst and no where to home them. I was hesitant but ultimately added them. The first few weeks I found myself rearranging decor to make sure the fronts felt comfortable, however to this day they get along just fine with the other fish.

In addition, I would try adding krill. I am mostly a pellet feeder, but have found that some form of shrimp can often bring out even the shy ones, also garlic is a suggestion too. Good luck. Post a picture of the setup if you can. Having the right spaces for fronts is ideal (I found not too many hiding spots like mbuna, but not too open like haps want).

 

[bentobox]

I agree. Fronts can be shy and take a bit longer to adjust. Give it a bit more time and try what the previous poster tried with the food. I have used Garlic Guard on food and it's been hit or miss for me.

 

[neutrino]

Good points above, might just take a little time. What the other cichlids are can make a difference-- since Cyphotilapia tend to be calmer, slower moving fish they don't always appreciate hyper active fish in the tank, though they can have highly individual personalities and some adjust better than others. They can also be a bit picky about food and are capable of being stubborn about it; some of mine detested heavy garlic, actually, showed it by sulking and not eating, and, no, 'starving' them didn't bring them around.

 

[ken31cay]

All the above information is pretty good. I will emphasize something already said, that it will be difficult for Frontosa to get accustomed to the tank with other fish that have strong active personalities and IMO they will never feel comfortable in a tank where aggression is present, makes little difference whether or not the aggression is directed at the Frontosa or at other tank inhabitants.

 

[DJRansome]

I do think fronts like to be in larger groups of their own kind...do you have 2 females?

And they would not appreciate being in a tank with mbuna and maybe not even haps or peacocks.

 

[ken31cay]

My experience keeping Frontosa with peacocks (and most haps) is that it doesn't work for the Frontosa, whether it's one or a group. I tried in both my tanks, six foot 180gal and eight foot 450gal. The one hap that I happened to try that worked extremely well in my 450gal is the Placidochromis phenochilus (star sapphire). I had 4M/4F in with 12 Frontosa. My supplier told me their close relative mdoka whitelips also does well with a Frontosa colony.