The World of Cichlids Fish

The world of Cichlids fish is divided into two major groups based on the native location it was the African Cichlids and the American Cichlids. Grouping based on this native location needs to be done considering a variant of the Cichlids fish species are so many and very exotic. In addition, this grouping will facilitate us in knowing of these fish.

The first group is African Cichlids. The African Cichlids family contains over 1,200 species of fish, the majority of which are found in the Tanganyika and Malawai Lakes of central Africa. The African Cichlids species known as the exotic tropical ornamental fish and one of the most famous species of this group - not intended to exclude other exotic African Cichlids species such as Duboisi Cichlid, Moorei Cichlid including the phenomenal Peacock Cichlid family from the rocky, sandy shores of Lake Malawi - is Frontosa cichlid fish which have unique characteristics.

The first characteristic of Frontosa cichlid lies in the zebra-print black and white with vertical lines or a combination of dark blue, silver, and yellow. Another characteristic is on the head of Frontosa that similar with Louhan fish which it has a lump on his face.

The American Cichlids - the second Cichlids fish group which called as the New World Cichlids family is a diverse group of fish often referred to as South or Central American Cichlids. American Cichlids are a hardy, easy to care for fish species that add brilliant color to the freshwater aquarium.

The number of the Cichlids fish species in this group as much as the African Cichlids and the most popular is Oscar fish , one of the "ornamental Cichlids fish species" of the most sought after for its beautiful color pattern on its body and its ability to recognize the owner.

Frontosa : Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika

Frontosa characteristic lies in her zebra-print black and white with vertical lines or a combination of dark blue, silver, and yellow. These colors make the cyphotilapia frontosa be varied. Another characteristic is at the head of frontosa that similar with lou han fish, which it has a lump on his face.

Frontosa fish usually have a fat body shape and looks sturdy. however, cyphotilapia frontosa has a graceful carriage because including the slow-moving ornamental fish type, which is happy to swim slowly. For an ornamental fish, frontosa favored because of the kind of peaceful, benign, and not fierce so the owner can freely do appear or feeding frontosa without fear of being hit.

African cichlids Frontosa lives at great depths (bottom dweller) in Lake Tanganyika and often suffers from swim bladders problems for wild caught fishes. They are mostly restricted to the rocky areas in the wild. They are rather intolerant of poor water condition and demand regular, frequent water but small water changes.

Frontosa Fish Profiles :

Distribution : Lake Tanganyika (Endemic)

Size : Up to 14 inches for Male, smaller for female. Growth rate appear to be slow under captivity.

PH : 8.6 to 9.5

Temperature : 22 to 29 0 C (higher temperature for breeding).

Hardness : Hard to very hard, alkaline water.

Diet : Piscivore. Flake, freeze fried & frozen and pellet food. Live food such as prawns and earthworms. Not advisable to give them floating food.

Breeding : Open polygamous, mouth brooder.

Sexual Difference : Males are much larger with longer flowing fins and well developed nuchal hump (not always accurate).

It's best to keep frontosa in groups from small as the males are very intolerant of each other. Growing them up together has the advantage of establishing the "pecking" order early to prevent over-aggressiveness to establish dominance in the tank.