Frontosa issues

rudy

rudy

Moderator
So having some issues hoping you can help with. I have 7 fronts
Large mpimbwe male (alpha)
Large Kapamba male 2nd
Smaller burundi

4 female mpimbwe.
Basically all of my females have float. All fed by sinking so pretty sure it is stress.
Thinking I need to get rid of some males, or the females (as the males seem to get along reasonably well)

Or get rid of the other males and just have one male and 4 females.
What do you figure? The float is driving me nuts
In my last ray tank I had one Mpimbwe and liked him very much. Should I just go down to 1 again?
 
Lots of things could cause this issue. I'm assuming the fish has swim bladder problems.

A lot of africans seem to be predisposed to it.

If your feeding a good pellet, and other things like frozen foods, then we can assume its not diet, as long as they are not getting the same pellet exclusively.

If this is from stress, its probably from getting beat up and this caused internal damage.

Could also be from a simple water change... a quick change in temperature can cause this.

could even be a parasite or bacterial in origin.

Have you added any new fish to that tank as of late? or have you received any other fish to other tanks in which you use the same equipment?

Did they start showing signs after a water change?

First we need to figure out why it happened, and then correct it.

How long have they had this?


Solution for now:
Don't feed the tank for a few days. This will usually clear it up. If its diet, then try a few peas as the first food offered after you starved for a few days(at least 3 days).

If its not diet, then it may be tank mates. Id say your M/F ratio is a little high. More females to males will help with diluting the beatings.

Personally, id only keep the alpha and the 4 females.
 
I think aggression is the reason for sure. I literally moved all females to another tank after this post and only one of the 4 females looks like they still have the issue. Sure they cant be cured that fast but handle it better in a new tank. Thinking your right the one male with the females. Out of curiosity though why does it have to be the dominat male? Only reason i ask is the subdominant is a kapamba.
Joey said:
Lots of things could cause this issue. I'm assuming the fish has swim bladder problems.

A lot of africans seem to be predisposed to it.

If your feeding a good pellet, and other things like frozen foods, then we can assume its not diet, as long as they are not getting the same pellet exclusively.

If this is from stress, its probably from getting beat up and this caused internal damage.

Could also be from a simple water change... a quick change in temperature can cause this.

could even be a parasite or bacterial in origin.

Have you added any new fish to that tank as of late? or have you received any other fish to other tanks in which you use the same equipment?

Did they start showing signs after a water change?

First we need to figure out why it happened, and then correct it.

How long have they had this?


Solution for now:
Don't feed the tank for a few days. This will usually clear it up. If its diet, then try a few peas as the first food offered after you starved for a few days(at least 3 days).

If its not diet, then it may be tank mates. Id say your M/F ratio is a little high. More females to males will help with diluting the beatings.

Personally, id only keep the alpha and the 4 females.
Click to expand...
 
It doesnt have to be the dominant male, i simply say that as they are generally the largest and nicest looking(in terms of nuchal hump and finnage). If you want to choose a different male, that would work as well. Within a short time, the new male will become dominant.
 
cheon said:
Adding new members to the group is a 50/50. Even more so a male to the colony tried that when I had a problem it just made it worse. If you are goin to try I gave my really nice alp-male to Franco at Francos aquariums he has alot of bigger fronts.
Click to expand...

He wont be adding any new members to the tank. He will be removing some males, and allowing a subdominant male to remain.
 
Ok so I have gotten rid of the mpimbwe male and treated the tank with epsoms. Some have gotten better but for the most part (especially two) my tank looks like keep a couple of bobbers in there. Driving me nuts. Any other suggestions or am I going to have to live with this.
 
Are the fronts still in with the rays? Are they eating the ray food?

Fronts shouldn't have a lot of meat in their diet, it can kill them pretty quick. They pretty much bloat up and die. I've kept tons of fronts in the past and my biggest problem was keeping them with other fish that needed a higher protein diet.

Moreover small fronts need higher ph and lots of minerals in the water. The adults don't seemed to be bothered by it much. So if you have your water conditioned to your rays, you might be getting problems that way.

Fronts of different sizes can be housed together, but hiding places are required. A guy I know bred three different variants for years and had one of the most impressive front collection I ever laid eyes on. He often didn't removed the babies and they just lived among the rocks until they were big enough to hang with the bigger fish. The big males can be very over bearing and the females tend to be extremely soft hearted and get stressed easily.

Have you ever thought of just keeping males together? I did an all male african tank and had four male fronts together with no problem. Then the dominance thing doesn't matter too much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top