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Hey all,

A mate of mine bought some lil frontosa's like 8 months ago...they have grown a lil so they are now roughly 5 cms long...they seem real calm and actually quite shy! However he went out and bought heaps and heaps of tetras and sharks etc...
To his suprise as soon as he realised the fish his frontosa's went spastic and began eating them all...which is strange cause he already had tetra's in the tank!

We were both under the impression that they were fine with smaller fish cause of their nature! Has anyone else had this problem? if so how did u fix it! obvisiouly he wants lil fish and them so some help would be grealty appreciated hehe thanks ppls

They're gentle, but they're piscivores - small fish are their natural diet. Also, tetras aren't exactly suited to a Front's natural water conditions. I'd suggest your friend do some serious reading on Frontosa care so he really knows what he's getting into - try Cichlid-forum.com and Frontosa.com to start.

-Molly
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i thought they were peaceful also, and less agressive. i have been told that add more to weaken the aggression. a few days ago my frontosa ate around 14 cardnials/neons. bad stocking by me. but they are large african cichlids, so can't blame them.

As LM said, their natural diet is small fish. It is their instinct to chase small fish and gobble them if they can catch them. They are a peaceful fish, they just wont say no to a yummy live dinner. Do some reading at the sites suggested.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Yeah i'll tell him however! regarding the ph level, they were bought from a guy that sells fish from his backyard! (quite a nice setup i might ad) and he has every single tank that he has rewgardless with what fish he has at neutral! Cause he gets them so small he gets them used to the lower ph i suppose, so there is no worries at all with the ph...I have a few frontosa's and htey live at neutral as well.....and i have tetras with mine and there fine =/

mmm, tetras and Fronts are a random mix not natural

I noticed that you said that he bought it 8 months ago and it is only 5cms It should be double that by now. Fronts are known to be slow growers but they should do 2.5cms a month. What size tank is this. If its anything less than a 125g then the tanks probably too small.

Ok, just my 2 cents worth here, but, as someone who breeds both tetras and frontosa ,smack! Noone who knows anything at all about these 2 species would ever consider mixing them. Water parameters aside, thats like keeping a bulldog with a kitten. Front's, tho peacefull, are still a predatory fish. Tetras while playfull are still the prey. As for some people being able to keep these fish together with no mishaps, believe me, this is the exception not the rule. As with most fish, if raised together since juv stage they will tollerate each other, however, once the status quo is changed all bets are off.
As for the post that said a local breeder kept his fish in 7.0 tanks no matter the species. Those are racked tanks on central filtration I am sure. Those tanks aren't used to raise, breed, or dispplay the fish. They are simply used as a temporary holding area until the fish can be sold. I myself use the same practice, breed in species specific tanks, then move the fry to a more easily maintained tank until it is moved. I do it just a little bit different tho, rather than having 1 size fits all, I have near fits on conditions in 3 seperate filtration banks. 1 bank is for the fish who prefer acidic water, tetras for example. This rack is maintained at a pH of 6.8, the second rack is for fish who prefer slightly higher ph levels, 7.4 in this bank. The last rack is for the rift species who like it rough, 8.2 in that rack. By having 3 banks I can keep a wider variety of fish, and keep them healthy enough to ensure their survival.
I kinda wandered off topic there, sorry bout that. Anyway, don't feed your fish by mistake! A little research goes a long way.