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the problem: in the past couple of days, i have had two different frontosa acting strangely. One has stopped but one has continued, they swim towards the bottom of the tank like they are swimming through a strong current.
i am a beginner fish own with some previous experience with gold fish. and am new to breeding, i intend on breeding auratus and frontosa, if you have any pointers please be sure to let me know. the fish that is acting up, seems okay maybe a very full stomach but it still has all its colors and what not, not disease as far as i can see.

tank stock:
2 auratus, male and female, breeding, 4 inches, released first spawn 3 days ago, fry still in the tank.
5 frontosa, unknown, 2-4 months old, 1-1.5 inches, intending on breeding.
1 zebra cichlid, got him from a mixed african tank, 2 inches, not sure about the name see bottom of the post.

water properties:
ph: ranges 7.7 - 8.0
temp: ranges 75-78 ferrienthet <-- cant spell
nitrate, nitrite, ammonia : are all unknown but i can find out within the next couple of days if needed.

tank size: 25 gal 24x12x16 length x thickness x height (am looking to upgrade the size of my tank but i am moving a long distance away very soon, so i am gonna wait and get a big one.)
filtration: whisper 30-60
aeration: jetstream 3500, and bubbler plate.
food: i feed all the fish kikari cichlid large pellets, and omega one cichlid flakes.

water additives, the only thing i really add to the water is Cycle, which controls ammonia, and nitrate levels, and a bunch of other stuff, i use it weekly 3 capfulls or 30 ml.

has black vertical strips, metallic blue colouring, yellow spots on the anal fin. thay said he gets about 4 inches long. here is a fish that he looks like but it isn't actually him:
<-- special thanks to google

here is the frontosa that is "sick", this photo was taken just:
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p252/renegade545/DSC00913.jpg

Renegade545,
king of the frontosa

I do not have an answer, but a suggestion. In my experience, the auratus are very very much more agressive than frontosas. I have kept many cichlids, and for their size the male auratus is a beastly creature with a nasty attitude. Don't get me wrong, I love htem and they are one of the first fish I ever bred, but they are going to be trouble for your smaller frontosas. Watch them for long periods of time, and be still so that you dont capture their attention. Take note of any serious agression. Especially in that size tank, the fronts are in danger.

And on another subject, you r female auratus will do much better if yuo add a couple other females in with her, so she does not get all the special attention from the male.

If you are going to breed the fronts, I really suggest a colony tank, with just them in it. They get huge and are not as boisterous as many other african cichlids. They will need a very large tank in the area of 150 gallons.

How long has the tank been set up? If under three months, I would do an immediate water change, as ammonia or nitrites would be likely.

Those small fronts probably cann not eat those large pellets, and that could lead to an ammonia build up if all the food is not being eaten.

Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are a msut if we are going to be of real help. Ammonia and nitrite being the most immediate concerns.

Are you using something to remove the chlorine???

One last thing, I have had much better luck with African cichlids if I only mantain species from one lake. Your Fronts are from Tanganyika, while the others are from lake Malawi.

thanks for the suggestion, i will do what i can to get the nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia levels, i have been watching the fish for about 2-3 hours everyday (<-- i have no job)
i see some tail nipping from both the male and female. but nothing over aggressive, i have continueously heard that these fish are dangerous but i have had absolutely no problems with them. i would very much like to do a water change and what not but there are baby auratus fry in the tank and i don't wish to kill them.

Renegade545,
king of the frontosa

UPDATE...
the front that was acting wierd has stopped the swimming vertically, but now is rest of the bottom still upright and very bloated, i decided to skip this mornings feedings as to minimize the bloating and hopefully allow him to get better, he has imprived some but is still at the bottom.

Renegade545,
king of the frontosa

Do a water change of I am afraid you will lose that frontosa. I found that when small frontosa are very sensative to water conditions. As you do not have access to what the water quality is like at the moment I would play safe and do a 25% change.
As a side note, frontosa do not pair up for breeding, they harem breed. You will also need a much bigger tank soon for the frontosa.

Good luck

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