My New 125 Gallon Frontosa Tank Setup Thread-Updated Pictures!

[Kelli]

Hence the reason I said I was planning to take the shellies out as the Fronts grew larger. The fronts are only 1" right now and at a year or so they will only be 3" and there mouths are still too small to eat a shellie. I will move the shellies into a 20 gallon later on.

Yes, I have been to Mike's house. His Burundis are beautiful as are his Mobas which are not breeding yet. I consider Mike to be one of my major fish mentors so I have a lot of respect for him and his opinions. I based most of my tank off of what I have seen at Mike's house. The ability to put blue dolphins, severums, loaches, and even angel fish in with Fronts very much excited me. I didn't realize in the beginning how many different fish you could put with Fronts. They seem to be amazing fish and I can't wait to raise mine up from 1". :)

[RonR.]

Kelli, after reading all these posts, I am pumped. I think a 125g is a good choice. I have a 180g running with 2 vintage ('88) 2217 eheims and do a 50% weekly water change. I have 10 wc mobas (1m/9f) and 1 F1 adult one-eyed moba male. They range from 5" all the way up to 12 1/2". I have 7 various type bristlenose plecos I got from TangoMike (thanks!) keeping my holey rock well maintained. I usually have 2-3 diy floating nurseries with anywhere from 20-80 F1 moba fry and 1-2 tumblers running inside the 180g at any one time so I run a pretty high load. I only keep 1 tank in my house so I have to make it count! LOL

I'm not sure if I read what your substrate was, but I prefer sand after using gravel for over 20 years. I also use 2 6080 Tunze streams that I have on an auto-timer. I have them positioned at the back corners at either end of the tank and have them set to come on for 15 minute cycles 4x daily (8am, 12noon, 5pm and 12midnite). It creates a mini-cyclone in my tank. I never have to siphon my sand. This also aids good water movement.

Consider running airstones. I run 2 large 3" airballs. This also creates good water movement for me.

I have kept a variety of fish with fronts including the blue dolphins, green and gold severums (I prefer the gold ones), clown loaches, botias, discus, aros, trophs so you can pretty much keep any fish together as long as you meet their water (temp, pH...) and diet requirements. I know I was stretching the limits when I kept discus with fronts or trophs with fronts. Like others here have said it's really up to you and what you like.

Since I only keep mobas I keep my water temp between 77-79 year round and my pH between 8.2-8.5. I also add the cichlid buffer recipe (epsom salt, baking soda and Instant Ocean). I use the recipe found over at the cichlid-forum in the library section.

I feed a combination of NLS Thera A, Dainichi Ultima, Dainichi Color FX and Dainichi Supreme 1x daily usually in the evening and I even skip a day or 2 during the week. I feed my newbie fry NLS Thera A in the smallest .5mm size 1x daily.

I've been keeping this same wc moba set-up since Jan '05 so I can't really comment on some of the other stuff. I have used Purigen in the past, UV filters and fluidized sandbed filters. I keep it pretty simple these days. Routinely maintaining whatever filter you decide to use is good and if you have 2, alternate cleaning them.

I use a submersible pump attached to a pvc setup I got at Jehmco. I attach my python to it and run it to my kitchen sink. I plug in the pump and it will suck 90g of water out in under 8 minutes. This gives me time to clean the tank sides and front. When I re-fill I hook the python up to my bathroom sink and fill her up. I add concentrated Prime (about 3 capfulls). I watch my Lifegard Big Temp digital thermometer to be sure the bathroom faucet water is not too cold or warm. If the water out of the cold side hits over 83 degrees which is common in the summer, I add a pitcherfull or 2 of ice cubes directly to the water to bring the temperature down.

Regarding lighting, I use 2 Marineland LED Double Bright 36" lights side-by-side over the top of my glass tops. I have them on auto-timers as well. I also have 2 sets of moonlights on a separate auto-timer. I like to see and enjoy my fish and I think they may like their routine. I think it's all about consistency. My light schedule is:

6am - 6:45am: moonlites
6:45am - 8am: LED's
12noon - 1pm: LED's
7pm - 10pm: LED's
10pm - 12:30am: moonlites

Some may disagree with some of my non-conventional methods of water changes, aeration, power stream filters and lighting, but they have worked well for me. I hope this works for you and others.

[Kelli]

I very much appreciate all of the comments. I have learned so much from you guys and continue to learn something new almost every day. RonR.: Thank you for adding so many details about your setup! It sounds like I should invest in a timer. That should help with the electricity bill too! I will keep you all updated on the process. Within the next week, I should be getting my Mikulas. :)

[mikeb144]

Hello everyone, I am back in the real world for a few weeks. There is not much I can add following Ron's post. One of the most important thing I can add it to get on a good feeding program and stick with it, and do not think they are starving to death when they react to you approaching the tank, IMO, this is the number one mistake new fish keeper make. That and water quality. Kelli, welcome to the Frontosa family. If there is anything I can do to help you enjoy your Frontosa more, just call.

[Geral]

Hey kelli u have updates of the mikulas
Wonder how is looking the tank?

[Kelli]

Update on the mikulas! They are doing great! I haven't lost any and they have really colored up and are eating like little pigs. I already had them eating out of my hand after the first day! :) I live out in the boonies and my local post office had never shipped fish before so they were über excited to see them in the box. I will try to post some new pictures sometime this week. I still do not have a light on the tank so the pics are a little dark. I was gone for a week and I was shocked at how much they grew in only one week! I also purchased a group of 5 cyps to put in the tank until the mikulas get larger. That will take years! I will move the cyps to my 75 as the fronts grow. But they are also doing great. A BIGGGGG thanks to Sunny for meeting me at La Porte to drop off fish and my fx5! I appreciate you sooooo much! it sure helps to be able to fly your own fish home.

[SunnyHouTX]

That's awesome Kelli.

Get on those lights asap

[Geral]

Can wait to see pictures

Sunnys always helping!! Great guy!

[Kelli]

Here is the only picture I can get to upload right now. I have noticed that the lighting makes a huge difference on the colors. This was one week after I got them. I do not have a light over them yet so all the pictures will be dark.

[Kelli]

It finally worked. Here are some updated pictures! I tried to get some pictures of the cyps but you couldn't see them in the photo. When I get the light on there, I will get some better ones. I have an FX5 on it right now and a HOB filter. I am currently working on my wet/dry. So far I have 19 F1 Mikula Frontosa fry and 5 F1 Cyprochromis Leptosoma adults in there. (I will remove the Cyps when the Fronts get larger). I'm still not finished with the canopy and the doors are waiting for new hinges but they are ready to go on.

Some of my Frontosa fry have lighter colored stripes than others. Here is an example of this.





Taken a couple weeks ago.



Aren't the colors beautiful!?!





The new scape. It has a 4 1/2 foot piece of driftwood in there that is too dark to see without a light.



You can see the driftwood a little better in this one.



Let me know what you think! Thanks!

[Ballinxalex]

Nice setup

[cu0ngsayz]

I was wondering what happen to this thread. Looks great!!!

[Kelli]

Here are some updated photos!


Here was my tank 1 week ago.



My fronts one month ago.



My male black bee cyp



My first cyp fry that didn't survive :(



My 4 month old Mikula fry



I finally finished the tank! I need to put the light on and I am completely finished!!!

[SunnyHouTX]

It's come together nicely. Would love to see it with lights on.

[mnemenoi]

We had a tough time with our black bee cyp fry, eventually moving them to another grow out tank they hsare with a shellie colony and finally have one that survived over a month. Not sure what exactly is affecting them, but they just seem to waste away. The one we have left (out of 3 batches and nearly 10 offspring) is now approaching 2" and is healthy and eating well. They might do better in a bit larger tank with more room and less ostentatious rockdwellers.