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I am thinking of getting a pair of Frontosas. They are about 5-7" total length. My synos are smaller. I have 3x3" cuckoos, 2x4"featherfins, 2x4" ocelifers, 2x1.5" upside down cats, 1x4" decorus.

I really want other fish to be swmming at the mid level. At the moment the cuckoos are crazy. They swim about the tank in plain view. They are always in the open. What will happen if I put these with the Frontosas? Will my cats be fish bait?

Thanks,

Regards,
Mike D.

HH, any ideas? I'm not really an expert with cichlids. So I really need the help. I don't want to jeopardize the cats. Thanks.

Regards,
Mike D.

Mike

How large is your tank?

Mark

75 gallons

Regards,
Mike D.

Keeping Synos wit Frontosa is no a problem. I do beleive the size of your tank is. Frontosa grow to well over a foot in length and I think the 75gal is too small. A six foot tank would be much better.

Mark

I don't think you should worry about my tank size. Honestly. They have large places to go to, believe me. Plus, sorry but tank size wasn't my question.

I understand that it takes quite some time for the frontosa to grow. If they grow too big they have a place to go to in my farm. I just like to know if my cats will be okay if they are smaller than the frontosa.

Thanks for the initial answer.

Regards,
Mike D.

Frontosas are preditory they feed on shell dwellers and dwarf c****ds in the wild. At 1.5" your upside downs would be top on the menu. You may get away with it for a few months while the fish grows up a bit but I really wouldn't risk it. There are loads of other nice fish you could get to fill the gap. Some of the Haps from lake malawi are stunning but again be careful to get ones that eat small inverts not fish.

The other thing to remember is that you seem to be mixing hard water fish with soft water fish. If your water is some where in between then you should be ok but to get the best out of these fish you would need to set up 2 separate systems. If you're fish are happy and thriving I wouldn't worry to much about it as some fish don't seem to care what they end up in but some of the c****ds are more sensitive.

IF the frontosa's eat a tiny Syno, you'll have a disaster, because you don't just loose a catfish....
that Syno will get stuck; blocked spines and all; and both fish die.

fortunately this is highly unlikely! Frontosa's do eat fish, that's true, but they're "twilight-hunters" that specialize on sleeping fish.
it's easy to see how slow, lumbering Frontosa will never be able to catch nimble lightningfast Cyprichromis or Xenotilapia (they eat about 80-90% Cyps). those fish get really torpid at night, and Frontosa just has to shovel 'em up from the bottom.

Shellies are rarely eaten, unless those are dumb enough to stay outside on the sand (wich they will do when they have lost the shell to territorial conflicts; surplus males for example).

Synodontis is up & running when frontosa is on the prowl!

BUT I'll agree with former posts about the 75G; UNSUITED for frontosa's, period.
even the smaller gibberosa (Zaire Blue and Zambia Blue) still gets about 7-9"; and needs to be kept groupwise.