Description: Cyphotilapia frontosa is one of the most popular
cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, and with good reason. This
species is outgoing and will eat out of the aquarist’s hand. It
is not as active or as aggressive as other Lake Tanganyika
cichlids. This large cichlid has blue vertical stripes and six
or seven darker blue-black bands. It has a nuchal/cephalic hump
on the forehead, which grows as the fish grows older, and it is
also a sign of sexual maturity. Their fins also grow with age.
With good care, your frontosa can live to about 25 years. The
best setup for the frontosa is a large colony aquarium (at least
125 gallons) with one male and three males. These are moderately
aggressive cichlids, and males may not tolerate each other.
Because the frontosa is a large fish, growing up to 15 inches,
it should not be in a community aquarium with smaller fish (all
tankmates should be larger than 3 inches). Decorate the aquarium
with rocks that create caves or clay pots where they can hide.
In the wild, the fro