Remarks: The six stripe frontosa, or the Burundi frontosa, is the “classic” frontosa. As indicated by their first common name, they have the typical six, vertical, black bands with their occurrence starting over the eye and ending at the base of the caudal fin. The front-most band runs from the bottom of the gill plate, over the eye, and all the way across their large nuchal hump. In the wild, they can be found at the northern-most point of Lake Tanganyika. While they do not get as blue as the more rare localities, the six stripe frontosa can be a great introduction to the species due to their availability and lower cost.

Frontosa are an extremely iconic and desirable Tanganyikan cichlid within the fish keeping hobby. Before they were commonly captive bred, it was very difficult to obtain one of these fish, let alone a healthy specimen, as they typically are found at great depths in the lake where little sunlight reaches. This meant that wild caught fish commonly got decompression sickness when being brought to the surface too quickly. At these depths, they hunt smaller, open-water fish species such as Cyprichromis and feed on algae growing on rocks when they wander to shallower sections.

Contrary to most large cichlids, frontosa are actually very social and travel in large schools of hundreds of individuals in the depths of Lake Tanganyika. They form a social hierarchy with more dominant males growing larger and developing a large nuchal hump on their head to impress females. Females and lesser dominant males also will get a nuchal hump as they grow, but nowhere near as large as a dominant male’s. There is great variation among the different localities and varieties of frontosa, but what is common amongst them is their beautiful white or silver bodies tinged with a striking blue color and adorned with nicely contrasting black markings. The differences in these black markings is typically a good way to to differentiate between them.

As there isn’t much structure for their fry to hide from predators in after they hatch, frontosa take mouth brooding to the next level. The female will actually keep the fry in her mouth until they are fully independent, unlike other mouth brooders who keep their fry outside their mouth a majority of the time once they are free swimming. To feed her young after they have absorbed their yolk sack, the female will seek out tiny foods to take into her mouth for the fry feed on, even carefully chewing larger foods to break it down for them. For this reason, feeding lots of small foods such as moina or baby brine shrimp can actually help trigger spawning in captive frontosa, even if the adults do not eat it.

These days, almost all frontosa in the hobby are captive bred and a bit hardier than their wild counterparts. However, they still require a proper set up and correct water parameters to live long, healthy, and happy lives. As they are an open water species, they need lots of swimming space with a minimum of 150 gallons for a single fish and 250 gallons or more for a pair or small group. Frontosa, while being omnivores, react poorly to animal meat as they can’t digest it properly so their protein should come from fish or invertebrate based foods. Vegetable/algae based foods are also necessary to promote healthy digestion. All foods fed to frontosa should be of the sinking variety as their bodies will not be able to expel any swallowed air when trying to eat floating foods.

Frontosa are known as gentle giants, typically being docile with fish that do not look like them and are not small enough to swallow, except when spawning during which they can be territorial. They actually can be rather shy and timid so they should not be housed with aggressive species like mbunas, haps, peacocks, or Central American cichlids as they are very likely to be bullied despite their size. Frontosa also grow very slowly so it is important to make sure their tank mates do not outgrow them. It will help these fish feel comfortable if lighting is dim as bright lights stress them out. Due to their size, dietary requirements, and intolerance for poor water quality, frontosa are not recommended as beginner fish. However, if the more experienced keeper provides these incredible fish with the right conditions, they can be rewarded with a very personable, elegant, showstopper of an addition to their aquarium.