Frontosa cichlid

Cyphotilapia frontosa, the frontosa cichlid, is a large, deep-bodied cichlid in the family Cichlidae, endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. It is pale blue-white to grey with bold vertical black bars, and mature males develop a prominent fatty nuchal hump on the forehead. It is a slow-moving, relatively peaceful predator by cichlid standards, best kept in a colony with one male and several females. It will eat small fish but coexists calmly with tankmates too large to swallow. It requires a large, tall aquarium with hard, alkaline water reflecting its deep-lake origins, plus rockwork and open sand. A carnivore, it should be fed quality pellets, mysis, and other meaty foods, avoiding fatty mammalian meats. It is a mouthbrooding species in which the female incubates eggs and fry in her mouth. Frontosa are long-lived and grow slowly, rewarding patient keepers.