top dwellers for tang setup

[fronty_man]

Hey everyone

im new on this forum but have been keeping fish for about 7 years now

Im setting up my 8*2*3 for my fronts and im after some top dwellers for the tank as its 3 ft high

I was think of some leptosoma jumbo kigoma i was just wondering if neone knew where i could pick some up from im in Qld but dont mind paying postage if in another state...

ive had some leptosoma karilani previously but i think they got munched up by the fronts as they really were too small to go in with them but had no other tank for them this was only a 5*2*3....i really like the look of leptosoma and hopefully being the jumbo species they would be ok to go in with my fronts....

i was thinking also of tropheus but after doing abit of resarch on them i dont think i will go with them as i feed my fronts mostly brine...

if anyone has ne other suggestions they would be muchly appreciated

ne feedback would be appreciated cheers

[Priscacara]

While not necessarily a top dweller, Cyrtocara moorii (blue dolphin) might be good as your fill in. Mine hang out mid to upper.

[killiguy]

Most of the top dwelling Tanganykan cichlids are natural food for frontis(esp Cyps)You could try Ophthalmotilapia,although if your frontis get to 10-12 inches(which they probably will in your large tank) then they may also be eaten(an expensive snack)

Another possibility would be large rainbows esp M trifasciata (my Wiepa male is 15 cm)G incisus,M parkinsoni etc(the biggest rainbow M vanheurni,at 20 cm isnt in Australia).At least these are not as expensive a snack

[cpfc]

Welcome on board Fronty Man.

There was a good discussion on Tropheous and feeding here. It may alleviate some of your fears.

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=47496

[dobbin4]

Lep's would go great in a tank that size.Depends on size of fronts, E/ yellow add a colour change.

Try a WTB for some fish

[fronty_man]

Hey guys cheers for all the optiongs but i wanna keep this tank stritcly tang only.

Me fronties are all different sizes big there is prolly about 18 of them ranging from 8cm to 25cm

as for a colour change im thinking i will get another coloony of leleupi to go in ive kept them once before and just loved to watch them..

I still would love to get some tropheus but i dont think i want to be worrying about whehter they would be getting bloat or not mainly because of the diet for the fronts..

anyway guys keep the suggestions coming

i will post pics of my project tank shortly

fronty_man

[CThompson]

To echo what has been said, Cyprichromis are out with frontosa in the tank. Even with a three foot high tank this is but the depth of a skin on water compared to the depth of Lake Tanganyika, not to mention the fronts can hunt at night when the Cyps are asleep are just as likely to be on the bottom of the tank as anywhere else.

I'm not sure what you are feeding the frontosa, is it brine shrimp? I assume frozen.

Feeding nothing (as in exclusively) but brine shrimp if this is what you are doing (?) is not a good diet for them.

Tropheus are susceptible to bloat but if you feed them NLS, to the whole tank, frontosa as well, with the occasional brine shrimp as a treat, they will be fine from a diet angle.

I am not sure if the frontosa will compete with the activity of the tropheus though, perhaps others can add their opinion on this. I keep a Tang community and calvus, a slow ambush type predator (like frontosa) compete easily with the tropheus so I expect the frontosa would also.

To aid the frontosa, the NLS large fish formula could be mixed in with smaller pellet sized NLS suitable for the smaller frontosa and Tropheus. I feed my big Tang tank with NLS mixed this way, spooning the different sized pellets into a small container then pouring this into tank.