Frontosa cichlid

Cyphotilapia frontosa

Also known as Humphead Cichlid

FreshwaterFish

Frontosa cichlid (Cyphotilapia frontosa) — 5snake5 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–81°F (23–27°C)
pH: 7.8–9.0
Adult size: 12.6 in (32 cm)
Minimum tank: 227 gal (860 L)
Temperament: Aggressive
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: Hard
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Lake Tanganyika
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

This is a colony fish, calmer than many big cichlids but still capable of aggression, so plan for a very large tank, 860 liters or more. They sit in the middle and lower water and are predators that ambush smaller fish in the wild, so do not house them with anything small enough to swallow. Feed quality cichlid pellets plus frozen shrimp or krill, and avoid feeder fish. Hard, alkaline water is essential.

In the wild

Frontosa live in the deep, rocky zones of Lake Tanganyika, often between 20 and 50 meters down. Down there the water is clear, cool, hard, and very alkaline. That is a tall order for a tank: you need hard water with a high pH, steady temperatures in the mid 20s C, and a lot of rock and cave structure. They are big, slow fish, so swimming room matters as much as the rockwork.

Good to know

Cyphotilapia frontosa is a large cichlid in the family Cichlidae, reaching around 32 cm. Adults develop the well-known nuchal hump on the forehead, which grows more pronounced with age. It is a maternal mouthbrooder and a slow grower, and breeding is on the difficult end. Conservation status is reasonably stable, though it faces pressure from collection and habitat change.

Did you know

Frontosa are long-lived for an aquarium fish and can pass 20 years with good care. That changes how you should think about them: buying one is closer to a two-decade commitment than a casual purchase, and breeders often track individual fish and bloodlines for color and hump quality over many years.