What age can frontosa spawn?

[DiscusnAfricans]

I have a small group of Mpimbwe frontosa (Gibberosa) with an alpha male that is maybe 5.5" at best. The others range from 3.5"-5". I had the preconception that frontosa take forever to reach sexual maturity and had to be close to full grown before able to spawn. I recently noticed one individual that appears to be holding and not eating. I originally thought it might be a sub male because the alpha male chased it around and I never observed any courting/spawning behavior. I was just wondering if anyone else had experiences with frontosa breeding at such a young age. I'm not necessarily concerned with clutch size because I wasn't expecting them to start breeding for a while, I was just surprised.

 

[longstocking]

Honestly... this is the one tang I think is ugly.

Yes I have some.... hubby likes them. Mine are young still... so I don't know and have never cared to find out lol....

maybe I should ... lol I have mobas.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

from what I understand it is 3-5years before they are mature. That is a large range but I have heard different from different people.

Check out Cyphos.com.... You will find your answer there.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Cool, thanks. I'll check it out. I figure mine have to be a year or less, which is why I was so surprised to see a holding female. I'm sure they won't produce the biggest clutch, but she's been holding for about a week now.

 

[F8LBITE]

ARTEE has bred Fronts for a long time, he would know.

 

[Jumbie]

ARTEE has bred Fronts for a long time, he would know.

Yeah I got my Fronts from Robert he’s a great guy and knows a lot about Fronts he could defiantly help you dude.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

She could be holding sand. 1 year is way young. I have heard of them holding sand or gravel thinking it was eggs. See if you can see in her Mouth. I do not think she is holding eggs at 1 year old.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I haven't been able to get a good look, so I'll try to pull her out and open her mouth in about a week to see whats going on. The age is a guess based on size, she's about 4-4.5". Unless they're slow growers and she's older than I think. I've had her about 3 months.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I found an interesting thread on cyphos.com about females "mock holding." Someone commented that it is fairly common for young females to hold pockets of air. I have seen some of the other fronts randomly release large air bubbles as well. Does anyone know why this phenomenon occurs? I don't see the advantage as they can not utilize the air for oxygen.

 

[McFluffrichromis]

Practice/instinct would be my opinion.

 

[Julie]

Why do you think she's only a year old when she's 4-4.5"? That sounds pretty big to me for that age.
Of course, they do grow that last inch or so pretty slowly, but still, I'd imagine she's closer to 2.5 to three years ime....

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

That was just an estimate, but I guess I was basing off my experience with peacocks/haps. They can usually grow to about 4" in about a year, but it sounds like fronts grow much slower. I've only been keeping them a short period of time, so I need to do more research. There's no "growth chart" because growth depends on so many factors (tank size, diet, water parameters, water changes). If she is as old as you think then the spawning would make sense. I think I just assumed that since they had only grown to less than half of their possible size they couldn't be near sexual maturity. The male is probably about 5.5", but I know they can get to be over 12". I'm planning to try and strip her in another week or so, so I'll have a better idea there. I need to ask for birth dates when I buy fish I'm not familiar with.

 

[Julie]

I need to ask for birth dates when I buy fish I'm not familiar with.

ROFLMAO!!!! birthcertificates, maybe??

We can't even get proper locations sometimes!!

but, yeah, an indication of the approximate age helps sometimes. My F1 mpimbwe female is about that same size... @3 years old. Some of my other wildcaught females are not much bigger... and are much older. I wouldn't be surprised if early breeding slows down their growth rate. I do know my smaller moba female seems to breed much more often than the larger one.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I wouldn't be surprised if early breeding slows down their growth rate. I do know my smaller moba female seems to breed much more often than the larger one.

Do you think it would be better to grow the male separate from the females? I'm not as much concerned about size as long as their health or longevity is not compromised. I'm just used to growing out juveniles together to prevent aggression when introducing adults, but as said before, I'm wet behind the ears when it comes to these guys.