ok you african keepers, suggestions needed (I reserve the right not to take them though....lol)

So I recently traded for a beautiful breeding colony(5) of frontosas ranging from 4.5 inches to 7 or 8 inches. They have been in the tank for almost a week now, and are still extremely shy.  I have read that they tend to be more nocturnal, but I have a 5 inch burundi that is out and swimming all of the time.  I really don't want to have to add dithers to  the tank to prove to them that it is safe...... but I will if i have to.  Is there a species of fish i could add to the tank (top to middle swimmers) that would bring these beauties out of hiding?  or does anyone out there have any suggestions besides give it time.  maybe it's just that the burundi have a different personality than the kigoma fronts.....(i did add the burundi yesterday to help them come out more, and he is out swimming without them)

i will post some pictures / videos of them when i get them out of hiding!

I like yellow labs. They are pretty active. Also, if you have high light on them, tone it down for a while and see if that helps.

oh, i do have my led lights on them, i will disconnect one of their light strips.  adding some yellow fish would probably make their dorsal fins pop, i will think about that if i decide to add some fish(leaning towards no)..... i will try to light trick right now. thanks for the suggestion, Ron!  

also, thanks bassetman for the sweet fish

I have heard that Fronts can be very skittish, and hide a lot. The only thing that has worked for me on skittish fish, is a community of a few other species.

They seem to like less light now rocking just one color max 48 strip.... Thanks Ron. I will have to find/ research something that will get along with.  I really like the shell dwellers though I think they would get eaten

Less means more. I have the dimmest LEDs on my tanks for that reason, freshwater fish prefer less light.

lower light should work out okay. the only thing is gonna be mixing species with mbuna means you have to be careful on the diet. fronts as i understand it are mostly predators and as such need more protein then most mbuna can handle. NLS does a great job of covering all your bases. on a side note i have some yellow labs growing out atm, also looking into dropping my acei breeders as well. their bigger size may be just what you need long term with the fronts. anyways GL in your choices

yes, they have come out of hiding now with the lower light..... but a new problem has risen up, there are a couple of them that are now biting the tails of the others. looks like i may have to disperse their aggression. They went from being completely docile to punk brawlers. they are currently on NLS, with some frozen bloodworms as treats(they got them twice so far, and prefer them more haha). I added a little melafix to help with the ripped up tails.

anthrax, what are you asking for them? i will have to think about them, because they are from different lakes right?

for the acei i think somewhere around the 50$ range would be nice. they breed like no other and it would offer plenty of tasty little snacks for the fronts. the labs im thinking 3$ a pop but theyre way to small long term to trust with fronts imo. the acei max out around 6'' and ive had dominate male labs max at 3-4'' and 4 is pushing it. the acei tend to pack up and play chase the girls and that may help provide enough distraction for the fronts to stay on guard.

i would not recommend mixing mbuna with fronts. they will nip their fins and bully them. if you want fronts to breed they also have to be the dominant fish in the tank........ not likely if mbuna are present. altolamprologus calvus and comps are good tank mates for fronts. they have a similar diet and disposition. clown loaches actually do great with fronts too provided they are big enough not to end up on the menu. hope this helps.

i only reccomended the acei as dithers because theyre large enough to take a little bruising and they stay pretty well occupied trying to follow females.

I heard they like the lights minimal lighting

Ill just watch them for a week before I make my decision..... Maybe they are just establishing a pecking order with the new tank and all

They are probably right about the Mbuna diet vs. Font diet. The clown loaches did really well in with my Mbunas. Finally got rid of the Mbuna, but still have the loaches + more of them now. I have a school of 14 now in a tank with some rainbows. I love the loaches...!

I had frontosa for many yrs, my adult mbunas did well with my frontosas. I just make sure the mbunas are not larger than my frontosa, and second, I'd keep the mbuna fry and juvies away from larger fronts.

Frontosa prefer ph of 8.2-8.6. Loaches handles lower ph in the 7 range, however I had loaches too and did fine, except they could go after the loose cichlid fry in the tank.

My F1 Kigomas are docile as hell, in fact now have 3 nearly full grown guppies as tankmates cuz they nevate them as feeders. my WC Samazis however will chase and devour anything they can catch but will eat from hands...LOVE fronts. Buddy in NJ is growing out 14 F1 Tembwe fry for shipping in late Sept. Will make 4th 125 with fronts in it.

TFP