What and how to feed frontosa?

Now that I have my Ikola's in the tank, it appears that frontosa are really slow movers. I have some non-aggressive mbuna in there with them right now and when I go to feed them, the frontosa appear to be so slow at eating that the NLS pellets just falls to the bottom of the tank or the mbuna just eat it first. What and how do others feed their fronts?

I feed my fronts Nutrafin Max Spirulina Flakes and Omega One Super Veggie - kelp flakes. I sprinkle a little on top and sink a little too. It took my newest fronts about a week and a half to take to eating everything floating by... I have them in one half of my seperated 55G with about 15 small peacocks, which are about 1/4 the size of the fronts. I have never kept fronts with mbuna before.

mine eat whatever falls into the tank!! bugs, pellets, metal shavings, fingers, 3rd graders (they love the 3rd graders) ,my wifes rings! anything! theyre not picky at all!!
thats what i love about em:) and theyre really healthy lil jerks!

It depends what kind of Frontosa you are feeding. I don't have experiance with Ikolas, Mpimbwe are like puppy dogs (always even when fully grown.) They will go to the front glass to meet you and expect food (i hand feed my Mpimbwes). Mobas tend to run away from you and very carefully will the consume the food you are giveing them. I would try to scatter food in a hopes that they go after food when they get a chance. Also i have found that Any Mbuna with fronts is a bad idea (just my opinion). Also try feeding Frozen brine shrimp as it will melt in the tank and break apart and scatter in the tank which should give them some chances to chow down.

wow, super.. I AGREE...

Sometimes they are picky little bastards, I generally feed them live brine shrimp or frozen blood worms. They only eat one type of pellet from Ocean Nutrition, i have tried other stuff and they will not eat it, I would have to scoop it out with a net lol

Do not let your fish train you Train them to eat what you intend to feed them.
Make frozen food a treats as they can be expensive.

You can fast them for 5-7 days and I bet you that they'll eat what ever you drop in the tank, even 3rd graders. Ask Alk to send you some them might like it

alkomist wrote:

mine eat whatever falls into the tank!! bugs, pellets, metal shavings, fingers, 3rd graders (they love the 3rd graders) ,my wifes rings! anything! theyre not picky at all!!
thats what i love about em:) and theyre really healthy lil jerks!

khrister wrote:

Do not let your fish train you Train them to eat what you intend to feed them.
Make frozen food a treats as they can be expensive.

You can fast them for 5-7 days and I bet you that they'll eat what ever you drop in the tank, even 3rd graders. Ask Alk to send you some them might like it

alkomist wrote:

mine eat whatever falls into the tank!! bugs, pellets, metal shavings, fingers, 3rd graders (they love the 3rd graders) ,my wifes rings! anything! theyre not picky at all!!
thats what i love about em:) and theyre really healthy lil jerks!

yep!!
i can send you a 3 pack of em!!
vacume packed and sealed for freshness!! now if you recieve the package and you find that 1 of the 3rd graders has soiled himself or died from starvation ,throw it away and ill replace it for free:)
9.99$ +shippimg
also their will be a 3rd grader catching fee of 5$! those lil guys in better shape than i am, and its somtimes a pain to catch em!!
LMK!!!!! i also have 1st graders! i feed em to my clavus! they love em:)

It is been a while, but the fronts were finicky at first..I guess because of new environment, but they are eating NLS pellets like crazy now. I actually have them in there with a bunch of rustys, sp44, trews, and a couple of peacocks. They've been OK..actually, the mbuna and sp44 make them eat more because those cichlids are always swimming at the top; waiting for you to feed them.

I feed mine frozen krill. I get a Kilo shipped in dry ice and that last a long, long time. If you keep mbuna with yours, you are giving them an eventual death sentence. Even if they don't get bullied to death, they will get nipped and never get their full fins. I would separate by the time the mbuna get sexually mature. Even non aggressive mbuna are sometimes too aggressive for fronts. Maybe yellow labs could work for a while. What types of mbuna are you keeping with them?

Also, mbuna and fronts have different diets.

Good point musiccitycichlids!

I got Yellow labs with mine - not sure if its gona work out long term. The tank is new and the Labs are young! I feed mine NLS and have gave them a little Frozen Blood Worm as well. Right now I have 2 WC Moba but I will be adding several more F1 Moba in a week or so. The Moba are stow to come out but seems like when they realize there getting fed they come and get it.

you will find when you will have the moba for a while, that you can almost hand feed them on the water. They will get very tame, if you feed slow and they really get used to you. I almost have your largest one, eating out of my hands when i give them a worm, lol

NICE! What do you feed them other than Pellets? Meal worms?

99% Nls 3mm sometimes sm earthworms from walmart, and sometime frozen brine/bloodworms...

Gotcha - different question but any problems keeping Clown Loatch's with fronts? Clown are verry active!

i've seen people keep clown loaches with fronts, shouldn't be a problem. Synodontis catfish also makes a good addition as a bottom dweller.

Thanks Banker - I think My wife will love the colot of the clowns! I know I do