Once you have chosen a particular race to keep, making sure they are unrelated, you can then start to select your fish. Frontosas breed in groups, therefore it is my opinion you should start with 8-10 fish. You can chose fewer fish if funds are restrictive, but with a bigger number there is a tendency of the Mexican stand-off syndrome so the weaker ones would not be bullied so quickly. The alpha male will quickly establish himself, so provide enough hideaways for the rest of the fish that want to get out of the way. Unless the beta male is badly treated do not remove him as his presence sometimes adds to the alpha male's prolific abilities. An ideal ratio is one alpha male, one beta male and six or more females. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the biggest and best looking male will always be the alpha male.

There seems to be some confusion as to what age a frontosa breeds, some say two years and some say four. I suspect that the ones that are on the side of more than two years must be the way the fish are raised, water quality and diet. For wild-caught fish, males start to breed at about 5", females at about 4", obviously the smaller the female the smaller the clutch of eggs.

Once the group have established themselves you may well find yourself with fewer fish, you may get away with adding one or two more "known" females, if you first re-arrange the tank but it is a matter of pure luck. You will have to make that decision as re-arranging the tank will surely postpone the breeding cycle that may be under way. Sexing frontosas is not easy there are many well documented ways that experts do it, even so everyone is caught out from time to time. Be prepared to take out any battered or distressed fish.

Frontosas are not fussy eaters, but bear in mind that with wild-caught fish they will be used to eating other live fish and crustaceans. They usually take frozen food once thawed. This may consist of lance fish, white bait, mussel, cockle, mysis shrimp, krill etc. they also like earthworms. Dried food will also be taken, but some experienced frontosa keepers prefer not to feed this to wild-caught frontosas as from time to time it has proved problematical.

When conditions are right the male will have chosen at least one female, he then goes into a corner of the tank, deposits his sperm then usually leaves. The female then goes over the said area drops her egg or eggs in the packet of sperm, swims backwards then picks up the eggs in her mouth then repeats this again till she has vented all her eggs. Sometimes the male may wander over and leave another packet of sperm. You will indeed be fortunate to witness this procedure.

As soon as you see the female "holding eggs" take her out, give her a smaller well filtered matured tank, on her own, with some receptacle for her to go into.

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