BURUNDI 6 STRIPE FRONTOSA (CYPHOTILAPIA FRONTOSA “BURUNDI)

The six stripe frontosa, or the Burundi frontosa, is the “classic” frontosa. As indicated by their first common name, they have the typical six, vertical, black bands with their occurrence starting over the eye and ending at the base of the caudal fin. The front-most band runs from the bottom of the gill plate, over the eye, and all the way across their large nuchal hump. In the wild, they can be found at the northern-most point of Lake Tanganyika. While they do not get as blue as the more rare localities, the six stripe frontosa can be a great introduction to the species due to their availability and lower cost.

Frontosa are an extremely iconic and desirable Tanganyikan cichlid within the fish keeping hobby. Before they were commonly captive bred, it was very difficult to obtain one of these fish, let alone a healthy specimen, as they typically are found at great depths in the lake where little sunlight reaches. This meant that wild caught fish commonly got decompression sickness when being brought to the surface too quickly. At these depths, they hunt smaller, open-water fish species such as Cyprichromis and feed on algae growing on rocks when they wander to shallower sections.