With a big tank to fill, and a childhood memory to satiate, Elliott Ball of The Fish Barn recalls his experiences with keeping Cyphotilapia.
ELLIOTT BALL Elliott is co-founder and owner of The Fish Barn, and is an avid fish collector and breeder.
FOR AS LONG as I can remember there has always been an aquarium in the household, and I have always found it fascinating. My father had a copy of Gina Sanford’s book
An illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aquarium Fish on the book shelf as well as a Herbert R Axelrod’s Mini Atlas which I spent many hours with my head buried in. At this young age, I used to love not just looking at the variety of different fish that had been photographed, but also loved learning about each species—notably, their compatibility with each other, and whether or not they would be suitable for my fish tank.
The one image that always really stood out was a rather majestic photograph of a large, adult male Cyphotilapia frontosa, a fish most commonly referred to simply as a ‘frontosa’. Evidently this fish was way beyond my juvenile abilities at the time, but it didn’t stop me from dreaming. The information provided back then suggested that they needed an aquarium upwards of at least 500L, that they grew to around 35cm total length (in some cases slightly more) and that they were primarily piscivorous—they’ll munch on any tank mates because they simply can.
Fast forwarding some years and losing many hairs upon my head, I now have a fantastic fish room with purpose-built tanks to fit my needs and species of fish that I wanted to keep. I initially had a large custom tank built for some freshwater barracuda of the Acestrorhynchus genus, but sadly that plan wasn’t viable and therefore had a 165x55x75cm aquarium gagging for something special. (Ed’s note: Elliott actually gave me the dimensions of 5ft5inx22inx30in for this, but it’s not the 1990s anymore so I converted it) Fortunately, I have a good friend who I spoke to who flirted with the idea of shipping in some wild frontosa—specifically the species Cyphotilapia giberberosa ‘Karema’. After much back and forth and setting side some pretty pennies, I ordered in the frontosa and a group of large Synodontis sp. ‘Crocodile Island’.
Who are Cyphotilapia?
Cyphotilapia is a genus of African Rift Valley cichlids, and the genus consists of two species: C. frontosa and C. gibberosa. (This is subject to some contest. Pending which scientific bodies you follow, there may only be one species—C. frontosa—
