Original description: The one who named Cyphotilapia frontosa was Boulenger, who in 1906 gave it the name Paratilapia frontosa. But that family name was in 1920 changed to Cyphotilapia. The name: Cypho (greek) means "hump." Tilapia means fish in the language spoken in the area around Lake Ngami in Africa. Frontosa (latin) means "with big forehead." Synonyms: At first C.frontosa was called Paratilapia frontosa by Boulenger in 1906, but then it was changed to Pelmatochromis frontosus in 1915 Finally in 1920 Reagen gave Cyphotilapia frontosa its present name. The real name and the name that is used by aquarist all over the world is Cyphotilapia frontosa. The genus: The genus Cyphotilapia has only one member, the frontosa. But it has been suggested that the two known forms (6-striped and 7-striped) are two unlike but closely related species. Several different local variants are known, the sixstriped variant, which is often is held in aquarium, comes from the coastal areas of Burundi. It has five stripes on the body and one on the head. The sevenstriped variant from Kigoma has six stripes on the body, a black eyespot, and a yellowish tone one against the back. The variant from Zambia has six stripes on the body and one wide stripe across its nostril. There is also a fourth variant, which is found near Tembwe in Zaire. It looks like the six-striped, but the stripes do not go all the way down to the belly. A fifth and last (up to now) have been found near Kilipi, Tanzania, and Konings describes it as a crossing between the Kigoma and Zambia variants. Its caracteristics are black gill-lids and "nosestripe" Spread: Endemic in Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. Environment: C.frontosa lives in the so-called cliffzone in depths from 10 to 70 meters. They live in large groups (to call it a shoal would be inaccurate when every individual moves independently of each other) in the rocky environment where cliffs are stacked on eachother. The rocks are almost completely free from sediment. Other species in this biotope are a.o Tropheus moori, Neolamprologus brichardi and many species from the Petrochromis genus. But the species that are typical for this zone generally live on a deeper level. Some of them are: Neolamprologus buescheri, Paracyprichromis nigripinnis, Cyprichromis leptosoma, Asprotilapia leptura and of course Cyphotilapia frontosa. Feeding habits: C.frontosa is not a pursue hunter. It is too slow for that and definitely not an ambush hunter. Tt is one of the most conspicuous fishes in its environment. There have been theories from observations in aquariums and from the lake that C.frontosa is active mostly during periods with damp light intensity. This matches well with the fact that its main food, species from the Cyprichromis genus, Which during the day swims in large shoals in shallower water than C.frontosa, during the dusk seeks shelter in deeper water. C.frontosa probably takes them during the night or at dawn while they still are idle. That C. frontosa would live on carcuse is not likely since dead fishes are very unusual in the first 60 meters of the cliffzone. Observations of the containings from stomachs of C.frontosa (especially young) suggests that they also feed on clamps and shrimps. Size: The male can be up to 30-35 cm in natural conditions, females smaller. If you breed them regulary the difference between the sexes grows larger, partly due to the fact that the females have to produce eggs but also because they do not eat during the period when they brood. Description: The body is rather high. Both sexes, especially the male, have a big hump on the forehead which grows larger with age. Coloring: C.frontosa has a white body with 5 or 6 vertical black stripes on the sides, and a black stripe also goes through the eye. The fins are often bluish with individual variation. In some variants you can sometimes see a little yellow or red on the backfin. Sex differences: Breeded males tend to grow bigger than females from the same litter. This depends on the fact that is described in the size-chapter. Young males tend to be bigger than females, but the difference is not always easy to see. Adult males have a big hump on the forehead that is formed from dorsal muscles. The hump is smaller on females and might have an important roll as a sexual recognition signal. Males usually has more outdrawn back, anal and belly fins. In one variant the black stripe that passes across the hump is scattered at the male. The spawning: A territorial behavior of C.frontosa has not been observed in the lake. The spawning occurs wherever is suitable. In aquarium, the spawning can occur in different places from time to time, but a female always lays all her eggs in the same place every single spawn. The spawn site is a little pit in the sand between some rocks, an actual foreplay does not exist. The male starts to move over the pit and releases his sperm in it, then he redraws. Then the female appears and starts laying one egg at a time in the pit. Then she moves backward and picks up an egg in her mouth. This procedure is repeated a few times before the male returns and fills the pit with sperm again. The egglaying procedure can take several minutes but the male sperm seems to be capable of fertilising the eggs for several minutes after the release. The number of eggs which have a size of 6-7 millimeters, are between 50-100. The number of released fry is however much smaller. The female broods for 30-35 days before she releases the fry (unlike to the mouthbrooders of Lake Malawi that release their fry in shallow oxygene rich waters), the fry from C. frontosa are abandoned immediately after they are released, and are found at 50 meters depth, where they seek protection in caves and clefts. Interesting facts: C. frontosa is a good fish to eat and is caught in large amounts with hook and line by the native fishermen. Since C.frontosa live at such depths and are so big, it is difficult to catch large amounts and get them to the surface alive (an advantage if they are exported to be kept in aquarium). The ones that are captured must go through a decopression process before they can be brought up to the surface. (meaning, they must be brougth up extremely slowly allowing them to adapt to the decreasing pressure)