Frontosa Collection points and Indentificaion.

[bitterman]

Below are some links and information I thought would be usefull for people looking into starting a frontosa Colony, or information on Frontosa they already have, for full information look at the links provided:

Cyphotilapia Identification  (This includes pic for adults and Fry very good reference)
http://www.cyphos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11854

Cyphotilapia Species / Variants / Collection Points
http://www.cyphos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8484

-------snip from above link-------------
The following list was compiled to help hobbyists better understand the different Cyphotilapia species, variants and collection points. The list was assembled to show that Cyphos from certain collection points could/should be grouped together as a variant or type do to similarities. This does not mean that fish from different collection points within a geographical variant are identical. Cyphos from different collection points should be kept in separate aquariums to avoid interbreeding. We hope this will be beneficial until we are able to complete and implement a detailed Species / Variant / Collection Point Map. If you have information you would like to contribute please send a message to an Advisor or Admin.
Note: Cyphotilapia Frontosa & Cyphotilapia Gibberosa are currently the only recognized scientific classifications.


Cyphotilapia Frontosa
Variant: Burundi (In the future, this variant will possibly be classified into a new species)
Collection Points:
Bulu Point
Burundi
Karilani
Kavala
Zaire North

Variant: Kigoma / 7 Stripe (In the future, this will likely be the only fish classified as Frontosa)
Collection Points:
Bangwe
Boulomboro
Kigoma

Cyphotilapia Gibberosa
Variant: Tanzania or Southern Tanzania
Collection Points:
Fulwe Rocks (Fulwe)
Ikola
Kantalamba
Kasanga
Kipili
Mabilibili
Mpimbwe
Molwe
Samazi / Bismark
Sibwesa
Tanzanite

Variant: Zambian
Collection Points:
Isanga
Chaitika
Nangu
Sumbu

Variant: Zaire (Congo, DR) or Southern Zaire (Congo, DR)
Collection Points:
Kalumba (Collected at Lupota?)
Kapampa
Kitumba
Moba (Collected at M'Toto)
Moliro
Tembwe

-------END snip from above link-------------

Reclassification
In 2003 Tetsumi Takahashi and Kazuhiro Nakayaa classified a second species of Cyphotilapia...Gibberosa, which is restricted to the southern half of the lake. It is likely that future species will be classied, beginning with a new northern species. Gibberosa differs from Frontosa in the following ways...
Tetsumi Takahashi's and Kazuhiro Nakayaa's Abstract (Details differences between Gibberosa and Frontosa)

Difference between Frontosa and Gibberosa
A second species of Cyphotilapia (Cichlidae) is described from Lake Tanganyika. The new species is clearly distinct from Cyphotilapia frontosa in having three scale rows between the upper and lower lateral lines at center of body (vs two rows in C. frontosa). Furthermore, a greater number of scales on the longitudinal line (34–36 vs 33–35), fewer outer teeth on the upper jaw (31–52 vs 39–62), higher body (43.3–51.2% SL vs 38.2–46.5%), longer predorsal (37.5–44.9% SL vs 37.1–42.7% SL), longer dorsal-fin base (57.1–64.6% SL vs 53.8–60.9% SL) and longer pectoral fin (36.0–47.2% SL vs 31.3–41.7%) also distinguish the former species. The distribution of the new species is restricted to the southern half of Lake Tanganyika, whereas C. frontosa is allopatrically distributed in the northern half of the lake.

[cory]

Awesome infor and pics! thank you