It was around 2010 when I decided I wanted to move away from keeping Malawi fish and go in to Tanganyika fish. I kept Burundi Frontosa and built up a group of around 13 over a year and happily bred them in my 7 foot tank. I decided to investigate moving in to the king of Frontosas and get some Wild Caught Zaire Blue Frontosa.
Being a regular on Aquarist Classifieds I often came across the self proclaimed “private hobbiest”, Roger Miles who states that he imports all of his fish, only does Zaire Blue’s and is the only one in the UK to do so.
I gave Roger a call and after disclosing that i wanted to buy 6-8 Zaire Blue Moba Wild Caught from him and a half an hour or so chat (interview) i came off the phone with a guilty, annoyed and disgruntled feeling. To cut a long story short, i was made to feel that I didn’t know what i was doing with regards to keeping tropical fish and that Roger did not want to sell them to me as i was not retired or old enough to buy fish from him.
At approximately £125 per fish, this is not an investment I took lightly and was something I had carefully considered for months prior to making the call to enquire further.
When picking up some Tropheus recently the guy I bought them from said that Roger Miles arranged to pick up some Frontosa fish from him under a different name so I would air on the side of caution regarding the source of where Roger Miles gets his fish from and them being 100% imported directly from lake Tanganyika.
I would love to be able to write a glowing review and be sat here now with a tank full of wild caught Zaire Blue Frontosa, this is not the case though.
This review may sound like a dig at Roger and a little unfair, I am simply stating the facts and what I have heard from others.
I would advise contacting Roger Miles to buy your Frontosa as I have heard some good stories about him and his fish, it could be that we just had a clash of personalities and maybe I don’t fit the bill for the customers he wants to sell to. You can view the fish sold by Roger Miles by appointment only in his fish house based in north London.
thats just wrong, any1 can keep fronts, ive been in the hobby over 20yrs and fronts r almost impossible to kill so even a newbie with some experience can handle them.. i cant believe u were denied 4 reasons stated above.. i keep all sorts of zaires and succesfully breed them.. i dont know why u had a hard time getting them from this person.. i can und his end of the passion or experience to keep them alive but if u have an addiquate sized tank and filtration, and good food, i cant c why u couldnt get them…..
thats just wrong, any1 can keep fronts, ive been in the hobby over 20yrs and fronts r almost impossible to kill so even a newbie with some experience can handle them.. i cant believe u were denied 4 reasons stated above.. i keep all sorts of zaires and succesfully breed them.. i dont know why u had a hard time getting them from this person.. i can und his end of the passion or experience to keep them alive but if u have an addiquate sized tank and filtration, and good food, i cant c why u couldnt get them…..