Flowerhorn?

Question

1. Do you have tips in buying a nice and healthy flowerhorn?
2. How do you keep, feed, and breed flowerhorns? Is it okay for one to have tankmates?
3. What's the average life span and adult size of flowerhorns?

Answer 1

What you should think about when you purchase Flowerhorn cichlids depends on why you're buying the cichlids and how large your budget is. Young Flowerhorn cichlids are much cheaper then adult fishes but there is no way to know what colour patterns the fish will display as an adult. An adult fish on the other hand is more expensive, much more expansive if it is a premium specimen, but you know what you get.The same rules apply to buy a healthy cichlid apply to buy a healthy Flowerhorn. Make sure that the fishes look healthy, and don't look stressed in the holding aquarium before you buy it. You can also make sure that the fish eats. Flowerhorn are very good eaters so if they don't eat there are a large risk that the fish in question is sick.

Aquarium setup

Flowerhorn cichlids need large aquariums due to their large size and aggressive temperament. They should be kept alone or with other large aggressive cichlids from the same area. The aquarium should be decorated so that there are natural territorial borders present. There is no need to keep plants in the aquarium and the Flowerhorn cichlids might destroy them if you try to keep plants with them. Flowerhorn cichlids are very hardy fish and can tolerate most water conditions but prefer a pH level that is neutral to slightly basic and a high water temperature around 28º C.

Feeding Flowerhorns

Flowerhorn cichlids can be kept on a diet consisting of pellets. Their diet should however preferable be more varied. The diet can be varied by feeding your Flowerhorn cichlids shrimps, crab and worms. Feed your Flowerhorn cichlids two to three times a day. It is very hard to over feed Flowerhorn cichlids and overfeeding is not anything you need to worry about.

Breeding Flowerhorn cichlids.

It is possible to breed Flowerhorn cichlids in aquarium tanks in the same way you would breed Trimacs and other large South American cichlids. You should however not expect to get Flowerhorn cichlids of the same quality as the parents. Soma may be, but that is not guarantee. It takes knowledge about the different strains and line breeding to create quality Flowerhorn fish. If you decide to try and breed Flowerhorn you should use a large aquarium and keep a watchful eye on the pair so that the fishes don't kill each other. They guard their eggs and fry. The fry are easy to raise.

Answer 2

When you buy any fish, make sure you get it from a reputable place that keeps quality stock and clean conditions. Best is to find a breeder and skip retail altogether, but that's not always easy.

Flowerhorns are easy to keep, they'll eat just about any prepared, frozen, and live fish food you can throw at them. They are just about the most aggressive aquarium fish you can get and they will not do well with any tankmates - they will kill anything you try, including another flowerhorn. If you want to breed them go talk to a breeder - you need a very large partitioned tank (120 gallons for a pair), a male and female adult, and a growout tank.

They live to about 10 years and reach about 12", and could get a little larger.

Answer 3

Common name:
Flower Horn Fish or Hua Luo Han

Distribution
None, not a natural occurring species. Parent stock from South America

General Body Form:
As was stated in some reports, the Flower Horn Fish is also known as a "mutated" breed of fish. Rest assured that this is just a claim. We would like to stress that the Flower Horn Fish has gone through a lot of selective cross breeding in order to have the best characteristics of the respective strains of the Cichlid fish family. For instance, most breeders are striving to produce Flower Horn with bigger nuchal hump on the forehead, better coloration, bolder black marking on the body (which at times resembles Chinese characters), more elegant fins, and wider body. No chemicals, or bio-genetic engineering have been incorporated to improve on the traits / characteristics of the Flower Horn. Thus, the claim that this is a mutated fish is unfounded. Chinese call the flower horn cichlid "Hua Luo Han".

Coloration:
Coloration can vary from the native locale and the age of the fish. All are stunning, bright and can command a high price

Maintenance:
This fish is very hardy, and can endure water conditions that are not suitable for most breeds of aquarium fish. This is also part of the reason why the Flower Horn is well received by many tropical fish hobbyists. But the ideal pH level in the water should be around pH 7 to pH 7.8 with water temperature ranging between 27 °C to 32°C. For temperate / colder climate regions, just need a conventional water heater. With regards to aquarium size, try to have at least 4 feet (length) by 2 feet (width) aquarium. The tank should be decorated in typical Cichlid fashion, providing open swimming areas as well as caves and driftwood for hiding. Plastic plants are best as they will dig. They are very aggressive in nature. The fish lives for about 10-15 years.

Coexisting with other fish is not advisable, especially smaller fish. Some parties have claimed that we can "play" with the Flower Horn. In actual fact, Flower Horn is actually trying to get rid of the "intruder" (be it a stick or a person's hand). Therefore, it is advisable that we keep our hands to ourselves as the fish has quite a nasty bite depending on the size of the fish.

Biotope:
None

Answer 4

The primary cichlid used to create Flowerhorns is the Trimac. Your fish resembles mostly Trimac, so my guess would be that it is a low grade flowerhorn. In the process of breeding FH's some of the offspring are brilliantly colored and some are somewhat dull. While your fish is young and could still peel, I would say you most likely have the latter - a low grade flowerhorn.

Answer 5

Www.flower Horn Fish

Answer 6

www.flowerfish.com

lots of good info