# Flower Horn (please read)



## audzter

What is a Flower Horn?
I have noticed that there is no one that is posting anything about flower horns, that’s why I decided to make this post to share to those young and old aqua fanatics that they all deserve to have this magnificent fish. To all who know what this fish is… its one of the fanciest fish you can get your hands on. It cost around 200 to 400 USD for a quality flower horn to be sold in the market. To those who don’t know, flower horn is one of the best fish for a display aquarium though it should not be in a community tank but its fascinating characteristics make it a very special fish. The fish has nice colors to choose from... Yellow, green, blue, red, etc. it has a sparkling combination of colors (shine) usually green or blue, the black markings on the body usually in a straight line is called character, best character figures are called “one liner”. As you can notice… the hump or kok on the head of the flower horn is huge, that’s how you determine how expensive the flower horn is, any ways the hump on the flower horn’s head is the signature body figure of the fish, and without it… the fish will not be called flower horn in the first place. Flower horns are also known for their aggressive actions, that’s why the fish have no companion in the tank. Growth is rapid if you feed well, its life span is 6 to 8 years, or even more if its been taken cared properly.









How to buy a quality Flower Horn?
There are many breeders selling flower horns, but you should know that the seller is selling you a quality (very nice breed) of flower horn don’t buy the ugly flower horns. Usually aquabid got many flower horns, here is the link http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwflowerhorn The colors of 5 inches below is still not that vibrant but some have all ready vibrant colors, at this size the flower horn is still young and they will bloom (colors are at maximum potential and colors are very vibrant) when they reach 6 inches and above, some are fast bloomers which are the best selection for young flower horn, but some are late bloomers. There are many types of flower horns to choose from ex. Kamfa, Thai-zz, blue face dragon etc. so please decide what breed of flower horn you are going to buy, here are some tips on buying a quality flower horn.
1. Get to know the breeder or supplier, in case the breeder will try to fool you to buy an ugly flower horn, you must see the fish, don’t just look at the pictures, you must see it before purchase.
2. Color must be vibrant and not pale, if the flower horn is red, look at how and where the redness of the flower horn is concentrated, if you don’t like the color, don’t force yourself to buy that flower horn, scout more breeders (2 to 5) and compare their breeds and choose which of them has the best color combination.
3. It should not have an illness, you should have eyes like an eagle, you can’t have a sick fish brought into your new display tank, you should see if the fish got a dust like particle in its body, pimples , stressed (usually if new arrival from other countries), lack of appetite or etc. If you noticed one of these signs or even worst, don’t buy the fish.
4. The fish should be aggressive, if its already 5 inches to 12 inches. How can you know its aggressive? Put your finger in front of the glass of the flower horn, and then see to it that the flower horn will look like biting your finger in the glass, you should buy an active flower horn so you can enjoy how special this fish is.
5. You should know if the fish is short body type or long body type, I prefer you buy the short body type because the hump on the flower horn is more expressed in its body structure, but it depends on your choice.
6. Last but not the least, the hump on the flower horns head must be visible, don’t buy flat heads, usually bad breeders or suppliers say this line “the parents of this flower horn have big humps on their heads, and I’m sure that this offspring will have a big hump on their head too “ say no to that, here’s the catch… every newly born batch of baby flower horn… only 30% of the batch will get a hump on their head What happens to the 70%? The 70% are flat heads or the ugly flower horn… then out of that 30%(when they grow up to 4 to 5 inches) only 10% get bigger humps on their head and out of that 10% … 1% is the best flower horn which usually used for (breeding purposes usually not for sale by the breeders). So you must say no to flat heads and buy a flower horn that has a big hump on their head.









How to set up an aquarium for a quality Flower Horn?
You should have at least
1. 25 to 40 gall tank with cover to prevent the fish from jumping out. (yes they do jump out so just cover the tank)
2. lights(optional)
3. heater(optional) if you are somewhere near Thailand, Philippines, Singapore or Malaysia you don’t need a heater, but if you are outside this Asian continent region, you got to buy a heater, any ways heater prevents sickness to the flower horn itself so better to buy one.
4. 2 power head filter not an under gravel filter
5. Decoration notes – if you like decorating the aquarium... you can put a small layer of gravel, just be sure you can clean the tank easily, but from my opinion just stick to a bare tank don’t put gravel because flower horns like to dig pit of wholes on the gravel using their mouths, the mouth can get wounded and if they get chocked which really happens… say bye2x to your quality flower horn. Putting plastic or solid structure in the aquarium is not advisable, putting plastic plants can harm the fish, flower horns like biting things that are in their territory (what’s their territory? It’s the whole tank!!) And if they bite sharp objects, they can be harmed so please stick with the bare tank, just put a nice back ground wallpaper in the back of the aquarium, that’s what I did.

What to feed the Flower Horn?
You must feed them fish food products or the processed fish food, ex. Ocean free humpy head, ever red, starry, super red syn, etc. just be sure the food is for flower horn because choosing the right food can make the color of your flower horn more vibrant and make the head growth bigger. Don’t feed live feeds, because you can make your flower horn sick, live feeds carry small parasites that can harm the water and the fish itself so please just don’t feed it live feeds. When you feed the fish you must feed it slowly… bit by bit, if it doesn’t eat the fish food, take out any uneaten food by 10 min to prevent water quality.

What to do daily and weekly?
What to do daily? Before you turn the lights off the flower horn tank
1. Siphon the nitrates (poop) of the flower horn quickly as possible to prevent sucking to much water, just be sure to take all the nitrates out. 
What to do weekly? Do this once a week 
1. Siphon the tank up to where the water reaches the power head filter then turn off the power head filter, then siphon the water until the water level reaches 10% and don’t touch or do anything to the flower horn.
2. Clean the tank, wipe the glass and wipe any algae that are growing.
3. Get the power head filter and the hose connecting the filter box, get all of them.
4. Clean the power head inside and out, that means disassemble it and clean the inside part, be sure not to wet the plug.
5. Clean the hose because 40% of the filtered material (nitrates) is in there so twist and wash the hose properly.
6. Clean the filter box and the filter material
7. Put the power head, hose, filter box back in place then fill the tank back with water. Put 5 tbl spoon of rock salt to prevent illness from occurring.
8. Turn on the power head filter.

Stupid things Flower Horn do so be ready
1. When their huge head get stuck on the power head and wound them self, its only a minor wound when that happens just add 1 tbl spoon of rock salt to the tank.
2. When it start to bite your fingers while cleaning the tank, that’s good it shows how aggressive and active your flower horn is.
3. Weird pimples on the flower horn’s head, body or tail, its because of bad water quality, its because you didn’t follow the steps on cleaning the aquarium, once the water is already clean the pimples will be gone in no time, its only a minor illness, nothing to worry about.
4. When eating it splash around water to the floor, and get all the floor wet, well that’s because its just playing around, or still not used to eating when you are looking at them. They will get used to it after a month or so.
5. Get a first aid kit, like having a medicine ex. Rid-all flower horn special etc. just incase things get out of hand in the aquarium.

Just reply or PM me if you have comments of questions.


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## emc7

A flowerhorn is an Asian? attempt to make a cichlid koi. They are hybrids of many different cichlids that you cannot expect to breed true. They are vary prolific breeders, so you can cull all the fry that are deformed or ugly and sell a few for big $. Why don't we post about them? They are expensive, aggressive, need big tanks and some of us enjoy breeding the new (new discoveries, not creations) species of cichlid that are available in the hobby rather than spending all our $ and time on a fish whose offspring you can not reliably predict.

I always want to tell flowerhorn and blood parrot owners that if you like the F*ed up hybrid, you will love a real cichlid like a red devil or firemouth. The have the behavior traits (i.e. recognizing you) without as many disease, digestive, and aggression issues. A fish doesn't have to be a foot-long and bright red to be a great fish. All cichlids are great fish.

I guess a fish has to be difficult to be worth the big $s and most true-bred cichlids are just too easy. Maybe we are just a poor board. Read the what do you do thread and see all the students.

My advice: Buy a wild-type cichlid, take the $ you save and send it to cichlid habitat protection. 

Sorry if this isn't the kind of post you wanted. Usually I just skip posts about flowerhorns and "blood parrots", but you said please read.


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## trashion

Ugh. I think flowerhorns are some of the ugliest fish hybrids ever created. They're worse than blood parrots. Sorry, but it's just my opinion.


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## Guest

Personally, I like flowerhorns....It just depends on the color really...IMO, parrots are one of the ugliest fish ever. And they don't keep their color, they just turn a pale orangey peachy color


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## trashion

To each his own 

I just think the knob on their heads looks ridiculous.


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## Blue Cray

I personally don't go for a fish like that I like the odd looking fish that are found in the wild. The article is still a very good one with lots of useful information if you happen to keep one or are looking into getting one we have to give it to audzter for the effort he put into article.


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## Kribensis12

I like Flowerhrons and Parrots( as long as they arent grey or dyed). Putting a Flowergorn in a 25-40g tank is pure torture. It needs atleast a 55 g tank minnimum as they get HUGE. The one at my lfs is for sale at 300 dollars and it's around 2 feet long!


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## Guest

I'm pretty sure they need more than a 55g tank minimum. 

I'm not a fan of hybrids and like emc7, I'd rather spend less money on some newer discovered cichlids that are smaller and can actually live with other fish rather than spend a ton of money on 1 fish that needs a huge tank to itself.

I'm not a fan of big singly kept cichlids.


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## redpaulhus

They've been a big environmental problem in Asia - they are now introduced in the wild and are reproducing, so they are now an invasive species (or invasive hybrid, if you prefer).
http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2341

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Soodhanan_Flowerhorns.html


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## Eraserhead

trashion said:


> To each his own
> 
> I just think the knob on their heads looks ridiculous.


Tons of cichlids have the nuchial hump. Personally I'm not a big fan of it (except on Frontosa, it looks cool on them because it is a different shape), but the Red Flowerhorn in the picture looks cool with it imo. I probably wouldn't get a flowerhorn though, I've got too many other friends in my tank that I wouldn't want to see get killed.


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## Kribensis12

> I'm pretty sure they need more than a 55g tank minimum.


^ I said a 55g minnimum, most people keep them in a tank that size, it isnt too rstircting, and can provide room for errors, unlike the oscar as they are plain messy.


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## audzter

i got mistaken there its 50 and thats minimum.any ways thanks for the comments^^ it really depends on your opinion if you like the fish


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