Flowerhorn scared

[RepStunkose]

Hello my Flowerhorn is very scared of me. I got him like almost 2 weeks ago. I put it in my fishroom. It's my 5th tank. Everytime I enter the room and he notices me he rushes in his hidding spot. And as long as i am in the room he would NOT come out. Even when i feed him... i need to get out of the room and then he would eat the food... but he is only eating food that is on the bottom of the tank... i tried feeding him sone swimming pellets but he just left them so i cleaned them up. What can I do? He is active when i'm not in the room (i always spy on him). Sorry for the bad english....

and btw i would post a picture of it but i can't take one because he is ALWAYS hiding :-(

 

[Tomt37]

What's the size of tank and flowerhorn .. bright lighting ? And is he alone?

 

[RepStunkose]

What's the size of tank and flowerhorn .. bright lighting ? And is he alone?

first of all thank you for your reply.
the tank is at the moment 32 gallons... but i am cycling a 92 gallon for him at the moment... it's not thaaaat bright... it's a DIY LED strip from joey (king of diy). and yes he is alone.

and he is around 2.2 inches

 

[Tomt37]

Cool if he's small enough for tank mates still a few fast dither Fish .. a few plastic plants towards the front and at the start try and only approach the tank when you feed .. particularly something nice like bloodworm .. I'd put light on a timer rather than switch it on urself

 

[Tomt37]

Flowerhorns have such a personality ... as he grows aggression will kick in and he'll be chasing you

 

[RepStunkose]

Cool if he's small enough for tank mates still a few fast dither Fish .. a few plastic plants towards the front and at the start try and only approach the tank when you feed .. particularly something nice like bloodworm .. I'd put light on a timer rather than switch it on urself

but i read that FH have to be alone... but if it is going to help made him feel better or whatever i am going to buy some... what kind of fish should i buy "for" him? ok i try to approach the tank only when i'm gonna feed him.. and my lights are on a timer... from 07:00 am untill 1pm and from 2 pm untill 8pm.

and how many plastic plants? as many so he can hide in it or what? thank you for your help!! really appreciate it

 

[Tomt37]

They do need to be alone when they start to show aggression but until then you can put in some dither fish .. something like giant danios ... tiger barbs ... active fast .. too big to be prey for his current size or too fast .. just 1 or 2 plants to give him impression of cover .. my old one hit 4 inches and changed personality and started trying to bite me ...before that I had to approach tank slowly not to freak him

 

[Brandonclark88]

Some cover and a plants will help him feel more secure. I use danios as dithers to help my shy fish move around more. They're fast enough that most fish can't catch them and if they do kill them atleast you're not out much $

With cichlids a lot of time you need to have patience when it comes to them overcoming thier shyness. My male SRD was the same exact way when I first got him. Here is the thread I had posted.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/shy-flowerhorn.681314/

It took probably close to a month for him to come out of hiding and swim everywhere. I honestly debated on trading him in to a lfs at the time because every other flowerhorn I've had was very outgoing from the beginning. I've had him for almost 3 months and am glad I kept him. After the initial month of shyness he swims everywhere in the aquarium and will actually let me pet his head. Very personable fish.

 

[RepStunkose]

They do need to be alone when they start to show aggression but until then you can put in some dither fish .. something like giant danios ... tiger barbs ... active fast .. too big to be prey for his current size or too fast .. just 1 or 2 plants to give him impression of cover .. my old one hit 4 inches and changed personality and started trying to bite me ...before that I had to approach tank slowly not to freak him

ok i will thank you so much.
one last question... 29 degrees celsius is good for him isn't it?

 

[Tomt37]

Yep 29 is good