Flowerhorn grooming?

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calichai

calichai

Polypterus
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2009
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Hello,

I was looking for more advise on flowerhorn grooming. I searched the web already and it looks like one article is rewritten many times, and I can't seem to find the answers I'm searching for. Asides from the obvious, genetics, water quality and high protein food, are there any other methods to help groom a MP flowerhorn.

I've noticed that most Fh I've seen online are in bare bottom tanks with just a sponge filter. Does a strong current affect the size of kok since it's a fat storage? The tanks seem practically stagnant.

Visiting thailand I noticed most had their flowerhorns with a small parrot. Does it help if he has someone to pound on?

Using a female, divided to get him pumped?

Or is a mirror better? Hand chasing exercises?

Tank size? Ranchu groomers use shallow tubs to promote a short squat body. Does this apply to flowerhorns as well? As far as tank dimensions go, depth height and such.

I'm just looking to advance my hobby this New Years, without adding more tanks and appreciate any advice.

Photos a plus.



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Bare bottoms tanks are just use because it make it easy to clean the tank,nothing special on that remember is all about water quality.
Using a perrott or a mirror is to stress the fish, but don't over due to much tress can harm your fish
And the divider thing is just for breeding


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Hannd chasing your fish? Lol what are you raising this thing for man? I try to avoid going tward my fh with my hands. After a while they brave up and come tward your hand to explore. I don't get this big kok fad lol. Huge humped flowers look deformed imo.

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Henry27 said:
Bare bottoms tanks are just use because it make it easy to clean the tank,nothing special on that remember is all about water quality.
Using a perrott or a mirror is to stress the fish, but don't over due to much tress can harm your fish
And the divider thing is just for breeding


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Click to expand...

I'm not sure if the parrots stress him out. I started using parrotfish today and he looks great, he always sat in the corner before and only really swam when I was close by the tank. Very boring. Like animals at the zoo, don't they need mental stimulation? I believe they use hand chasing to exercise the fish, and with flowerhorns attitude is just as important as body conformation IMO. When I placed a few blood parrots with him, 2f 1m he only chases the male. I have 4 other males that I will use for sparring partners. Currently the parrots are housed in a 90 gal hex for recovery and holding and I'll just throw them together every so often. This will give the parrotfish time to heal. This is a recommendation from a friend in Thailand, just testing it out. He doesn't need a monster kok, but I want to see him get as fit as possible, with his kok potential maximized.

Any ideas on water current? I see some groomers put baffles on their hob filters and such on their flowerhorn tanks. Slow water gets them thick? Let's them store more fat in kok?

Will having a tall,long, deep or shallow tank affect how the body grows? Girth, length height.

The purpose of this thread is to see what others are doing with their flowerhorns in regards to grooming and help yield better results. I plan to have him for a while and the more I can do for him, the less likely I'll get bored.

Vid of the parrots with fh, together 5 hours. Will remove after this:

http://youtu.be/PTECDFEstwM


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If I was going to try just one parrotfish, I'd try to get the opposite sex from fh and use a divider when you add. I drop 3 in at a time for him to play with ATM. Lately he just let me leave them with him, so it's more a community now. Parrots are tough but you still need to find a good sized one in comparison to fh. They are all female in my tank btw.


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I dont know about a fast current affecting the kok size I've only noticed normal growth on my thai silk with filstar xl combine with a powerhead and curculater in a 55 gal pretty much all I can say is keep your lights on a timer( i keep mine on 13.5 hr/ off 10.5hrs considering the parent species natural habitat is closer to the equador ) keep up with waterchanges and feed them a high protien like this new era central/south american cichlid pellet I started buy a month ago has 45% protien, 9% fat, .5% fiber,17% ash then has vitamins A D3 E and the treats like krill shrimp beef heart and so on

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