Flowerhorn types

[jmw5630washere]

I'm thinking about buying a flowerhorn but i have no idea what kind... there is a bunch of options but i cant tell the difference between some of them. For example a lot of websites list flowerhorns as just flowerhorns but others list them as red dragon. I cant tell them apart weather or not the normal flowerhorn is a red dragon or not because the pictures look similar, but I'm not very familiar with this species so that could be the reason. I know this question may sound confusing but any help would be greatly appreciated.

-John

 

[Chockful O Phail]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/forums/flowerhorn-blood-parrots-and-other-hybrids.253/

 

[Fish on Fire]

If you want high quality ones, it's going to cost you a bit of money. The typical flowerhorn you will find in most local LFS, will end up being regular ZZ (red dragons are just one variant of Zhen Zhou flowerhorns).

It really all depends on what you want in terms of coloration, flower patterns, amount of pearling, kok size, body shape, etc.

While I have mainly kept pure bred fish for most of my life, the one thing that a FH offers you over any other typical cichlid, if the potential for surprise. You can get lucky, buy a small and ugly looking juvenile, and end up with a beautiful adult fish. That being said, if you're looking for quality, you have to look for finnage, head shape, body shape, coloration, etc. After you find some key characteristics that you enjoy in the juvenile fish, then it's up to you to raise it correctly and it could turn into a showpiece.