Basics Flowerhorn Care for Beginners

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flowerhorn cichlid fish care

Lots of freshwater fish that have a beautiful body and one of the beautiful freshwater fish with a unique body shape that you can find today is the Flowerhorn Cichlid.

Flower Horn is a beautiful fish with a very impressive behavior, temperament, and totally unusual appearance. Flowerhorn cichlid fish is a hybrid, included as the cichlid family with the beautiful appearance and strong characteristic also it’s good looking and fruitful. You can put this cichlid fish in your favorite fish tank.

As exotic fishes, the flowerhorn is a hybrid cichlid fish by a man in the early 1990s. Started in Malaysia and Taiwan, the Flowerhorn was created by cross-breeding cichlids from Central America. The four main types are Zhen Zhu, Golden Monkey, Kamfa, and Golden Base or Faders. Various strains exist within these types. And the most famous type is named the Red Dragon Flowerhorn. Cross-breeding has made Flowerhorn fish available worldwide.

red dragon flowerhorn cichlid fish
Red dragon flowerhorn

Before keeping the Flowerhorn as your favorite fishes, you need to know about the fish and how to take care of Flowerhorn Cichlid. There are some tips that will help you to keep the Flowerhorn stay healthy and beautiful in the aquarium.

Suitable Tank for Flowerhorn Cichlid Fish

The tank your choice for the Flowerhorn cichlid should be proper with the size of fish. You can choose the tank with 75 gallons or more. It will give a comfortable place for the fish to swim. The temperature of the water also needs to be considered. There must be 84 until 86° F or 28 until 30° C. Water pH also should be in 7.2 until 8.2. It will make the fish get the best place to live. The big tank will be excellent for the fish with a larger size. If you like to put the small fish, for example, is 1-2 inch fish size, you can use the smaller tank. The tank which has 20 gallons size will be suitable for small flowerhorn. After the fish reach the bigger size such as 3-8 inches, you can use the tank with 40 or 55 gallons. The tank is the important thing that will influence the growth of the fish. When you do not change the tank after the fish grow bigger and larger, it will make the fish grows not optimally.

Some Tips To Make The Flowerhorn Cichlid Stay Healthy And Happy

There are some points that will help you to treat your beloved Flowerhorn fish in your aquarium. You should keep the bottom of the tank stay clean from the debris. You need to clean the bottom while you change the water. The uneaten debris can damage your fish health. You should take the debris when you see it on the bottom. The temperature of the water should be consistent. You can use the aquarium heaters such EHEIM Jager and it will make the water stay warm and make the fish feel comfort.

The other important thing is about oxygenation. You can choose the good oxygenation that is usually using the sponge or the air stone. The bad oxygenation or even do not use this device will make the fish stressed, and they may die. The good filtration will give you much ease. You need the canister filter to clean your Flowerhorn tank. You can use our recommendation Cascade 1000 to do this. Then the water will stay fresh for a long time so you should not change the water every day. The canister filtration system has the function to keep the good bacteria in the water tank. If you want to make sure about the water condition, you need to use a test strip to check the pH, ammonia levels, or nitrate levels.

Besides the clean the tanks, to make your Flowerhorn fish happy you may put some aquarium decoration such as coral, rock or small stone that usually used for aquarium decor. The Flowerhorn Cichlid fish will play the stone and make your pet feel comfortable and stay healthy.

The Best Food for Flowerhorn Fish

Feeding the fish is an interesting activity. You can see how the fish eat the pellet when you put the pellet in the tank. When you want to feed the fish, you should know about the proper portion. Do not let the feel overfeed because it can make the fish dead or make the water easy to look dirty. The fish can be stressed because of many factors such as tank size, water, food, or others.

The food for flower horn cichlid is very simple. You can use the dry pellet with the highest quality. It will provide excellent nutrition for the fish. The high-quality product that you can find on the market for fish food should contain 45% of protein. After the fish reach 8 inches, you can choose the pellet with lower protein, or you may feed with live fish. So what is the best food for your beautiful flowerhorn cichlid?

The best food for the flower horn cichlid is some live fish such as small fish or may give him some shrimp. Besides that, The other kind of food that will give more nutrition is frozen bloodworms. You can give it twice in a week. It can be the best treatment for the Flowerhorn fish. Protein content contained in live fish and bloodworm is very high, and it’s excellent for growth your flowerhorn head. Pellets sold in the market are also good as long as they have a high protein content. The fish may show that the condition is not good from the behavior. The color of the poop can show the healthy condition of the fish.

About the fish behavior, if the fish poop until over than 2 days and it has the red flag, you should be careful and take the quick treatment. The white color of the poop and has the stringy pearl shape can be the indication that the fish get Hexamita. This problem can make the fish die because it is the intestinal sickness of the fish. If you do not take the correct treatment, you will see that your fish will die slowly. You can reduce this risk by making sure about the water condition and the food.

If you feed your Flowerhorn fish with pellet, you can use the automatic fish feeder to control and help you for feeding the fish.

Tips to treatment the Hexamita

When you find the indication or the symptom of Hexamita in your Flowerhorn fish, you should take the other fish separated from the sick fish. It can be the best prevention for the other fish. You should prepare another tank for the healthy fish. You can move the fish to the other clean tank and then you should clean the tank with unhealthy fish or change the water. It will be good for you to use Fritz Aquatics Mardel Clout and it can be an effective treatment for your fish health. You can find the product, and you should learn about how to use from the direction.

Flowerhorn Fish Gallery

The Flowerhorn Fish Breeding

It may be proper for you who is an expert on the fish. The beginner also needs to know about the basis for the future. If you want to learn more about Flowerhorn care, you need to know the basics of fish breeding. You can choose the correct type of fish. The first experience you may need to use parrot cichlids and find the couple. You can put them in the same tank. You should make sure the food provides the best nutrition. After you see that the fish is ready to mate, you can make the tank with the special condition. Newspaper can you put around the tank and let them be alone.

The fish may fight when they do not mate. You should move the female to avoid this condition. If the fish mates properly, you can put the rocks in the nest. This experience is not a simple thing. You need to know more detail information for the best result of your experiment. When the female contains the egg, you should move the female to the other tank with the right filtration. You should avoid the egg to be sucked by the filtration.

It is important information for you who like to have unique fish. The Flowerhorn cichlid has the beautiful shape with the big head. You may feel so loved with this fish and do not want to let the fish die. You should make sure that the condition of the aquarium is proper for your fish. The big tank with 75-gallon size is the best choice. It can make the fish grow optimally. The fish can swim freely and avoid stressed condition. The knowledge for the beginner about the tips for the Flowerhorn care will make the fish life happy and healthy.

8 thoughts on “Basics Flowerhorn Care for Beginners

  1. one of my favourite cichlids. i have been keeping this fish for 3 years now. i love him swim and follow my hamd.

  2. My Mr. Fishy is all by himself…he’s a hungry Mr. Fishy and would eat til he popped if I allowed him to…but in saying that I would recommend flowerhorns to anyone who is happy just with one fish to care for…….

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