Thoughts on Flowerhorn

[Gyarados]

So whats the word on Flowerhorn in this club? I've entertained the idea of raising up a flowerhorn many times over the years but I've never pulled the trigger. I've got an empty tank right now that I'd like to stock and I was interested in raising a single showy fish since I've never gone that route before.

So a few questions

-Who keeps them? Your thoughts on keeping them, best practices etc.
-Best sources of info, or even facebook groups/pages.
-Where to buy? Is it necessary to import? Is it really expensive to import?
-What size can you tell potential as far as color goes? I'd like to enjoy growing it out from a small size with some confidence that it will be a looker.

If you're an experienced flowerhorn keeper what would you suggest as a first fish? setup, feeding etc.? I'm not** interested in breeding and I'm not** interested in raising a fish with the biggest "kok". Just a nicely colored fish with that great outgoing personality.

 

[Siklid]

Robert,

I have some Flowerhorn fry that I pulled recently if you would like some.

I have a thread on the forum.

PM me if you are interested.

Thanks,

Roger

 

[Gyarados]

Robert,

I have some Flowerhorn fry that I pulled recently if you would like some.

I have a thread on the forum.

PM me if you are interested.

Thanks,

Roger

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

 

[thefishproject]

Hello Gyarados my name is Juan and I've had a little experience with the flowerhorns so I'll attempt to answer some of your questions and point you in the right direction as best I can.

"My thought on keeping, best practices, etc..."
I started keeping flowerhorns in 2004, a little after the beginning. I refer to those days as the "flowerhorn mania". In those days people easily paid $600 for flowerhorns and I even new some who paid upwards of $900 for one flowerhorn. The highest I ever paid for a flowerhorn was $580 plus shipping. It was like a gold rush and a lot of thought that if we bred flowerhorn we could become rich like the vendor in Thailand. So we bought into it and a lot of us bred the fish but they didn't look as good as the parents did that were imported. As a buyer I never thought to buy from an American unless I new that the fish they purchased had been directly imported from Thailand. Anyhow, their fish looked better then our because their fish were selected from a bunch and then aged hence the amazing color. Our fish could have looked just as good if we would've sat on them for 2 years but who had that patience when the craze was in motion. At work ..

 

[Gyarados]

Hello Gyarados my name is Juan and I've had a little experience with the flowerhorns so I'll attempt to answer some of your questions and point you in the right direction as best I can.

"My thought on keeping, best practices, etc..."
I started keeping flowerhorns in 2004, a little after the beginning. I refer to those days as the "flowerhorn mania". In those days people easily paid $600 for flowerhorns and I even new some who paid upwards of $900 for one flowerhorn. The highest I ever paid for a flowerhorn was $580 plus shipping. It was like a gold rush and a lot of thought that if we bred flowerhorn we could become rich like the vendor in Thailand. So we bought into it and a lot of us bred the fish but they didn't look as good as the parents did that were imported. As a buyer I never thought to buy from an American unless I new that the fish they purchased had been directly imported from Thailand. Anyhow, their fish looked better then our because their fish were selected from a bunch and then aged hence the amazing color. Our fish could have looked just as good if we would've sat on them for 2 years but who had that patience when the craze was in motion. At work ..

Very interesting, I didn't know there had been a craze so recently. It looks like you have more to say, I look forward to anything else you have to share on the subject.

 

[dogofwar]

I really don't view flowerhorns much differently than other "fancy" fish that have been (intentionally) bred to be super-natural.

For every person who wants a wild-type brown discus, there's someone who wants a electric-dayglo-orange one.

For every person who wants a wild-type betta, there's someone who wants a blue dumbo tail betta.

For every person who wants a wild-type peacock cichlid, there's someone who wants a "super" red one or a Firefish.

As with other fancy fish (take bettas or angels, for example), for every really high quality fish in a spawn, there are hundreds of culls.

Matt

 

[thefishproject]

I just wrote a book of info which to took me 2 hours and for some reason is didn't take and erased everything I wrote. Terrible!!! Anyhow, I'm a little pissed so just check out this video on my T.F.P.'s cichlids YouTube Channel. I'll write more when I muster up the strength to. I guess I'ma have to write a book. https://youtu.be/I7YQLTp1ASI

 

[Gyarados]

I just wrote a book of info which to took me 2 hours and for some reason is didn't take and erased everything I wrote. Terrible!!! Anyhow, I'm a little pissed so just check out this video on my T.F.P.'s cichlids YouTube Channel. I'll write more when I muster up the strength to. I guess I'ma have to write a book. https://youtu.be/I7YQLTp1ASI

I thought that may have happened, sorry you wasted so much time typing. I'm checking out your youtube channel now!