# Flowerhorn Cichlid



## Balu (Feb 9, 2009)

Reposting as I was told to try here :fish: 
Hi, I picked up a very large Flowerhorn Cichlid yesterday. (I am assuming) He is aprox 13" Long and 12" top to bottom. He is defiantly the largest fish I have ever owned. ( I thought my Oscars were big lol) His name is Balu and he had out grown his tank and was no longer wanted so know he is home with me, hubby, kids, parrots, piranha's. Busy busy lol. My question is.. What is there life expectancy? Also how old would you estimate him to be?? I'm hoping he has several more years with us.


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

First off I must say I personally don't have any FH experience however I have found that most cichlids that are cared for well can easily live to the middle to late teens or even longer. If your big guy is around 13 inches or so it might not quit be done growing but it is hard for me to say exactly how old he might be.

I can say that is one good looking fish. I personally would love to have a flowerhorn like yours someday. I would say that you should have plenty of years to go with it. Good luck and if it is not too much to ask I would love more pics sometime.


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

Age would be tough to determine, all I could say for certain is that he is over 2 years old, but they can easily live over 10 years so you probably have a long time.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Yep cichlids can live up to 10-15 years if taken care of well! However, I must ask what size is his/her tank? A single Flowerhorn needs at least a 55 gal but a 75 would be WAY better and it needs to be by itself! He/she sure is a beauty! :thumb:


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## Balu (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks for the info.


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## Balu (Feb 9, 2009)

He is in a 75 gallon, 48"x18"x20 3/4. He will have the whole tank to him self with exception of the pleco which he pays no attention to.
Thanks again.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

just thought i would add, even though that pure bred species live 10 years, the life expectancy of a flowerhorn is only 6, this may be because of the feeding schedule of most flowerhorn keepers, which could be up to 6 times a day (for reference fish need food, depending on temperature, only once every 2-3 days)

i would guess your flowerhorn, at 13", to be 2.5-3 years old, though being he is full grown he could be older, but it takes on avergae about 2.5 years to attain this size.


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## RodrickTheAquarist (Apr 17, 2012)

avg life span of flowerhorns are abt 6-8 yrs. so by now he could already be 4 or 5 yrs old.


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