# pics of my flower horn; ur comments!!



## aquaboy (Jul 2, 2008)

well i have purchased it about 1 month ago and now it seems to be happy in its new tank! (i fink so! :roll: ) i would rly like to have ur opinions on my FH! all ur comments are welcomed!! :thumb:

Here are the pics:






















































btw i love my FH!!! :wink: [/img]


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## convictkid (Jul 28, 2004)

Where did you get him, what kind is he? How big when you got it? What size tank, what are you feeding ?


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

He's *nice* Aquaboy!! :thumb: I love his coloring, very nice red to him and nice pearling too!!


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

Very pretty, looks exactly like the female I used to have. :thumb:


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## ArcticCatRider (Jul 13, 2007)

He is beautiful!


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

Very nice. What size tank do you have him in?


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## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

I'm not the expert on FHs gage and others know more than me. I think it is a Red Dragon with a double flower line. Beautiful fish, nice big full tail and fins. Getting a kok and it has pearl spotting across the full kok......nice, very nice.... a lot of fish lack this coloring. Beautiful straight flower line and the second flower line is a full line.....a lot of times on some fish the top flower line is only a partial line. Nice red coloring on his chest. I like the purple coloring in his tail and fins as well. I also love the pearl eye liner. Over all I'd say you have a very nice fish on your hands. Nice job aquaboy :thumb: And great pics too!


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## aquaboy (Jul 2, 2008)

it is currently housed in a 65g tank, in the future i will put the FH in a bigger tank if necessary! i feed it a variety of meals, cichlid pellets(hikari bio gold, hikari staple, hikari gold), sinking carnivore pellets, cichlid food sticks(JBL n hikari), breadworm, bloodworm, shrimp, frozen beefheart, frozen bloodworm, live shrimps n even some algae wafers and algae sticks!!!  well infact all these foods are for my cichlids in my afican tank but since the FH is now a family member, he too deservs a share of those meals!!!!  but beliv me, this guy is truely an awesome voracious eater!!!   he gobbles up just everything and is always hungry!!! no need to worry about overfeeding!!  well the local fish store from where i bought it told me that its a male!! is it really a male? :-? from the pics can you know whether its a male or female?? neway in any case i love my FH!!  btw thanks for your comments, im really glad that you appreciate it!! comments are always welcomed!!!cheers!! :wink:


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

only 2 problems i have with this guy as far as "flowerhorn qualities" go, a long body and a small kok (nuchal hump) though the kok looks like it could be boosted, the face is a tad long but usually it appears that way when there isnt much in the kok region. but really other then that, he looks good, he has great color, decent pearling, pretty good flowerline, and his fins are astronomical.

just a hint for you, feed frozen krill, the protein in it will help you boost his kok, and the asthaxantin in the shell of the krill will boost the little guys red like mad, asthaxantin is what makes a flamingo pink instead of white. beta carotene is good to, but asthaxantin is better, much better.

to help bring out his pearling, feed him lots of spirulina and kelp, try feeding him spinach, he may not take it at first, but he will eventually, if you starve him, though the spirulina discs and sticks should do it pretty well to, NLS has spirulina and *** had great results from it with bringing out pearling

also, flowerhorns tend to like a more colorful background, they color up much nicer on one, and to be honest, im not really sure why, but a lot of the experts will use coral backgrounds on there tanks, but if you like the strait color look, blue is the best you can go.

another thing, what is the PH of your water, remember that less then 7 increases color and more then 7 increases kok, though unless your a very experienced fish keeper i dont recommend playing with the PH. can cause severe stress and death if it isnt done properly (veeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly)

the strain is Zhen Zhu, and if im not mistaken Red Dragons are kind of a strain inside that strain. but i dont believe your flowerhorn is a Red Dragon to be honest, too many things about him points to not. i believe him to be either a ZZ or ZZM (Zhen Zhu Malau)

*lil mama*, im by no means an expert , im only 15, to be an expert at this age would be impossible, i merely do my research, personal experience is what makes someone an expert, if you can call anyone an expert, as there is always more to learn  but thanx for the complements  im just happy my research is appreciated 

in general, id classify this guy a mid-grade flowerhorn, as he isnt high grade, but he sure as **** aint a really low grade

of course, this would all change is it turned out to be a female, as this would be a beautiful female, that i personally would use for breeding, some great traits in there for breeding if it is a female.

reeeeeeeeally sorry about the long post, when it comes to flowerhorns i talk waaaaaaay to much..... 

but, as much as i love flowerhorns, i think we should leave flowerhorn discussions on the flowerhorns forums, as this *IS* a forum dedicated to pure bred fish, and we may be stopping people from joining this forum, more so towards any hybrid haters that would have joined otherwise.


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## nothing else matter (Oct 2, 2007)

nice looking FH, i believe it a female. the black blotch in the dorsal fin (positioned near the nuchal hump) suggest that its a female. at least that's what i know


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

it could be female, but the black spot is definitely not a good way to tell in flowerhorns, especially flowerhorns with a double flower row like this one, there is only one way to know (besides watching it lay eggs), and that is venting it.


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## aquaboy (Jul 2, 2008)

thanks loads for dedicating your time in explaining me all that gage!! i rly appreciate! :thumb: n thanks to u all for ze comments!! :thumb: well wat hap if i dont feed my FH those special food (frozen krill, spirulina, spinach...) for either boosting his kok or pearling, the FH wont have a great kok or nice pearling?? :-? i mean can the FH develop all that naturally all by himself or feeding him the special food is a must in order to achieve that (kok and pearling)?? sory if im asking too many questions!! n btw comments always welcomed!! cheers!


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## aquaboy (Jul 2, 2008)

sory again but how to vent the FH??


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## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Sorry aquaboy I didn't mean to give bad info on the type of FH you have. Like I said I'm not an expert I just like to have fun guessing. I'm still learning all this too.I have a male Zz that would complement your female (if that's what it is) nicely! :wink: As far as what will happen if you don't feed that stuff gage suggested. You will still have a beautiful fish. Follow what he says and you will have an amazing fish. Gage is an encyclopedia of information.....use it to your advantage :lol:


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## nothing else matter (Oct 2, 2007)

i once had a red diamond FH (that's what the lfs said). it developed a big kok, good color and nice pearls even if i only fed it regular pellets. i guess that what it is, is what it is. but of coarse with special food it will give special result.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

lol, he will still be very nice if you dont, its just feeding that will allow him to be even better  all the foods i mentioned do is help to enhance the genes that will make him nice, he will still have those genes, but not feeding him these "booster foods" as i call them, will leave more room for improvements. no problem about giving the time to help you out, im only 15, i dont have much of a life :lol:

just remember:
Shrimp = Asthaxantin = nicer Red color
Spinach = Spirulina = Bright pearling
Protein = kok Growth

just a hint, with krill, you can hit the protein and the asthaxantin and protein in one meal, make your own frozen recipe with spinach and krill blended into a bite size cube for your flowerhorn gives you all you need, if you dont mind using your blender for stuff like that :lol: but make sure it is a bite sized cube for him, as when you blend it, if it gets time to melt, it will be a messy disaster.

lil mama, you didnt give bad advise at all, it wasnt much different then what i said, i just expanded it a bit, a Red Dragon is in the ZZ group, so you arent far off, your flowerhorn is a ZZ , its funny you mention me being an encyclopedia of info, because there is a brand name of books, which makes encyclopedia, called gage :lol: but about following what i say will give you a great fish, this isnt completely true hehe, if the fish has ugly genes, it will be ugly, doesnt matter if you feed all the stuff i mentioned, he will still be ugly without the genes to make him nice, you cant make a piece of coal turn into gold 

n*othing else matters *, of course he still turned out good, it is all in the gene pool as to how a flowerhorn turns out, but if you have fed the stuff a mentioned, it would have been even nicer


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## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

That's tooooo funny gage.....you know the name is going to stick. Haahahaha Gage Encyclopedia a world of information!


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Nice FH you got there, aquaboy. 8) 
BV


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