# Flowerhorn.. can have any tankmakes in a 55g?



## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

I have a beautiful Flowerhorn.... I need to move him to a 55g, but was wondering if he might make it with my Green Terror. My green terror is presently residing in my Malawi 125g tank.. and he's doing OK, but as he's getting older, he does less intimidation, and I've seen more physical contact, so he may need to move to a dedicated tank as well.

They're about the same length, but the flowerhorn has much more 'mass' to him.

I would guess the GT at 5.5" and the Flowerhorn.. maybe 6"? It all depends on how you size the fish. The Flowerhorn is in a 20long right now.. so he'll soon outgrow a 30" tank... but I just don't have anywhere else to put him.

I may be able to do a 30g(36") tank, but that's also a short term solution.

Both are beautiful specimens and I'd hate to lose either.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I think you need to get them a 55 each. The reason is that with my experience with flowerhorns is that they normally don't play well with others. Mine went on a killing spree at 4" and almost killed all of what few tankmates he had in a 55g . One of the victims was a 5"+ Dovii . The GT is out of his element as well. Apart from the water parameter issue (though that one is not a major stumbling block for most captive bred fish)there is the problem of him getting slowly chewed to pieces by the Malawis. You didn't mention what malawis you keep , but if it's mbuna he'll likely come out worse for the wear. If it's haps and peacocks he'll have better luck but still needs a tank more suited to him.Even with a 55g though it would only be temporary with a 75g being prefered . I'm sure a few here will say you'll even need a bigger tank than that .
I know this not the kind of news you were hoping for , but you need to get a MUCH larger tank for these guys and or decide which one you really want and re-home the other. Sorry dude.


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

I keep Malawi Haps and Peacocks mostly. The only mbuna I keep are Yellow Labs. I really do not like Mbuna.

My 180g is of malawi, mostly preditors, Bucco, Champ, Tyranochromis, Aristochromis and larger Protomelas.

My 125 is mostly peacocks, with some haps. This is where the green terror is(a video can be seen at 



.

You'll see mr Green Terror in there. I've actually thined out some.. I move the Tyranochromis, and I had to move the Venustus as he was getting too big and mean.
It's 7.4 PH and medium hardness(on a good day) because my tap is so darned soft. Malawi's are fine with it(as you can seein the video) and so is Green Terror.

The green terror actually takes NO damage from anyone... His fins are always perfect. He just guards his area... but lately I've seen body contact(I saw him hit the venustus hard)... but for the most part, he just hangs out and demands respect. He only shows agressing if you get too close. Don't mess with the GT and he doesn't mess with you.

I have 11 tanks, 9 active, a 180, 125, 75, 55, 38, 30, and a bunch of 20's and 10's. Most are used for breeding Malawi fish(Ruby Reds and Empress right now) and for growouts. I was offered a free 55g setup by my neighbor.. but getting the wife to accept another tank.. in house space(rather than fish closet) will be a hard sell... two would be out of the question.

What did I expect? Well, I expected 'no freakin way'.... but I also have seen people on youtube and other places who have mixed flowerhorns with other fish.. but the green terror/flowerhorns I saw on youtube were always fighting.

A 55 will have to do.. I DO have a 75g... which is being used for my Ruby Red breeding colony.. so eventually.. yes, I suppose I could swap the tanks around.... Or retire from breeding ruby red peacocks.

Being that I already have such large tanks, accomodating another larger footprint for a single fish(other than what I have, or a 55g) especially with his value. But he's staying for now.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I have 5 Trimacs (4 Wild Caught females between 5~7â€


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

As long as he's doing fine and not causing to much fuss himself then he'll be fine . I'd concentrate on finding new acommodations for the FH. I don't know of too many folks who have kept them with other fish and the other fish lived to tell the tale. Heck mine even killed the female FH I had for him. I personally like the FH better than GTs but the GTs are a little easier to deal with, at least for me anyway.

You know now that I have an empty tank maybe I'll give those dwarf FH a shot.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

the 75 will be MINIMUM for your flowerhorn when full grown, and usually he will not tolerate tankmates, though you will have to go on what you see not what we tell you, as i have flowerhorns with tankmates in a 90g right now. you can try the GT and Flowerhorn in the 55g right now, there should be enough room for 2 6" fish to have a territory in there, but once they grow a bit, all **** will break loose LOL, and the flowerhorn will come out on top.


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

Gage, I'm with you on that.. I think they would probably be OK today.. just like the GT is in the 125, but evenutally there could be trouble.

I also have the option of putting the GT in the 180 preditor tank.. he won't be able to do much with a huge bucco, venustus, champ, etc. Or I could sell him.

Green Terrors are common, even if mine is a particularly nice specimen, he's still a fish you can land at just about any fish shop around. A flowerhorn of this quality is NOT easy to come by... plus he's a real show fish. I'd love to snag a photo but I'm afraid in his miserable 30" tank, the lighting, everything is just so bad, it won't do him justice. That's one thing. If he looks this good in a 30" 20g tank in the top row of my closet.. just think how good he would look with a 55.. and even that may not be for life, but I'm also not going to be in this home for the life of the fish either. We never know what might come available in the future.

With two kids, it's harder and harder to find time for the fish hobby... but I don't want to give it up... I may downscale it a bit. A malawi tank has 20+ fish.. maintaining a single fish would be much easier.


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

As a short term solution (and I do mean that), you could always divide the 55g. That way you could keep both fish while working out what you need to do for the future. I know how hard it is to get addicted to this hobby while you have kids growing up! The need to downsize or make things just generally easier/cheaper is something a lot of us have to do. Maybe giving up the breeding is the thing to do right now. Maybe giving up the GT is the better choice. That's up to you to decide but the divider thing would work long enough to make that decision.
HTH


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I'd be leary of having the two in the same tank divider or not. I've heard lots of horror stories about fish pushing the divider down and causing all sorts of calamities. I'd find the space by combining which ever ones I could untill I was able to find a more permanent home for the FH. Just my 2 cents.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

why not a more permanent home for the GT?


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## misplacedsooner (Apr 13, 2007)

in my experience of fh, the first i had several years ago was a 8 inch female that would not stand for anything in the tank with her (she was in a 55)....meaner than a nest of hornets. sold her and swore them off. then last year someone was selling a beautiful male show fish (10-11 inches) and i couldnt resist for some reason. he had been raised alone in a 46 bow from a fry and never had tankmates. figured i would get him and put him in a 55 by himself and let him be solitary. then a friend sent me a few loiselli fry...like about 30!!!! i had nowhere for them so i figured id try the fh in the 220 and see how things went. he is a big pussycat and hasnt killed or tried to kill anything. he is a very friendly fish. lucky me. i will say though that id bet your fh will kill the terror fairly quick at their size in a 55. good luck man, you never know til you try but have a back-up plan.
mike


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

I have a video posted earlier that shows the green terror just hanging out with the malawi fish... As i said, he does let people know he's there. The problem with im is that he'll be peacful 90% of the time, and whack someone out of nowhere. I've never seen any damage though. Why not a more permanent home? The Flowerhorn is a harder to find, and more attractive fish in this case. Plus the green terror is getting along in his tank 'for now' and I can last $30 for him anytime I decide to let him go.

The first step is talking the wife into letting me have a 55g in the upstairs hallway to host my Flowerhorn. It's going to be a hard hard sell to manage this as he's pressuring me to get rid of tanks, not add them. I may have to add the 55g to my fish closet.. which is a door that opens to reveal 3 rows of tanks in my.. well.. enternatinment room. Count the 125 in that room, and with the closet door open, it's now a fish room. Shut the closet doors, and the wife can enjoy the room with just the 125g and not the other tanks.

thanks for all your suggestions.


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