A flowerhorn fish has no species, and our sources cannot agree what made it
Every other record on this site opens with a binomial and a river. This one has neither. A flowerhorn was made by breeders in the 1990s and exists in the wild only where people have dumped it.
aqua-fish states the naming problem outright: the flowerhorn does not have an official scientific name. Wikipedia gives none either and calls them hybrids and not true species, adding that they exist in the wild only because of their release.
On the date the sources are close. Wikipedia: flowerhorn breeding dates to 1993, with fish imported from Central America to Malaysia by 1994, and flowerhorns first emerged for sale on the aquarium market in Malaysia in the late 1990s. Aquarium Store Depot puts the first appearance at 1996 and calls it a manmade fish first bred by fish keepers in Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan. Aquarium Source names the same three countries.
On the parents they do not agree at all
- Wikipedia: red devil cichlids, typically Amphilophus labiatus, and trimac cichlids, A. trimaculatus, bred together along with blood parrot cichlids.
- aqua-fish: crossing species like Amphilophus citrinellus and Cichlasoma trimaculatum.
- Everything Fishkeeping: a cross between the blood parrot cichlid and the red devil cichlid, which it calls a double hybrid because the blood parrot is itself a hybrid.
- Aquarium Source: blood parrot and red devil.
- Aquarium Store Depot: six possible parents, the red devil, redheaded cichlid, midas cichlid, red terror, trimac and parrot fish, and then the sentence that explains the other four: nobody seems to know, or are not telling us, exactly to what degree any of these species were involved.
That last quote is why this record does not pick a cross. The breeders who made the fish did not publish their recipe, and a care sheet cannot recover it from the animal.
Why this record was written now
- The gap
- Seven thousand three hundred searches a month, and the pages answering them are shop pages.
- What it changes
- It is the first record here with no scientific name, no wild range and no habitat, and the first where the reason a field is empty is that the field does not exist.
- What is missing
- Seriously Fish, cited on thirteen of our twenty five other records and absent here, because it covers species and this is not one. Its absence is the most honest fact on the page.
Flowerhorn water temp, and the hardest water on this site
| Source | Temperature | pH | Hardness | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarium Store Depot | 75 to 86 °F | 6.5 to 8.0 | 9 to 20 dGH, plus 3 to 6 dKH | 12 to 16 in, by variant |
| Aquarium Source | 80 to 86 °F | 7 to 8 | 8 to 20 dGH | 12 to 16 in |
| Everything Fishkeeping | 80 to 89 °F | 7.0 to 8.0 | 8 to 20 dGH | 10 to 16 in |
| aqua-fish | 77 to 86 °F | 7 to 7.5 | 6 to 25 dGH | 24 to 28 cm, 9.5 to 11 in |
| Wikipedia | not stated | not stated | not stated | not stated |
The four bands share 80 to 86 °F, and that floor of 80 is the third warmest on this site: our discus record starts at 85 and our clown loach record prints a single figure of 82. Below those three, nothing here starts above 78.
On pH this is the only record here that three sources will not take below neutral. Aquarium Source, Everything Fishkeeping and Aquarium Store Depot all publish a floor of 7.0 or higher in at least one place, and aqua-fish caps it at 7.5, so the row is 7.0 to 7.5. Every other animal record on this site allows some water below 7.0.
On hardness the four overlap from 9 to 20 dGH, which Aquarium Store Depot converts itself to 161 to 358 ppm. That is a request for hard water rather than a tolerance of it, and the same source adds a carbonate figure nobody else publishes, 3 to 6 dKH.
The size column has no overlap at all, which has not happened on any other record here. The aqua-fish ceiling of 11.02 inches sits below the floor of 12 that two sources start at, so there is no length all four support and the row carries the whole span, 9.5 to 16 inches. Two of the sources say the figure depends on the variety, which station 05 takes on its own.
Flowerhorn cichlid tank size, for exactly one fish
Four sources publish a volume for a flowerhorn cichlid and every one of them is for a single animal, because every one of them keeps this fish alone. That makes the tank row easier to read than on most records here and the total harder to accept.
- 50 gallons is Everything Fishkeeping’s minimum, with each additional fish requiring another 50. It is the only figure under seventy, and the same page puts the adult at 10 to 16 inches.
- 70 gallons is Aquarium Source’s figure for one fish, and another 70 for a second. It is what this record prints.
- 75 gallons is Aquarium Store Depot’s minimum for a single fish.
- 300 liters, 79.25 gallons, is what aqua-fish asks for a single adult.
Then the two figures that are not about one fish, and they are the ones worth reading twice. Aquarium Store Depot asks for 150 gallons minimum for a breeding pair and 215 gallons minimum before any tank mate goes in at all. Everything Fishkeeping asks for a 150 gallon divided tank to breed them.
So the honest version of this row is that a flowerhorn is a seventy gallon fish alone and a two hundred gallon fish in company. Three records here start higher: our clown loach at 120 gallons, and our oscar and discus records at 75 each. The difference is that all three of those ask for more than one fish.
And it stays one, in every source we hold
Aquarium Store Depot: flowerhorns are the most aggressively territorial freshwater fish most hobbyists will encounter, they are not community fish, and they require a species-only tank. Everything Fishkeeping: best kept alone, though it adds that the best tank mate is actually one of their own. Aquarium Source agrees that another flowerhorn is the easiest tank mate. Wikipedia describes the temper rather than the number: like most other cichlids, flowerhorns are aggressive and can breed quickly.
Our stocking calculator works from the 70 gallon figure, and our stocking page is where this site keeps the arithmetic that shop tanks leave out.
The full record
| Field | Recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum tank | 70 gal | Four figures, all of them for a single fish, because every source keeps this animal alone. Aquarium Source: 70 gallons for one fish, and another 70 gallons for a second. Aquarium Store Depot: 75 gallons for a single fish, 150 gallons minimum for a breeding pair, and 215 gallons minimum before any tank mate. aqua-fish: at least 300 liters, 79.25 US gallons, for a single adult. Everything Fishkeeping is the outlier at a 50 gallon aquarium, with each additional fish requiring another 50. The row prints 70 because that is the lowest figure three of the four sources support, and the fourth is worth reading against its own size row: the same page puts the adult at 10 to 16 inches. Three records here ask for more from the start: the clown loach at 120 gallons for a group of six, and the oscar and the discus at 75 each. |
| Temperature | 80 to 86 °F | Four sources publish a band, Wikipedia publishes none, and 80 to 86 °F is the span all four contain. Aquarium Source: 80 °F to 86 °F. Everything Fishkeeping is the warmest at 80 to 89 °F. aqua-fish: 25 to 30 C, 77 to 86 °F. Aquarium Store Depot: 75 to 86 °F, 24 to 30 C. The floor comes from the two American care sheets at 80 and the ceiling from three of the four at 86. That floor of 80 is the third warmest on this site, after the discus at 85 and the clown loach at a single figure of 82. Below those three, nothing here starts above 78. |
| pH | 7.0 to 7.5 | Four bands and the overlap is narrow. Aquarium Source: 7 to 8. Everything Fishkeeping: 7.0 to 8.0. aqua-fish: 7 to 7.5. Aquarium Store Depot: 6.5 to 8.0, and it prints 6.5 to 7.8 in another section of the same guide. So the floor is the three sources that will not go below 7.0 and the ceiling is aqua-fish at 7.5. Every other record on this site allows some water below neutral; this is the only one where three of five sources will not. |
| Hardness | 161 to 358 ppm | Four sources publish general hardness and they overlap from 9 to 20 dGH, which Aquarium Store Depot converts on its own page to 161 to 358 ppm. Aquarium Source and Everything Fishkeeping both give 8 to 20 dGH. aqua-fish gives 6 to 25 dGH, 107.14 to 446.43 ppm. Aquarium Store Depot gives 9 to 20 dGH and adds a carbonate figure nobody else publishes, 3 to 6 dKH, 54 to 107 ppm. That floor of 161 ppm is the third highest on this site, after the nerite snail and the oscar records at 215 ppm each. What makes it unusual is the pH beside it: this is the only record here where three sources refuse to go below neutral, so the water is asked for rather than tolerated. |
| Adult size | 9.5 to 16 in | There is no length every source supports, which has not happened on any other record here. aqua-fish: 24 to 28 cm, 9.45 to 11.02 inch. Everything Fishkeeping: 10 to 16 inches. Aquarium Source: 12 to 16 inches. Aquarium Store Depot: 12 to 16 inches, 30.4 to 40.6 cm, depending on variant. Wikipedia publishes no size. The aqua-fish ceiling of 11.02 in sits below the floor of 12 that two sources start at, so the four ranges have no value in common and the row carries the whole span instead of an overlap. Read the strain note beside it: two sources say the adult size depends on which variety the fish is, and station 05 is the reason that is not a small caveat. |
| Diet | Omnivore, and a heavy one | All four care sources describe the same diet and the same schedule problem. Aquarium Store Depot: meaty foods including brine shrimp, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, earthworms, fish fillet and krill, with boiled peas, zucchini, lettuce and cucumber for the vegetable half, adults fed 2 to 3 times daily and juveniles 5 to 10 times. Everything Fishkeeping asks for a high protein diet but also one with vegetables, naming pellets, earthworms, mosquito larvae, algae, spinach, zucchini, cucumber, shrimp, crickets, bloodworms and crawfish, fed three times a day for five minutes each time. Aquarium Source builds on plant-based pellets with bloodworms, crickets, grasshoppers, worms and shrimp for protein. aqua-fish asks for high quality cichlid pellets, live or frozen earthworms and bloodworms, small feeder fish, and vegetables like peas. Two of the four name feeder fish or fillet, which no other record on this site does. |
| Water column | All levels | No source states a layer, and on a fish this size in a tank kept species-only the question is close to meaningless: one animal in seventy gallons uses all of it. Our oscar and goldfish records carry the same value for the same reason. What the sources do describe is the tank furniture, and Aquarium Store Depot asks for twice-weekly water changes of 30 to 60 percent with powerful filtration, which is the heaviest maintenance schedule any record here carries. |
| Lifespan | 10 to 12 years | Three sources publish a figure and they nearly agree. Everything Fishkeeping and Aquarium Store Depot both give 10 to 12 years. Aquarium Source gives 11 to 12. aqua-fish and Wikipedia publish no lifespan. The row prints the span the three cover. It sits below our axolotl, oscar and clown loach records, all of which reach twenty years or more, which is worth knowing beside the tank figure: seventy gallons for a decade rather than for three. |
| Growth rate | Mature at 8 to 10 months, hump after a year | Three sources give a stage rather than a rate and they line up. Wikipedia: breeders wait until 8 to 10 months for a male fish to reach sexual maturity, then pair it with a female to test fertility. Aquarium Store Depot: breeding maturity at about 8 to 10 months for males and up to 2 years for females. aqua-fish: the nuchal hump develops after a year of age, with males often showing larger humps. Nobody publishes a length at an age, which is the figure our clown loach and goldfish records carry. |
The same nine fields for every animal on this site are in the A to Z index.
Where our sources disagree
Every record here names a disagreement. On this one it is whether the animal can reproduce at all, which is a strange thing for four sources to be unable to settle.
Aquarium Store Depot
Fertile specimens are extremely rare.
aqua-fish
Flowerhorns are relatively easy to breed in captivity.
What we record: we print both and take neither, and here the count is worth stating because it is three to one. Wikipedia: the majority of flowerhorn males are sterile, cannot reproduce, and breeders wait until 8 to 10 months for a male to reach sexual maturity then pair it with a female to test fertility.
Everything Fishkeeping: many females are sterile due to the hybrid origin. Aquarium Source: a lot of these fish are not fertile. Against those three, aqua-fish calls breeding relatively easy and gives a timetable, eggs hatching after 3 to 4 days with fry free-swimming days later.
Both halves can be true of a hybrid population, where most individuals are sterile and the rare fertile pair spawns readily, and none of our four sources says that. It is the reading this record would take if it were taking one, and it is printed here as ours rather than as anybody’s figure.
Types of flowerhorn, and why the list keeps changing
Three of our sources name varieties and no two lists match, which is what happens when the names come from breeders and the trade rather than from a taxonomy.
| Source | Names it publishes |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Four main varieties: zhen zhu, golden monkey, kamfa, and the golden base group |
| Aquarium Store Depot | Five original strains, called Luohans: faders, golden trimax, golden monkey, kamfa, zhen zhu. Modern popular varieties: golden monkey, red dragon, thai silk, with king kamfa noted for white or yellow eyes |
| Aquarium Source | Zhen zhu, thai silk, golden monkey, red dragon |
| Everything Fishkeeping | Red dragon, red star, golden monkey, blue diamond, titanium |
| aqua-fish | names none |
One name appears on all four lists: the golden monkey. Wikipedia attaches a price to it that explains why the list of names keeps growing, reporting that a golden monkey sold for $600,000 during a Malaysian exhibition in 2009.
Zhen zhu and kamfa appear on three lists, red dragon on three, thai silk on two, and faders, golden trimax, red star, blue diamond and titanium on one each. None of our sources defines any of them in a way another source could check, and Aquarium Store Depot is the only one that separates original strains from modern varieties at all.
This matters for one figure on the record rather than for all of them. Aquarium Store Depot says the adult size is 12 to 16 inches depending on variant, and Everything Fishkeeping starts at 10, so a buyer choosing a tank from a length is choosing from a number that our own sources say depends on a variety name nobody has defined.
What no source publishes is a difference in care between varieties. Every water figure, tank figure and diet on this record applies to all of them, because not one of our five sources says otherwise.
The kok, and the one myth a source names as a myth
What it is
Wikipedia gives the anatomy and both names: their head protuberance is formally called a nuchal hump, and males possess the kok, or the nuchal hump, on their foreheads.
aqua-fish gives the timing: it develops after a year of age, with males often showing larger humps. Aquarium Source gives the part that surprises people, that it can expand or shrink in the span of a few days, and says it indicates good genetics and health.
Aquarium Store Depot says what it depends on: genetics, diet and water quality.
What one source will not let stand
Aquarium Store Depot prints it as a myth in its own words: the most persistent myth about flowerhorns is that bigger is always better when it comes to their nuchal hump.
Read that against Aquarium Source, which says the hump indicates good genetics and health, and the two are not quite in conflict: one is about health and the other about the show-fish market that prices a hump by size. Nothing our sources publish links hump size to the fish’s lifespan, water needs or temper.
The hump is also the sexing method, which is the next thing every source addresses. Aquarium Store Depot: males are 1 to 2 inches larger, more brightly colored with pearlized scales, with V-shaped vents and massive nuchal humps, while females have U-shaped vents and absent or minimal humps. Everything Fishkeeping: males have very large forehead swellings and very pronounced lips, and young individuals appear nearly identical. Aquarium Source: males are typically larger with very prominent lips.
What a flowerhorn cichlid does to the tank it is in
Substrate, plants and decor
Aquarium Store Depot is the only one of our sources that describes the setup in detail, and every item on its list is chosen for what the fish does to it.
- Substrate: sand or large tiles without any sharp edges, because sand lets the fish dig to its heart’s content without the risk of injury. Coarse gravel is to be avoided, and some keepers run a bare bottom tank for easy cleaning.
- Plants: the fish will uproot and consume them, so the source asks for unpalatable species that grow on objects rather than in the substrate, naming Anubias nana and java fern, and adds: be prepared for some casualties, since these big fish will damage some of your plants.
- Decor: large heavy rocks or driftwood, large and heavy enough not to be knocked over, and secured to the bottom of the tank if you can.
- Filtration: a canister filter, which the source says will create the correct flow while removing solids, with moderate to high flow.
Our java fern record is one of the two plants named, and the reason it survives is the reason that record exists: it grows attached to wood or rock rather than rooted in substrate, so there is nothing for a digging fish to pull up. Anubias now has a record of its own, and it carries this source: never bury the rhizome in substrate or it will rot.
The behavior nobody else on this site has a record for
The same source describes what living with the animal looks like, and it is worth quoting because no other record here carries anything like it. On the digging: substrate gets piled into mounds, decorations get shoved into corners, heaters get knocked sideways.
On recognition: flowerhorns learn to recognize the person who feeds them. They follow you across the room, beg for food, and display aggression toward strangers.
And on hands in the tank, in the source’s own words rather than ours: they will bite your hand during water changes and mean it. It bites you. Not a nip. A bite with intent.
Read that beside the maintenance schedule and it becomes a practical problem rather than a personality note. The same guide asks for twice-weekly water changes of 30 to 60 percent, which is the heaviest schedule any record on this site carries, and each one of them puts a hand in the tank of the fish four sources call the most aggressive animal they cover.
Nothing in our other four sources contradicts any of this, and nothing in them repeats it either: aggression toward other fish is described by all five, and aggression toward the keeper by one.
Flowerhorn tank mates, read against our own records
Three sources publish a compatible list and one publishes a list to avoid. Put both against the other twenty five records this site holds and the result is short.
| Named by a source | Which source | Our record, and what the water says |
|---|---|---|
| Oscar | Named as compatible by three | 75 to 80 °F against 80 to 86 here. One degree of overlap, marked a caution |
| Bristlenose pleco | Named as compatible by two | 74 to 79 °F. The bands do not meet at all, so the grid prints no overlap |
| Betta | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping | 72 to 86 °F, which contains this record completely. Refused on the source, not the water |
| Angelfish | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping | 78 to 84 °F, overlapping 80 to 84. Refused on the source |
| Goldfish | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping | 68 to 74 °F. Refused twice over, since the bands never meet |
| Shrimp | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping, and named as food by two | Cherry shrimp refused. Amano and ghost shrimp are the same argument |
| Snails | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping | Nerite snail at 72 to 79 °F. The bands do not meet either |
| Tetras and rasboras | Named to avoid by Everything Fishkeeping | Ember tetra and chili rasbora, both under an inch. Inside every rule on this page |
The compatible lists are longer than the table suggests and almost none of it is written here. Aquarium Store Depot names fourteen: another flowerhorn, sailfin plecos, leopard plecos, bichir, silver arowana, bristlenose plecos, jaguar cichlids, common plecos, clown plecos, giant gourami, lowland cichlids, spotted hoplo, armored catfish and oscar cichlids. Aquarium Source names seven of the same kind. Everything Fishkeeping names oscars, plecos, jaguar cichlids and bichirs. aqua-fish asks for large, peaceful bottom-dwellers like plecos or robust cichlids, only in very large tanks with hiding spots.
Every one of those lists is a list of large fish, and every source attaches a volume to it. Aquarium Store Depot’s is the specific one: 215 gallons minimum before any tank mate. Our tank mates grid prints the two pairings our own records can speak to and the reason each one is refused or cautioned.
The oscar pairing is the interesting one. Three of our sources recommend it, and our own two records leave exactly one degree of shared water, 80 °F. That is a recommendation our own rows can barely support, and it is printed as a caution rather than removed.
Breeding, and whether it can breed at all
Station 04 prints the dispute. Here is the whole of what our sources say, because the disagreement is unusual: it is three to one, and the one has a timetable.
- Wikipedia: the majority of flowerhorn males are sterile, cannot reproduce. Breeders wait until 8 to 10 months for a male fish to reach sexual maturity then pair it with a female to test fertility.
- Aquarium Store Depot: fertile specimens are extremely rare. Males reach breeding maturity at about 8 to 10 months and females up to 2 years.
- Everything Fishkeeping: many females are sterile due to the hybrid origin.
- Aquarium Source: a lot of these fish are not fertile.
- aqua-fish: flowerhorns are relatively easy to breed in captivity, with eggs hatching after 3 to 4 days and fry free-swimming days later.
Notice that the three sources naming sterility do not name the same sex. Wikipedia says most males, Everything Fishkeeping says many females, Aquarium Store Depot says specimens without specifying. That is three descriptions of the same commercial problem from three directions.
The numbers, for the rare pair that works
Aquarium Store Depot: females lay around 900 eggs on smooth surfaces, and the male fertilizes and guards them until hatching. Everything Fishkeeping: usually around 800 or 900 eggs, in a 150 gallon divided tank. Aquarium Source says the fry need live food, brine shrimp, fed five to ten times a day, which is the same instruction our brine shrimp guide exists to make possible.
Nine hundred eggs from an animal most of whose individuals are sterile is the whole flowerhorn story in one line. Wikipedia describes what happened to the surplus: breeding resulted in culling of surplus and deformed fish, and station 09 is where that goes.
The part of flowerhorn care that happens outside the tank
What Wikipedia records
Numerous cast-off flowerhorns have been released to the wild, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, where they have become an invasive pest animal.
On how they got there it is specific, and it goes back to the breeding in station 08: the trade resulted in culling of surplus and deformed fish, some of which were dumped in the wild in Malaysia and Singapore, where they survived and disrupted riverine and pond ecosystems.
On why they persist: like most other cichlids, flowerhorns are aggressive and can breed quickly, competing with and eating native fish. And on the regulatory answer, one sentence: their importation is banned in Australia.
What the care sheets say
Two of the four mention it and both keep it short. Aquarium Source: fish found in the wild were released by people, and they have quickly become an invasive species. Aquarium Store Depot: some flowerhorns have been illegally released into the wild and are now invasive species in certain habitats.
Everything Fishkeeping and aqua-fish do not raise it at all.
This is on the record because it is a care fact rather than a political one. A fish that lives ten to twelve years, reaches sixteen inches, cannot share a tank and is banned from import into one country is a fish whose rehoming problem is part of buying it. Wikipedia’s sentence about breeders waiting 8 to 10 months to test whether a male is fertile is the same problem seen from the supply side: the fish that fail the test still exist.
Our about page explains why this site publishes the awkward half of a record rather than the buying half.
What this record will not answer
What it is a cross of
Five sources and four different answers, and the most detailed of them says nobody seems to know or is not telling. We are not going to average a pedigree.
How big it gets
Nine and a half inches to sixteen, with no length all four sources support. Two of them say it depends on a variety name none of them defines.
Whether yours can breed
Three sources say most cannot and one says breeding is relatively easy. The only test any source describes is trying it at 8 to 10 months.
A scientific name
There is none. Two of our sources say so directly and the row on the record says it too, which is the first time that field has been anything other than a binomial.
Whether a hump means a healthy fish
One source says it indicates good genetics and health, another names bigger is better as the most persistent myth about the animal. Neither is a measurement.
Which variety to buy
Four lists of names, one name common to all four, no definitions and a $600,000 auction price on the record. That is a market question and this is a care record.
Flowerhorn questions, answered from the record
What is a flowerhorn fish?
A man-made hybrid cichlid with no scientific name. Wikipedia calls them hybrids and not true species and dates flowerhorn breeding to 1993, with the fish reaching the aquarium market in Malaysia in the late 1990s. aqua-fish says outright that the flowerhorn does not have an official scientific name. Our sources name between two and six possible parent species and do not agree on which.
What tank size does a flowerhorn cichlid need?
70 gallons for one fish, which is the lowest figure three of our four sources support. Aquarium Source says 70 and another 70 for a second fish, Aquarium Store Depot says 75, aqua-fish says 300 liters or 79.25 gallons, and Everything Fishkeeping is the outlier at 50. Add a tank mate and Aquarium Store Depot asks for 215 gallons minimum; breed them and it asks for 150.
What is the flowerhorn water temp?
80 to 86 °F, the span all four published bands contain. Aquarium Source gives 80 to 86, Everything Fishkeeping 80 to 89, aqua-fish 77 to 86 and Aquarium Store Depot 75 to 86. It is the warmest floor on this site apart from our discus record at 85.
How big do flowerhorns get?
Between nine and a half and sixteen inches, and there is no length all four sources agree on. aqua-fish says 24 to 28 cm, 9.45 to 11.02 in; Everything Fishkeeping says 10 to 16; Aquarium Source and Aquarium Store Depot both say 12 to 16, with Aquarium Store Depot adding that it depends on the variant. Wikipedia publishes no size at all.
What is the flowerhorn cichlid lifespan?
Ten to twelve years. Everything Fishkeeping and Aquarium Store Depot both publish 10 to 12, Aquarium Source publishes 11 to 12, and aqua-fish and Wikipedia publish none. Put beside the tank figure it means seventy gallons held for a decade.
Are flowerhorns aggressive?
More than anything else on this site, per our sources, and one of them extends the aggression to the keeper: it says a flowerhorn cichlid will bite your hand during a water change and mean it. Aquarium Store Depot: flowerhorns are the most aggressively territorial freshwater fish most hobbyists will encounter, they are not community fish and they require a species-only tank. Everything Fishkeeping says best kept alone. Wikipedia says that like most other cichlids they are aggressive and can breed quickly.
What are the flowerhorn tank mates our sources allow?
Large fish, in a much larger tank. Aquarium Store Depot names fourteen, including another flowerhorn, sailfin and leopard plecos, bichir, silver arowana, jaguar cichlids, giant gourami and oscars, and asks for 215 gallons minimum before any of them. Aquarium Source names oscars, plecos, bichirs and arowanas. Everything Fishkeeping names oscars, plecos, jaguar cichlids and bichirs, and says the best tank mate is one of their own. Of all of those we hold records for the oscar and the bristlenose pleco, and our own rows leave one degree of shared water with the first and none with the second.
What should never go in with a flowerhorn?
Everything Fishkeeping publishes the list: shrimp, snails, tetras, bettas, goldfish, angelfish and rasboras. That names seven of the animals this site holds records for, and station 07 prints each one with the temperature beside it. Two other sources list brine shrimp and small feeder fish as food rather than as company.
What are the types of flowerhorn?
Four of our sources name varieties and only one name appears on every list, the golden monkey. Wikipedia names zhen zhu, golden monkey, kamfa and the golden base group. Aquarium Store Depot names five original Luohan strains, faders, golden trimax, golden monkey, kamfa and zhen zhu, plus modern red dragon and thai silk. Aquarium Source names zhen zhu, thai silk, golden monkey and red dragon. Everything Fishkeeping names red dragon, red star, golden monkey, blue diamond and titanium. None of them defines any variety, and no source publishes a care difference between them.
What is the hump on a flowerhorn head?
A nuchal hump, called a kok. Wikipedia gives both names and says males possess it. aqua-fish says it develops after a year of age. Aquarium Source says it can expand or shrink in the span of a few days and takes it as a sign of good genetics and health. Aquarium Store Depot says it depends on genetics, diet and water quality and names the belief that bigger is always better as the most persistent myth about the fish.
How do you tell a male flowerhorn from a female?
By the hump, the size and the vent. Aquarium Store Depot: males are 1 to 2 inches larger, more brightly colored with pearlized scales, with V-shaped vents and massive nuchal humps, while females have U-shaped vents and absent or minimal humps. Everything Fishkeeping: males have very large forehead swellings and very pronounced lips, and young fish look nearly identical. Aquarium Source: males are typically larger with prominent lips.
Can flowerhorns breed?
Our sources split three to one. Wikipedia says the majority of males are sterile and that breeders wait 8 to 10 months to test a male’s fertility. Aquarium Store Depot says fertile specimens are extremely rare. Everything Fishkeeping says many females are sterile. Against those, aqua-fish calls breeding relatively easy and gives a hatching time of 3 to 4 days. Both halves can be true of a hybrid population where most individuals are sterile and a rare fertile pair spawns readily, and that reading is ours rather than any source’s.
What do flowerhorns eat?
A heavy omnivore diet, and two sources include other fish in it. Aquarium Store Depot names brine shrimp, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, earthworms, fish fillet and krill, with boiled peas, zucchini, lettuce and cucumber, fed 2 to 3 times daily. Everything Fishkeeping asks for a high protein diet with vegetables, three times a day for five minutes. Aquarium Source builds on plant-based pellets. aqua-fish names small feeder fish among the options.
Are flowerhorns invasive?
Wikipedia says so plainly: numerous cast-off flowerhorns have been released to the wild, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, where they have become an invasive pest animal, disrupting riverine and pond ecosystems, competing with and eating native fish. Their importation is banned in Australia. Aquarium Source and Aquarium Store Depot both note the releases; the other two sources do not raise it.
What a flowerhorn needs that no other record here asks for
Three things our sources ask for, and none of them is a plant.
- A tank with nothing else in itfour sources, and all four say species-only
- Twice-weekly water changes of 30 to 60 percentthe heaviest schedule any record here carries
- Hard, alkaline water9 to 20 dGH and a pH that three sources will not take below 7
Every item our records ask for is gathered on the tank setup topic.
Nothing here is a paid link. It is the shortfall between what this record asks for and what a boxed kit contains.
How this record was compiled
- By
- Verified
- Sources
Wikipedia, Flowerhorn cichlid, Aquarium Store Depot, Aquarium Source, Everything Fishkeeping and aqua-fish
- Conflicts
Printed above: three sources say most of these fish are sterile and a fourth calls breeding relatively easy. Our sources also disagree about which cichlids it is a cross of, and no adult length is supported by all four sources that publish one
- Not recorded
A scientific name, a wild range and a natural habitat, because there are none: this animal was made by breeders in the 1990s. Also a length at an age, which three of our five sources replace with a sexual maturity date