# Photo log of my flowerhorns



## hyphen

So I'm attempting to grow out some flowerhorns for the first time. I picked up 7 for $30, pretty cheap. They are ZZ x Kamalau. Anyhow, I only plan on keeping a male and a female so I'd like to document their growth from the week I pick them up to the week I start letting them go.

*Week 1* - Got them acclimated and eating Hikari Gold






















*Week 2* - Filling out a little bit and showing some color. Now eating a pellet mixture of ChingMix SP80 Headbooster and Maxima with Hikari Gold and freeze dried red shrimp.





























This is the boss. His "spot" is behind the rocks, but after feeding he sits on top of the rocks, smack in the middle, and chases EVERYONE away, including the turtles.















I wish I had a better camera (I quickly did a ghetto blur job on some pics that looked ugly). The pics don't really show how their pearls bling and the red on their bodies.

This weekend I'm going to be dividing the tank 7 ways. They've been chasing each other and fighting alot already and some flowerhorn fans have been telling me to divide them up and watch them grow. Their potential, I guess, is more easily gauged that way. *shrug*


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## His Majesty

interesting. look forward to following your progress and the pics.

however im sightly confused. what is the purpose of documenting their growth then 'letting them go'?
i'm assuming as your keeping a male and a female you are going to breed them?


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## hyphen

yeah ill probably breed them. but if i get 2 good looking males i'll keep them both. i thought it might be fun to show the process of a newb picking out a good flowerhorn from a batch of fry...just to show what qualities to look for.


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## hyphen

one more pic of the big boy that i snapped after feeding...like clockwork, after feeding he sat on his rock and chased everone else out.


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## His Majesty

he looks good. his colour is showing up real nice and bright

lol i like the turtle swimming off to the right


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## hyphen

thanks!

yeah the turtles... they eat a LOT. 2 red ear sliders. my girlfriend got them from some mexican kid when we went shopping in downtown l.a. they were about the size of a silver dollar, no bigger than a hatchling. since then the biggest guy has grown to a carapace length of about 4", the smaller one about 3". my flowerhorns actually prefer their turtle pellets to the cichlid pellet mix i made :/ they will actually snatch the pellets from each others mouths.


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## FEEFA

Looking pretty good so far Hyphen, hope they turn out KOK'y for ya


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## Moondemon

This is a great thread ! 
I'd alos like, one day, to do the same: buy a few, grow them out and keep the best looking one(s).
I'll be looking forward for some weekly updates.


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## notaverage

hyphen said:


> thanks!
> 
> yeah the turtles... they eat a LOT. 2 red ear sliders. my girlfriend got them from some mexican kid when we went shopping in downtown l.a. they were about the size of a silver dollar, no bigger than a hatchling. since then the biggest guy has grown to a carapace length of about 4", the smaller one about 3". my flowerhorns actually prefer their turtle pellets to the cichlid pellet mix i made :/ they will actually snatch the pellets from each others mouths.


Hope they dont have Swine Flu.










Looking forward to the progress though!!


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## gtc

Those r nice keep us updated man.


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## His Majesty

any updates?

got a couple shacking it up yet?


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## hyphen

sorry, been extremely busy this past week. they're definitely growing. i'll try to post some pics tonight.


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## hyphen

they're being really uncooperative tonight. most of them were hiding under the rocks and wouldn't come out. only 2 would show themselves. the 2 that are somewhat cooperating are not the best ones







i'll try to capture the other ones tomorrow

this guy is the biggest, meanest, and possibly the best of the bunch. ironically, he's a colossal bitch when i come around.








here are the other two, the middle-tier of the group.





























forgot to mention that they're still only around 2-3", the biggest being almost 3".


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## His Majesty

i like their colours. nice and vibrant
keep the good work up
and keep us posted
really wanna see how well the breeding goes


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## hyphen

it'll be a while before any breeding occurs. i'm guessing at the end of the year at the soonest. i'm having trouble even sexing them at this point.


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## Grosse Gurke

They look good but damn dude...invest the $100.00 on a camera that can capture the color!!!

My pictures suck also...but Im too old to care about technology!


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## hyphen

Grosse Gurke said:


> They look good but damn dude...invest the $100.00 on a camera that can capture the color!!!
> 
> My pictures suck also...but Im too old to care about technology!


yeah, i really should invest in a better camera. maybe ill treat myself to an early xmas gift.


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## hyphen

back with some more crappy pictures. the little guys were really skittish and shy so i took some measures to get them a bit more active. i added substrate, a pleco and 4 silver dollars as dithers. seems to have done the trick as they aren't hiding under the rocks 90% of the day and the schooling silver dollars have seemingly brought the tank to life. hell, i'm considering adding another 2. i'm still frustrated that i can't take any decent pics to do these guys justice. they way their pearly scales bling under the light is really impressive. my birthday is this month, maybe ill get a new camera!


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## hyphen

i got so pissed about taking crap pics that i was determined to get some acceptable ones. here's another take.

























still not the greatest, but they will have to do.


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## His Majesty

the flowerhorns are looking great and rather attractive

keep us posted


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## hyphen

this guy is outgrowing the rest of the bunch extremely fast. i'm seriously considering dividing the tank now. the runt of the batch is showing no color, no flowers, no pearls, his fins are shredded and he just hides all day. i feel bad! he's like half the size of the big'un (whom i've named Kong). but i know which one i'm keeping for sure  he may not have as many pearly scales as some of the others, but god damn he's a mean son of a bitch.


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## His Majesty

wow that fish is big and fat

yeh i always feel sorry for the little fish who always get bullied. but that hows nature works

keep us posted


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## Blue Flame

You've got some really nice looking FH's there. Can't wait to see what they look like in a couple of years.


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## hyphen

thx! yeah i'm really eager to see how they turn out. they're growing really fast. i suspect they'll get up to about 5" in a few months.


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## Piranha_man

Great looking fish!


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## His Majesty

any signifcant updates hyphen?


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## Death in #'s

wow they look awesome

what type of turtle is that??


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## hyphen

just some red ear sliders. they've since been moved to their own 60g tank. if i missed 1 feeding they'd start trying to nip the tails of my fish. keep in mind i feed these fish almost 4-5 times a day, once in the morning and then every other hour when i get home.

no huge updates. the fish are growing, some are starting to show colors that this camera won't pick up unless i turn on the flash, in which case the colors get washed out.

this guy is one of the smalles but his colors are the boldest and show the most contrast. his body shape is also well defined for only being 2". 















this is the 2nd biggest. body shape isn't the best but the pearling on this one is amazing.


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## His Majesty

wow those guys are starting to look real impressive
good job hyphen. keep it up


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## Moondemon

Nice update !
They look real good ... the choice will be hard !


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA

You may want to think twice about keeping the a$$ hole if you are wanting to breed. I breed many chichlids and in my case a mean male will kill the female. Try to find the best male that has the best attitude, you dont want a male kill somthing you have spent so much time in. Good looking fish for the price cant find any deals that good around here. Ash flooded the market in SE michigan and now all fish stores are charging an arm and a leg. Good luck and keep us posted..


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## blbig50

Their color is really coming along


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## Fishnut2

Hyphen,
My 1st attempt at breeding flowerhorns left the bigger male beat up by the female. I'd keep more then one pair if I were you. You have a lot of time invested in grow-out. My 2nd attempt was sucessful, after keeping them seperated with a pane of glass. When they dropped thier tubes, I pulled the glass...and they spawned that night.

Best of luck!


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