# Flowerhorn care and picking out winners?



## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

So, I bought a batch of 5 baby flower horns, ZZ-Kamalau(sp?) mixes. I plan on growing them out and picking one to keep. What are the key things to note when picking a good fish out of a batch? Preferred foods, lighting to bring out colors? Here are some siblings of the batch I got.






























It's my first time delving into FHs, so any advice helps.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

They're all beautiful specimens. Keep them all, and see what they turn out like. Feed them a variety of dry and frozen foods, but don't overfeed them. In a couple of years they'll be monsters. Use a combination of a 50/50 actinic and a powerglow bulb to really bring out their colors.

good luck,
Blue


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Massivore,Raw shrimp,Spectrum......

Damn look at #3---

I also agree with lighting......

Congrats Hyphen


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

how about grand sumo?


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

hyphen said:


> how about grand sumo?


Overrated from what I hear man-----If you can get a good price on it-----Go for it....

Soory Hyphen I got a phone call-

As far as overated goes-
the only problem i have heard with this stuff is a price issue---The food is suppose to be really good and many use it----

I would try some of that along with raw shrimp thats been stuffed with either discus pellets or spectrum for coloration....


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

word, i'll give that a shot. picked up some freeze dried red shrimp and cichlid gold. grand sumo does look pretty steep, $30 is pushing it for pellets. i forgot to mention, the ones in the photo are not mine. those are earlier offspring from the same parents. not sure if mine will turn out that nice just yet.

i'll try the shrimp stuffing but mine are a bit too small to eat shrimp i think, they're only about 3". i've got 7 of them in my 80 and it already looks cramped. i think i may need to get rid of some in a few months.

i've got a coralife aqualight single-strip t5 right now. i had planned to do a planted tank but i'm not so sure about it with flowerhorns. i may still invest in a 50/50 though.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

hyphen said:


> word, i'll give that a shot. picked up some freeze dried red shrimp and cichlid gold. grand sumo does look pretty steep, $30 is pushing it for pellets. i forgot to mention, the ones in the photo are not mine. those are earlier offspring from the same parents. not sure if mine will turn out that nice just yet.
> 
> i'll try the shrimp stuffing but mine are a bit too small to eat shrimp i think, they're only about 3". i've got 7 of them in my 80 and it already looks cramped. i think i may need to get rid of some in a few months.
> 
> i've got a coralife aqualight single-strip t5 right now. i had planned to do a planted tank but i'm not so sure about it with flowerhorns. i may still invest in a 50/50 though.


Sounds good man....$30 is steep-But it's suppose to be good stuff...So might as well-then you can let the rest of us know more about it as well....I dont even have access to it up here-

Shrimp can be cut into any size for the feedings







so that shouldn't be too much of a problem...

Even if them are only the Earlier offspring-still got some nice genes to work with by the looks of it..Should be that much of a difference-IMO....

The 50/50 will give the best results-A planted tank will be more work than something to enjoy with them FH-Especially that many little diggers....You'll certainly have to get rid of some pretty soon-But I'm sure they will let you know when that time comes :laugh:

Enjoy the adventure mna---It will be a fun one-
Start off early with one-It could be trained pretty easy also......Alot of personality with these guys...


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

yeah, i'm gonna beef these guys up. who knows, if i get more than one good looker i may make room for another tank, lol. feels good to be back into the fish hobby. i almost forgot how fun and potentially expensive it was.


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## Chapz (Jul 9, 2007)

Keep them all.
I actually have a 4"male and 3"female ZZ-Rainbow FH.
The humps on your look great already.


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## andymellon4 (Mar 17, 2009)

idk how you could think about getting rid of any of those

mine is 10 inches and yours looks as good if not better(but mine is just a red star i think i got him for 30 dollars at 6-7 inches)


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

again, those aren't mine, theyre from and earlier batch of fry. these are mine (crappy vid and pics) but you can see some of them are starting to show nice flower lines and pearls at 2.5"


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## dood (Jan 7, 2005)

My favorite fish,if they look anything like the first ones, I think you will have to keep them all.swwseeeeeeeeet.


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