New to breeding.

[Rocktail Cichlid]

So I've been keeping fish for a while but now I'm looking into breeding/cross breeding.

I've always loved the color of flowerhorns, just not the shape. Not saying I can do it better, but I'd like to try. When ever I try to research what fish are in flowerhorns I always get tons of conflicting information. So what do everyone here say goes into a FH?

Also how do I go about it? Harem? Reverse harem?

Thanks for any speedy responses, friend recommended this forum and I look forward to getting to know you all.

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

The earliest fh were crosses of line bred trimac and vieja and midas and then further line bred. I don't really understand how you are applying this to your first question though. You want to know how they were created yet don't like the shape of them.

Since most breeders have a goal in mind the selected breeder fish are specific specimens (female fader fish x pearly or head male) so usually its just a straight up male + female. Usually divided or introduced when the female is ready. Since fh are so readily available I would suggest getting an established strain you like then crossing out with a fish that has the shape you want then back cross again to the pure fish then see what sibling x sibling results are. About 3 years time. Hybrids have more hurdles than a pure type color morph breeding project as infertility is an issue in the early crosses.

 

[Rocktail Cichlid]

By shape I mean the massive nucal hump that was line bred to be as large as possible. I like the idea of taking a strain I like and crossing it with the shape I like.

 

[Rocktail Cichlid]

Oh and about just having selected fish, what if they don't want to pair off?

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

That is an issue as well. If you have the space and want to try the standard method of several females to your male go for it but that's just more fish to re home in the end. You will need lots of space and tanks for a project like this so you don't want any unnecessary stock taking space away from needed pairs and grow outs.