New Flowerhorn Baby

[fishiefishie]

Hi all!

This is my first post on this forum and I just wanted to reach out to you guys in regards to my new FH baby I picked up for $10 at a local Texas chinatown fish store. They had dozens of these guys as well as really nice large FH with nice colors and humps. I was told he is an "Indonesian Flowerhorn". His tail fin is nipped from the others but his colors were the best out of the rest of the babies so I decided to go with him/her. It doesn't look like fin-rot and the tank looks very healthy. He is very active and aggressive. He is attacking his reflection in the glass thinking it's another fish. I put a zebra danio in the tank with him for something he can chase and show dominance over. After five minutes I found the poor danio stuffed in his mouth. He devoured it! I suppose this aggression supports my hypothesis that he is a Male FH with nice colors. He is about two inches in length and has a tiny little nuchal hump.

I ordered some NLS Thera-a 2mm pellets and some Grand Sumo Red since he is very picky with his food, they get here Monday. I have not been feeding him regularly since I just got him yesterday. I tried some NLS cichlid pellets and he spits them out. I then bought some FLUVAL BUG BITES CICHLID FORMULA that were recommended because of their strong odor and he downed the first several pellets but then spit up the last two.

Water quality is pristine and way over filtered. Temp is 82-83F, pH is 7.8 constant and buffered. I use Seachem Prime, Stability, Pristine, Stress-guard, and will begin adding Seachem's cichlid salt to help prevent internal parasites.

Any information, help, instructions, and guidelines are appreciated!

 

[flowerhornfishman]

put a bigger dither next time, parasites can easily occur in him if he eats other fish. keep an eye more on him as him spitting his food cud prrbly be a sign of an internal parasites cuz ive had kept fh tht did just the same. but all are good. he wud be better in a single tank. keep updating and welcome to mfk he cud have great potential

 

[fishiefishie]

put a bigger dither next time, parasites can easily occur in him if he eats other fish. keep an eye more on him as him spitting his food cud prrbly be a sign of an internal parasites cuz ive had kept fh tht did just the same. but all are good. he wud be better in a single tank. keep updating and welcome to mfk he cud have great potential

I won't be feeding him any live food anymore. I am feeding him three NLS Thera-A 2mm pellets twice a day and I just started dropping one Grand Sumo Red pellets in for him once every 2-3 days in-between feedings. I treated the tank as a precaution with Seachem Paraguard and his food with a mixture of Seachem Metroplex, Focus, and Garlic Guard since my last FH did have white stringy poop. This one is pooping nice and chunky and has a great appetite. He loves swimming up and down with the bubble wall I got him.

I had purchased a previous flowerhorn from Petsmart that had stringy poop and horrible potential. I returned him for a full refund and purchased one of these "Grade A" Flowerhorns from a local fish store. He doesn't seem to have the black "tattoo" on his dorsal fin that females commonly have. His nuchal hump has also grown a bit since I last posted!

I'll be feeding him the NLS Thera A 2mm as a staple with interchanging Grand Sumo Red once every two days.

I have a couple questions for whoever can answer them.

1. Is this selection of food good for the life of the fish or should I consider getting frozen food/more selection.

2. Does he need an air pump if I'm using a sunsun 404b canister filter? The air pump is quite strong and creates micro bubbles that make the tank look cloudy.

3. How does the flow of the canister filter affect the body shape and growth of the FH?

 

[flowerhornfishman]

I won't be feeding him any live food anymore. I am feeding him three NLS Thera-A 2mm pellets twice a day and I just started dropping one Grand Sumo Red pellets in for him once every 2-3 days in-between feedings. I treated the tank as a precaution with Seachem Paraguard and his food with a mixture of Seachem Metroplex, Focus, and Garlic Guard since my last FH did have white stringy poop. This one is pooping nice and chunky and has a great appetite. He loves swimming up and down with the bubble wall I got him.

I had purchased a previous flowerhorn from Petsmart that had stringy poop and horrible potential. I returned him for a full refund and purchased one of these "Grade A" Flowerhorns from a local fish store. He doesn't seem to have the black "tattoo" on his dorsal fin that females commonly have. His nuchal hump has also grown a bit since I last posted!

I'll be feeding him the NLS Thera A 2mm as a staple with interchanging Grand Sumo Red once every two days.

I have a couple questions for whoever can answer them.

1. Is this selection of food good for the life of the fish or should I consider getting frozen food/more selection.

2. Does he need an air pump if I'm using a sunsun 404b canister filter? The air pump is quite strong and creates micro bubbles that make the tank look cloudy.

3. How does the flow of the canister filter affect the body shape and growth of the FH?

If he is looking better, than u r doing just fine, but if you wan to increase his kok and color more, then you shud feed him the grand sumo more. NLS can be feed once in a while for digestion purposes. but his diet should be varied, frozen and dried food are the best as a treat. but nver live food if i were you just to prevent from internal diseases.

Is the canister filter strong enough that makes him difficult to swim? how big is ur tank? if the tank is big enuf then he wouldnt be affected by the canister flow. if the flow is not tht affecting him then the caniter os fine enuf. but if its not, sponge filter(air pump) is the best for them. put two in one tank to make btter filtration. based on other flowerhornkeepers experience, slow current flow makes it easier to groom it. to get it to reach full potential. plus with good diet.

 

[fishiefishie]

After the one week treatment of metroplex, focus, and paraguard I will begin feeding grand sumo red as a staple with NLS, Fluval Bug Bites, and shrimp pellets interchanged once in a while. I'll get some frozen beef heart and blood worms when he gets bigger. He's just over 2" right now and showing great color with a nice little hump already. I'll take better pics soon. He has a white spot on his head that I thought was HITH but it turns out it's just a weird looking pearl/marking. He's already being treated medications that cover HITH so it's very unusual. There's also a small amount of salt in the tank with the temp at 82.5F.

He's in a 20 gallon with a SUNSUN 404B using the spray bar pointing the towards the back glass. He loves to swim against the flow of the output sometimes. It is difficult for him to swim when he does that. I am prepping a 55 gallon column tank for him that I will reseal and transfer him to within the next week. I will be using the same 404B canister that is rated for 100+ gallons with 525gph flow and a sponge filter meant for 125gallons.

 

[fishiefishie]

It seems as if the white spot on his head has disappeared? What could it have been? What should I do? Continue treating for another week?

 

[flowerhornfishman]

After the one week treatment of metroplex, focus, and paraguard I will begin feeding grand sumo red as a staple with NLS, Fluval Bug Bites, and shrimp pellets interchanged once in a while. I'll get some frozen beef heart and blood worms when he gets bigger. He's just over 2" right now and showing great color with a nice little hump already. I'll take better pics soon. He has a white spot on his head that I thought was HITH but it turns out it's just a weird looking pearl/marking. He's already being treated medications that cover HITH so it's very unusual. There's also a small amount of salt in the tank with the temp at 82.5F.

He's in a 20 gallon with a SUNSUN 404B using the spray bar pointing the towards the back glass. He loves to swim against the flow of the output sometimes. It is difficult for him to swim when he does that. I am prepping a 55 gallon column tank for him that I will reseal and transfer him to within the next week. I will be using the same 404B canister that is rated for 100+ gallons with 525gph flow and a sponge filter meant for 125gallons.

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your diet on him is good enough
white spot you said? usually before a disease starts it will show unusual behaviours. tht white spot on his head looks like a scaleless part of him, his fins are a bit torn so he might have been beat up at the store with other fries. so the scaleless part on his head is a rsult from being bullied by other dominant fries back at the fish store. or it might be your fh is fading? cuz a big upper part of him is dark. looks like fading to me. haha if he is doing well, not doing weird behaviours then he is fine.
my filter also makes quite a strong current but i block it using a divider. there is still flow but a bit slower haha but if u put him in a bigger tank the flow wont affect him much compared to this 20gallon.

 

[flowerhornfishman]

It seems as if the white spot on his head has disappeared? What could it have been? What should I do? Continue treating for another week?

i would only treat if he starts to show unusual behaviour.. like a few days ago, he was so stressed out and began to scratch on the gravels. i immediately did a partial water change and add salt, and increase the temp. he's good now.

 

[fishiefishie]

i would only treat if he starts to show unusual behaviour.. like a few days ago, he was so stressed out and began to scratch on the gravels. i immediately did a partial water change and add salt, and increase the temp. he's good now.

He's acting normal and very playful with the bubbles. He likes swimming up and down the tank. He's constantly picking up sand and throwing it back out. Not sure if just looking for food. He never really lost his appetite or anything. He kept eating and pooping whenever fed.

I'm not sure what is considered abnormal?
One thing I saw is that during the night he develops the stress bars across the top of his head and body and becomes quite lethargic.

 

[flowerhornfishman]

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He's acting normal and very playful with the bubbles. He likes swimming up and down the tank. He's constantly picking up sand and throwing it back out. Not sure if just looking for food. He never really lost his appetite or anything. He kept eating and pooping whenever fed.

Yeaa thats normal. they picky eaters and they always search for food. if he still eats and poops normal poop then he's good.