Planning to buy a flowerhorn

[Aquatic Aggression]

You should get some substrate in there for him to work on. Bare bottom tanks are for goldfish, not territorial cichlids.

 

[Ruturaj]

Man that’s a beautiful fish! Looks like the kok is just starting to come back out. Who ever helped you pick that beauty out deserves a pat on the back. Good eye!

Man, thank you so much to guide me on him.

 

[Ruturaj]

You should get some substrate in there for him to work on. Bare bottom tanks are for goldfish, not territorial cichlids.

I prefer bare bottom, easy to clean. I think RD. keeps his FH tanks bare bottom as well. I was thinking to follow him on temperature as well.

I kept all of mine in bare bottom as well, much easier to keep clean, and with FH cleanliness is very important, both water and filters. The less bacteria the better. I also kept my temps cooler than most, 78-79 F. Bacteria tends to grow faster in warmer water, especially certain pathogenic bacteria such as columnaris aka duck lips.

As far as variety, as long as the fish is eating eagerly, most commercial foods already contain a "wide variety" of raw ingredients. If one wants to feed 2 or 3 different pellet brands that's fine, I just tend to avoid high protein foods (as already mentioned previously by other members) and I avoid meaty foods, including fresh/frozen/freeze dried. Others may disagree with my approach, but the KISS (keep it simple stupid) has always worked best for me when keeping fish that are known to have sensitive gastrointestinal systems. That includes numerous bloat prone cichlids, over many years of keeping cichlids. Higher protein is fine for very young fish that have much higher metabolic rates, but your fish is well past that point now, where a more maintenance level of protein/fat is more ideal. Similar from switching a young dog from puppy food, to an adult formula.

Make sure to update this thread over time, I'd like to see how he eventually turns out.
Good luck!

 

[RD.]

I've kept FH in both, along with various other cichlids over many years. IMO there is no need for substrate in a FH tank, but do whatever floats your boat.

 

[Ruturaj]

I've kept FH in both, along with various other cichlids over many years. IMO there is no need for substrate in a FH tank, but do whatever floats your boat.

Thank you. I will keep bare bottom, all my previous (8 years ago) flowerhorn tanks have been bare bottom.

 

[Fishenvy]

This is kamfa from EA imports

View attachment 1397179

This guy is amazing. Great pick up!

 

[Ruturaj]

Here's he chasing my hand

 

[Ozzie73]

Beautiful! He's a happy little guy for sure. I've always like the white look on these. Nice snag man.

 

[Ruturaj]

You should get some substrate in there for him to work on. Bare bottom tanks are for goldfish, not territorial cichlids.

Hey, I have been thinking about this. What did you mean when you said work on? Like play with it? I will try adding few lbs as an experiment to see if it's beneficial, any suggestions on type? Something like Imagitarium Black Aquarium Sand from petco?

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

Hey, I have been thinking about this. What did you mean when you said work on? Like play with it? I will try adding few lbs as an experiment to see if it's beneficial, any suggestions on type? Something like Imagitarium Black Aquarium Sand from petco?

They love digging and moving rocks and sand. When you see it you will know its right. I would advise against sand as he can carry it right to your filter intake. A thin layer of just natural aquarium rock works great.