Flowerhorn growout

[Deadeye]

His flowerhorn is just getting addicted to bloodworms. He needs to be fasted until he gets on hikari.

By soaking the pellets it would at least get the flowerhorn eating them right? Eventually he could stop the juice when it is eating pellets regularly.
Just feels safer than starving to me.

Bloodworm of Garlic juice? I feel like garlic juice wouldn’t be good for the water quality but would get the fish to eat it and this is going to be dumb but do you mean soak them in like a thawed out puddle of frozen bloodworms or what do you mean lol. I have no experience at all with saoking food

Garlic isn’t bad, fish like the taste so it helps to entice them to eat. Essentially when the bloodworms are thawed, the liquid with them gets soaked into the food.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Bloodworm of Garlic juice? I feel like garlic juice wouldn’t be good for the water quality but would get the fish to eat it and this is going to be dumb but do you mean soak them in like a thawed out puddle of frozen bloodworms or what do you mean lol. I have no experience at all with saoking food

Basically yes. Just thaw out some blood worms, ya can even mash em up if ya want, and just chuck the food into the mix and pet em soak up the taste. Garlic is just fine for the fish tank. It's a natural insect repellent but not much else will happen of at all. Garlic is actually a somewhat common ingredient in fish food actually. It basically adds flavor and smell, not quite sure why fish like garlic so much.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Magnus_Bane
Is it normal for flowerhorn to become more skittish when they reach a certain size and then calm down after a while or what’s going on because daisy has been zooming around the tank every now and then where before he would follow my finger. Water parameters are perfect. Think it’s stress. Should I keep lights off for a while. kno4te

 

[Magnus_Bane]

My flowerhorn is definitely an addict trust me ? I think they add a little extra something to the frozen blood worms

If I remember correctly it's because blood worms have a certain chemical in them that the fish treat like crack. At some point it will become so heavily dependent on bloodworms that it may just refuse all other foods entirely. Also FH's can't digest the skins all that well and tend to get blocked up easily as a result.

 

[HybridFinatic]

By soaking the pellets it would at least get the flowerhorn eating them right? Eventually he could stop the juice when it is eating pellets regularly.
Just feels safer than starving to me.

Garlic isn’t bad, fish like the taste so it helps to entice them to eat. Essentially when the bloodworms are thawed, the liquid with them gets soaked into the food.

Sure but fasting not "starving" is completely safe.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Magnus_Bane
Is it normal for flowerhorn to become more skittish when they reach a certain size and then calm down after a while or what’s going on because daisy has been zooming around the tank every now and then where before he would follow my finger. Water parameters are perfect. Think it’s stress. Should I keep lights off for a while. kno4te

He should be fine. I've noticed that behavior too in adolescent fish just before they hit puberty. They tend to calm down again once puberty has ended, basically around the 4in mark.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

By soaking the pellets it would at least get the flowerhorn eating them right? Eventually he could stop the juice when it is eating pellets regularly.
Just feels safer than starving to me.

Garlic isn’t bad, fish like the taste so it helps to entice them to eat. Essentially when the bloodworms are thawed, the liquid with them gets soaked into the food.

Basically yes. Just thaw out some blood worms, ya can even mash em up if ya want, and just chuck the food into the mix and pet em soak up the taste. Garlic is just fine for the fish tank. It's a natural insect repellent but not much else will happen of at all. Garlic is actually a somewhat common ingredient in fish food actually. It basically adds flavor and smell, not quite sure why fish like garlic so much.

Thanks guys. Tomorrow I’ll soak hikari pellets in bloodworm.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Sure but fasting not "starving" is completely safe.

And often necessary. I've had a few fish that I had to fast before they would eat artificial foods. I generally only have that problem with purely carnivorous fish. A FH should only take about a week tops before it should accept other foods. Either way tho they can go upto a month without food and just be fine, only really need to worry about it once it's past a month.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

He should be fine. I've noticed that behavior too in adolescent fish just before they hit puberty. They tend to calm down again once puberty has ended, basically around the 4in mark.

I started freaking out today because daisy was doing laps in the tank as fast as a F1 on a track. I love the fish but he’s a pain in the ace

 

[Rtc/tsn]

If I remember correctly it's because blood worms have a certain chemical in them that the fish treat like crack. At some point it will become so heavily dependent on bloodworms that it may just refuse all other foods entirely. Also FH's can't digest the skins all that well and tend to get blocked up easily as a result.

So what I’m understanding from this is that I need to take my flowerhorn cichlid, daisy, to a detox center?