Newbie Flowerhorn owner

Daniel36

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 18, 2018
84
117
41
34
Hawaii
Hi friend, i guess you’re right, i should let him take some time to get comfortable with his new home. I just can’t wait to see him eat the pellets :) how big is your FH now if i may ask? Mine is around 3.5”. Wondering if a 50gal tank is too big for my FH considering he is just 3.5”? Thanks.
Sorry not used to posting, he’s about the same as yours and I’ve had him for about 2 weeks now. 50gal I think is great, your FH will definitely grow into it, at the present I have my guy in a 50 as well but plan on moving him to my 100 within a year or so. But honestly I’ve heard a lot of people house their FH in a 50 do just fine.
 

Man-made Monsters

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2016
655
696
115
50 Gallon is not too big for him. If I were you I would go to the local shop that your got the Flowerhorn from and ask to have a dirty filter from one of their tanks with healthy fish in it. Put the filter in a bag with some water from the tank it was filtering. Take the dirty filter home and tear off pieces o the dirty filter and add it into your filter. This is called seeding and it is adding healthy bacteria to your tank. If you don't do this your flowerhorn could become very sick if you are not doing 20% water changes every 2-3 days for the next 2 months as your tank builds a healthy level of bacteria. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to give you advise to help save you and your fish a lot of problems.
 

Binggow

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2018
15
0
1
43
50 Gallon is not too big for him. If I were you I would go to the local shop that your got the Flowerhorn from and ask to have a dirty filter from one of their tanks with healthy fish in it. Put the filter in a bag with some water from the tank it was filtering. Take the dirty filter home and tear off pieces o the dirty filter and add it into your filter. This is called seeding and it is adding healthy bacteria to your tank. If you don't do this your flowerhorn could become very sick if you are not doing 20% water changes every 2-3 days for the next 2 months as your tank builds a healthy level of bacteria. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to give you advise to help save you and your fish a lot of problems.
Noted my friend. I will try to ask some of the the dirty filters from them. I hope that this will solve the problem because until now he is still bloated and not eating the pellets. I tried giving him 500mg metronidazole for 3days but until now he is uninterested with the pellet although he ate the first pellet but on the second he ignored it. But from what i observed he is still actively swimming around up and down. I’m just curious why is he still bloated and not eating the pellets.
 

Man-made Monsters

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2016
655
696
115
If he is bloated and not eating he might be sick. Do you ever see whilte stringy feces coming from him? If you do he probably has a stomach infection. I use a product called CZ Clear to get rid of bloat and stomach infections. You need to make sure you get the syringe deep enough in the fish's mouth to make sure the medicine reaches the fish's stomach. I have been using this stuff for the last 10 years and it works great. If you cant get this product where you live you can try dissolving epsom salt in water and injecting it into his stomach the same way you would use CZ Clear. Epsom Salt works 50% of the time depending on the severity of the infection.
 

Binggow

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2018
15
0
1
43
If he is bloated and not eating he might be sick. Do you ever see whilte stringy feces coming from him? If you do he probably has a stomach infection. I use a product called CZ Clear to get rid of bloat and stomach infections. You need to make sure you get the syringe deep enough in the fish's mouth to make sure the medicine reaches the fish's stomach. I have been using this stuff for the last 10 years and it works great. If you cant get this product where you live you can try dissolving epsom salt in water and injecting it into his stomach the same way you would use CZ Clear. Epsom Salt works 50% of the time depending on the severity of the infection.
Hi Friend, he is actually now eating his pellets and his poops is back to normal now and improved a lot from the day i got him. One thing i noticed is that he is still bloated after treating him with metronidazole and epsom salt. Do you think it’s on the genetic side? Although the pet shop where i bought it doesn’t know the strain if the parents have big/fatty stomach. So far from what i observed he is doing well and im giving him only pellets for now probably planning to give a FBW after a week. Thanks and really appreciate it.
 

mcbuddy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 13, 2018
19
0
1
Welcome to this hobby, couple months ago I faced a similar issue. My FH stress out and refused to eat pellet, then I tried to give him frozen bloodworm that creates another issue - ick. I came to this forum and people start giving me advice and suggestions.

My biggest mistake was I put FH to 10-gallon tank and it did not adjust well. So I get a 45-gallon tank, increase the temp to 81-83 F degrees and start to starve him for couple days.
after a week, he starts doing well and eats his pellet. I will give him varieties pellets and food, just to make sure my FH is not picky just any kinds of pellets or foods in case I ran out.
 
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