Definitely a preference thing. Oscars are a famous and very common wet pet. But in my former 90 gallon tank with the same footing as your tank, I've kept my flowerhorn as my wet pet. I've recently discovered how he likes to get pushed around, when I was working on my aquascape in the tank. He'd come up like he's rushing in to bite me and then stop. So I'd push him away because in the past he has bitten me a couple of times and even drew blood. He likes getting pushed around though. If you go on youtube, you can see some Asians touching their fh's head. It's like they believe that touching the nauchal hump on a flowerhorn is good luck. Kind of like rubbing buddha's belly.
Any how, my flowerhorn also perches himself on the gravel looking at me and waits til I come by to feed him. He's a great wet pet.