Few FlowerHorn questions and concerns!

[ShroomMastap]

Background:
I want to start off by saying its about 3-4 inches at the moment, I believe it was born in the end of may early June, and I've owned it since late Aug.

I started off with it in a 90 Gal tank and it would only hide under some rock shelfs besides when I'd feed it. (It usually ate everyone's bloodworms and would eat most of the pellets I'd put in there) It made a "nest" under the shelf by removing ALL gravel from the surrounding area... It then eventually proceeded to eat my oscar about a half inch smaller than it so I moved it to a 40 Gal by itself.

The 40 Gal has lots of hiding spots and lots of open areas, its been in the 40 for about 3 days now but still it only hides when anyone is around the tank, or in the same room so occasionally you can catch it out when you walk in the room. It has also now proceeded to make a "nest" in its I assume "Favorite Hiding spot" in the tank...

Now from reading other posts I assume its just stressed? But it was in the 90 gal for about a month before switching it and it still hid the entire time it was there...

So first question/concern... what have I done wrong? Why does it only hide? I assume its eating, because I had some feeder fish in there (About 8) and it ate them all in about 2 days...

Next question is what kinda is it? Since i cant get a good picture of it due to its only hiding, but I can post a picture of the parent fish the breeder had:

I cant remember correctly but i believe this to be the father and the mother was a regular King Kong Parrot cliched.

In the pictures of the 40 Gal You can see it top right, Any Ideas what ^ that breed is called tho?

Only difference from those pictures now is for the past 2 days the back glass is covered with a black sheet (mainly to block the mirror) and the water has cleared up lots since these pictures. Also for the record, Its behind the pot where it mainly hides...

 

[BIG_ONE]

Well, to really start out with anything. What is the reading of your water? And you should really never feed them any feeders unless you want your fish to die faster.

 

[ShroomMastap]

Well, to really start out with anything. What is the reading of your water? And you should really never feed them any feeders unless you want your fish to die faster.

Cant tell you the reading of the water at the moment because I ran out of strips but I'll probably have one by Friday..

Other things to mention is when I first put in the FH i put in 3.5 tablespoons of freshwater salt to help with the move/stress

It doesnt seem to notice any pellets i toss in, tho only been putting in about 2 or 3 because it hasnt seemed to touch them but when I put in blood worms today and sat back about 5 feet it slowly and cautiously swam around eating up all the worms and sunken pellets clearing all food out of the tank... and then continued to swim around with me there until I moved my arm.

Also all its flowers are going at the moment so I'd say say its just stress?

 

[BIG_ONE]

I see, it can possible be stress. But no salt is necessary for any stress...
FYI - Don't get strips water test, they are very inaccurate. I recommend liquid test from API.

 

[ShroomMastap]

I'm sticking with stress because its slowly starting to come out more, not swim around like what I see everyone else's FH's doing, but coming out more than it has.

Anyone have any idea what kind of FH the parent is?

 

[BIG_ONE]

The father is a Red Dragon Zhen Zhou.

 

[we4wieners]

Agree w/ BIG ONE. Check your water and avoid feeders. He'll be fine, be patient, he'll calm down.

 

[ShroomMastap]

Yea i did a 10% change tonight because i wanted to get all the food the FH wasnt eating out, also i noticed the feeder's skeletons laying around.

out of curiosity why do you guys say to stay away from feeders? I've always fed them to my tiger oscars?

 

[BIG_ONE]

Yea i did a 10% change tonight because i wanted to get all the food the FH wasnt eating out, also i noticed the feeder's skeletons laying around.

out of curiosity why do you guys say to stay away from feeders? I've always fed them to my tiger oscars?

Did any of your oscars ever made it to 8 years old at least?

 

[ShroomMastap]

Well, The most recent one I had was doing super great, then my FH ate its eyes and gills one night.... Hence why the FH is in its own tank now!

Found this after a quick google search: "The feeder fish bought at stores are also kept in even poorer conditions than the ones meant for ornamental use. They are often riddled with disease and malnourished, thus passing on nothing but disease and poor nutrition to the fish that consume them."

AND that makes total sense! So i'll stick with the Hikari pellets and Blood worms!

Thanks for the responses by the way! very helpful!