Hello MonsterFishKeeper community!
I'm new here and new to Flowerhorns, so I don't know much about mine. I just know what the ideal look is and that they are very aggressive.
I bought my FH at Petsmart 0_0 I was pretty surprised when I saw they had any FH's at a store like Petsmart, to say the least. I bought him because he was very friendly and unlike an Oscar he seemed genuinely curious not just hungry. In short, to me, he was the most interesting fish. He was only about 2" long or a little less and had a little tiny hump already too
Unfortunately I found they were feeding him ******* fish flakes and other things that sat on the surface of the water as he refused to eat cichlid pellets and gobbled up tropical fish flakes!!! I got him on the right track in a hurry.
I started feeding him Hikari Cichlid Staple and Hikari Cichlid Gold. I had been feeding those to the Oscars before I re-homed them. They grew very fast and healthy on those foods and frozen foods like blood worms. I also fed them crickets from the petstore sometimes. This exact same diet isn't bad for a FH, or so I wouldn't believe. It's rich in protein that's for sure.
Last week I think, I got some Chingmix Headbooster in the mail. I got this from Petzone in California because I didn't want to be sold an imitation product on Amazon or eBay. His nuchal hump, fins, and body in general started looking better right away! Everything got more dramatic, but I had to almost force him to eat the Chingmix LOL
I noticed the Chingmix pellets are harder than the Hikari pellets and I wondered if he may have hurt his mouth some how. He also likes to bite EVERYTHING!!! He bites everything in his tank lol He has a floating glass thermometer and he bites it from time to time, but it's round and much bigger than his mouth so I've never been worried of him injuring himself. He's always liked to bite bubbles at the surface of the water from his bubblers and powerhead and you can actually hear him doing it. He'll even bite his plastic plants from time to time. All these things are smooth or soft though.
He doesn't chew up the Hikari pellets the same way he used to either. It used to seem effortless and he'd chew up multiple pellets at a time, but it seems difficult now. I have trouble believing he has injured his mouth or jaw though because it's never looked swollen and he's never gotten an infection. I have noticed he seems somewhat slow, or relaxed, I don't know the word. He's laying under his two artificial plants. When he was smaller he moved around so much I was worried he never slept.
I know someone will probably ask what tank he is and all that and what size he is etc.
He is in a 29 gallon tank. height: 19" width: 12" length: 30"
He's got a 30 gallon biowheel filter, two sponge filters, and a 30 gallon powerhead. I think that's enough oxygen and current. He has sand substrate, a small piece of Texas Holey Rock, a terracotta clay pot, and two plastic plants. I had more rocks and pots but they just seemed like they were there to hide his waste LOL
I clean the tank AT LEAST once a weak. I feed him three times watching for his stomach basically till his stomach looks rounded. If I feed him as much as he could eat in 3 minutes or 5 minutes or whatever, he'd blowup lol
He's probably about 4" maybe half an inch more. I plan on moving him to a 55g soon.
I get his water tested at a pet shop where they use the master kits and they always say my water is fine.
Btw, I've been trying to find out what kind of FH and the moment I think I've identified him he looks different LOL
Here are some pics
If anyone can think of any reason way he might not be chewing, I would greatly appreciate your advice. Also, should he sort of just swim around, kind of hang out rather than act like a psycho all the time. When he was little he was more of a psycho lol
I'm new here and new to Flowerhorns, so I don't know much about mine. I just know what the ideal look is and that they are very aggressive.
I bought my FH at Petsmart 0_0 I was pretty surprised when I saw they had any FH's at a store like Petsmart, to say the least. I bought him because he was very friendly and unlike an Oscar he seemed genuinely curious not just hungry. In short, to me, he was the most interesting fish. He was only about 2" long or a little less and had a little tiny hump already too
Unfortunately I found they were feeding him ******* fish flakes and other things that sat on the surface of the water as he refused to eat cichlid pellets and gobbled up tropical fish flakes!!! I got him on the right track in a hurry. I started feeding him Hikari Cichlid Staple and Hikari Cichlid Gold. I had been feeding those to the Oscars before I re-homed them. They grew very fast and healthy on those foods and frozen foods like blood worms. I also fed them crickets from the petstore sometimes. This exact same diet isn't bad for a FH, or so I wouldn't believe. It's rich in protein that's for sure.
Last week I think, I got some Chingmix Headbooster in the mail. I got this from Petzone in California because I didn't want to be sold an imitation product on Amazon or eBay. His nuchal hump, fins, and body in general started looking better right away! Everything got more dramatic, but I had to almost force him to eat the Chingmix LOL
I noticed the Chingmix pellets are harder than the Hikari pellets and I wondered if he may have hurt his mouth some how. He also likes to bite EVERYTHING!!! He bites everything in his tank lol He has a floating glass thermometer and he bites it from time to time, but it's round and much bigger than his mouth so I've never been worried of him injuring himself. He's always liked to bite bubbles at the surface of the water from his bubblers and powerhead and you can actually hear him doing it. He'll even bite his plastic plants from time to time. All these things are smooth or soft though.
He doesn't chew up the Hikari pellets the same way he used to either. It used to seem effortless and he'd chew up multiple pellets at a time, but it seems difficult now. I have trouble believing he has injured his mouth or jaw though because it's never looked swollen and he's never gotten an infection. I have noticed he seems somewhat slow, or relaxed, I don't know the word. He's laying under his two artificial plants. When he was smaller he moved around so much I was worried he never slept.
I know someone will probably ask what tank he is and all that and what size he is etc.
He is in a 29 gallon tank. height: 19" width: 12" length: 30"
He's got a 30 gallon biowheel filter, two sponge filters, and a 30 gallon powerhead. I think that's enough oxygen and current. He has sand substrate, a small piece of Texas Holey Rock, a terracotta clay pot, and two plastic plants. I had more rocks and pots but they just seemed like they were there to hide his waste LOL
I clean the tank AT LEAST once a weak. I feed him three times watching for his stomach basically till his stomach looks rounded. If I feed him as much as he could eat in 3 minutes or 5 minutes or whatever, he'd blowup lol
He's probably about 4" maybe half an inch more. I plan on moving him to a 55g soon.
I get his water tested at a pet shop where they use the master kits and they always say my water is fine.
Btw, I've been trying to find out what kind of FH and the moment I think I've identified him he looks different LOL
Here are some pics
If anyone can think of any reason way he might not be chewing, I would greatly appreciate your advice. Also, should he sort of just swim around, kind of hang out rather than act like a psycho all the time. When he was little he was more of a psycho lol
