This is exactly the type of food that you do NOTwant to be feeding a flowerhorn.
Part of the problem with FH keepers (and lots of MFK members in general) is they all want to see MAJOR growth in their monster fish, in as little time as possible. While there are many ways to achieve that goal, often times all it results in is a large obese fish, that will eventually die prematurely due to fatty liver, etc. Of course if/when that happens, most hobbyists won't have a necropsy performed to understand why their pet fish suddenly died, they will simply go out and buy another one. (sudden death syndrome anyone?)
IMO this hobby is all about patience, and measuring success in years, not weeks, or months. When it comes to feeding fish, many hobbyists make things much more complicated than they need to be.
I recently posted the following in another thread, and it might be worth repeating here. While the fish used in this study were not FH, they were cichlids, one being a carnivorous species, the other an omnivore. The same info would apply to any & all FH strains.
Feeding high protein, and especially high fat levels to adult cichlids can be a dangerous proposition, even with carnivorous species. (whichflowerhornare not)
The following exerts come from a study overseen by Dr. Ruth-Francis Floyd, a DVM, MS, and a professor at the U of FL that specializes in fish nutrition & health.
The TP diet was comprised of 52% crude protein, and 17% crude fat. The FF diet consisted of 47% crude protein, and 7% crude fat.
African cichlids up to 12 weeks of age, but prolonged feeding may result in excess lipid deposition and necrosis of the liver. Feeds like the FF diet, which produced slower growth but lower lipid deposition in livers, may be more suitable as a maintenance diet for cichlids in the home aquarium.
"Fatty infiltration of the liver has also been designated "the most common metabolic disturbance and most frequent cause of death in aquarium fish"
With prolonged feeding of a high-energy, lipid rich diet, degenerative changes of the liver and death can occur unless the diet is corrected.
Now imagine what happens to the liver of an adult CA cichlid/flowerhorn (with much lower metabolisms) when fed diets that contain excessive amounts of lipids. (fat)[/QUOTE]
