I had no idea what I'd gotten in the first place

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steakman

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 18, 2010
63
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usa
Hi, y'all
I am new here.
A little over a year ago, I bought this small "cichlid" from a guy for $15.00. He did not look at all what he is now. He's always hungry. One time I bought 10 feeder (gold fish) around 2 inch each. The next day they were all gone ... into his stomach.
When I saw his head getting bigger and bigger everyday, I thought he had some kind of diseases like a tumor in the head ... :D
Later on with more google and posting to many forums I now know that he is a FH, but I still don't know the exact kind ... :D
Hope you all enjoy my story.
Here are some of his pictures. He is now about little over a year, and weigh more than a lb.

141my43.jpg


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Oh you have been duped into possessing an extremely dangerous fish! I think the safest thing for you to do is very carefully ship the evil thing to me. I will be sure to properly dispose of the pestilent flowerhorn for you. yes yes send it immediately!
 
Not bad...but it's a Kamalau. Not positive of which Kamalau because there is no background(history) at all with the fish.
 
He looks almost identical to mine which I bought as a classic zz (he's in my picture link). That I also paid a heck of a lot more for than $15 and had shipped from Thailand lol
Great deal and beautiful fish.
Big One-why do you say it's a Kamalau? I'm far from a FH expert, but I'm curious as to why you'd say that.
 
Thank you all for your replies. I have a few questions. I know someone has posted one or two here before:
1- He eats way too much. I don't know how much I should feed him. When I slow down or not feeding him for a day, he shows sign of hateful toward me ... As you see his pictures, he's too over weighed. He's triple-chin already.
2- I am afraid if I keep feeding him, his head is gonna exploded ...
3- I am thinking about raising meal worms to feed him. Is it a good idea?
Once again, thanks.

SemperFish ... :D
 
Haha! I don't think he's too fat. That "double chin" is a Flowerhorn thing. I feed mine exactly like I do my Oscars (which he acts like). Crickets or earthworms a few times a week and 10-15 pellets a day, once or twice a week I break up some spirulina wafers and drop those into his mouth. Mealworms would be fine except FH's are so big they'd need a ton of them to make a decent meal. You could use them as treats if you wanted to go to the trouble of raising them. His head's not going to explode, they're bred to have big heads like that :-)
 
TwistedPenguin;4479859; said:
He looks almost identical to mine which I bought as a classic zz (he's in my picture link). That I also paid a heck of a lot more for than $15 and had shipped from Thailand lol
Great deal and beautiful fish.
Big One-why do you say it's a Kamalau? I'm far from a FH expert, but I'm curious as to why you'd say that.
Click to expand...

From my experience with Kamalau/Kamfa(I deal with Kamalau and Kamfa more than any other FH strain). That fish tail structure is a Kamalau(Kamfa were created in Thailand using GM/Kamalau, therefore Kamfa and Kamalau share the same tail). Now lets get onto the color of the fish. All the original of the original GM/Kamalau is a 2 tone fish(mainly KGM). And they are a deep red and yellow coloring, but that is not how our modern Kamalau is as of today. I can give it to you that a lot of Kamalau out there are crossbred with a ZZ, hence calling it a ZZMalau because it throws out a lot of Malau trait. This fish itself, I'm not even going to say it is straight up GM/Kamalau. But I will say that there is a high chance of being crossbred with a ZZ. But GM/Kamalau traits on this fish throws out a whole lot more than a ZZ here IMO. The deep double chin trait is also a big give away of a Kamalau in the fish. All deep double chin are originally from Kamalau. And everyone should keep in mind that the trailer of a Kamalau doesn't quite mean they contain ZZ. I've seen original of the original Kamalau in person with long trailers. Now to point out and say that Kamalau are bred from ZZ...it is entirely false. Anyone who tell you this must be hearing all kinds of stories from BS breeders. For a fact, breeders overseas started out breeding our modern Kamalau with the original GM. Every modern Kamalau you see now a days have the original GM line. But it is very much washed out, but it is there. When GM/Kamalau were all sold out, breeders try to buy every single one of them in the fear of completely loosing the entire GM/Kamalau line. It takes years and years to get them just to be right. But even though obtaining the original GM, they just don't seem to be the same after a few generations of breeding because no one is willing to sell their GM. But what really stands out on this fish is the tail and fin structure itself. Which is why I made my claim that it is a Kamalau IMO. To be honest, if you really want to know your fish. Just got to invest a whole lot of time into it. Studying it, observing it, doing research, talking to local FH hobbyist and breeders as well as overseas breeders. Now I myself believe that I have no yet covered everything about FH, I still know that I got more to learn about for myself.
P.S. - You'll be surprise how many modern days ZZ contains Malau in them.
 
steakman;4479948; said:
Thank you all for your replies. I have a few questions. I know someone has posted one or two here before:
1- He eats way too much. I don't know how much I should feed him. When I slow down or not feeding him for a day, he shows sign of hateful toward me ... As you see his pictures, he's too over weighed. He's triple-chin already.
2- I am afraid if I keep feeding him, his head is gonna exploded ...
3- I am thinking about raising meal worms to feed him. Is it a good idea?
Once again, thanks.

SemperFish ... :D
Click to expand...

The thicker the fish, the better it is. You don't want a skinny and slim FH. But you don't want one that is over weight also. You just want it thick and bulky...
If your FH head explode, then you got one hell of a awesome FH. Not that it is a good thing, but there has never had a FH in history that its head burst open. There are FH with a head half the size of itself, and it's still holding strong. The chin itself is common for GM/Kamalau strain.
Meal worms may be okay for your FH, just don't feed it too often. Keep it as treats.
 
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