Is this flowerhorn pregnant?

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IckyIcky

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 27, 2020
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Flowerhorn preg.jpgFlowerhorn preg2.jpg
She's in a 110 gallon currently with a male flowerhorn. Her tube has been chilling, slowly going down since the day I got her (Almost 3 weeks now, she's about 6 months old I was told.) Her belly has just recently started to look extremely full. I seperated the cage and the male and female fought for a bit, but now just chill and swim around. Occasionally she'd ram full speed at him but just go around him like 3 times crazily.

Any ideas on if she is egg-bound? Does this prove anything? her tube has stuck out a lot more than before, progressively coming out. Colours are real bright, but I'm not too sure. Any ideas on the female flowerhorn or estimate time on when she might lay I'd appreciate. I'll update with pictures if she is fertile and if the male is fertile too.
Male and female size: https://gyazo.com/30728719aab5eb25753f209dac427b48
(Weird video because my PC can't put in videos, so i just made it into a gif.)
 
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She's in a 110 gallon currently with a male flowerhorn. Her tube has been chilling, slowly going down since the day I got her (Almost 3 weeks now, she's about 6 months old I was told.) Her belly has just recently started to look extremely full. I seperated the cage and the male and female fought for a bit, but now just chill and swim around. Occasionally she'd ram full speed at him but just go around him like 3 times crazily.

Any ideas on if she is egg-bound? Does this prove anything? her tube has stuck out a lot more than before, progressively coming out. Colours are real bright, but I'm not too sure. Any ideas on the female flowerhorn or estimate time on when she might lay I'd appreciate. I'll update with pictures if she is fertile and if the male is fertile too.
Male and female size: https://gyazo.com/30728719aab5eb25753f209dac427b48
(Weird video because my PC can't put in videos, so i just made it into a gif.)
To me it looks like she's about ready to lay eggs any say now. As for the charging that's just a part of courtship behaviour, the female is testing the male to see if he is aggressive enough to be a potential partner. If the male is not aggressive enough to stand upto her she won't breed with him.

To help stimulate the breeding process it's generally best to give daily water changes of upto 20%. You can also try live food too as this helps to simulate the plentiful food that comes with spring time and the breeding season. You'll also need a flat rock or shallow dish for the FH's to lay their eggs on but most importantly it make certain it's on the opposite side from your filter, if it's too close to the filter all the sperm the male produces will just get sucked up into it and be completely useless.

Hope this all helps and please keep us updated on how it all goes.
 
To me it looks like she's about ready to lay eggs any say now. As for the charging that's just a part of courtship behaviour, the female is testing the male to see if he is aggressive enough to be a potential partner. If the male is not aggressive enough to stand upto her she won't breed with him.

To help stimulate the breeding process it's generally best to give daily water changes of upto 20%. You can also try live food too as this helps to simulate the plentiful food that comes with spring time and the breeding season. You'll also need a flat rock or shallow dish for the FH's to lay their eggs on but most importantly it make certain it's on the opposite side from your filter, if it's too close to the filter all the sperm the male produces will just get sucked up into it and be completely useless.

Hope this all helps and please keep us updated on how it all goes.


I've put down a plate in the tank and she hasn't been cleaning, nor has the male. They peck at the floor but I suppose it's purely because they look for food. Her belly is big, and i'll do the 20% daily to ensure best water quality for the fishies !! She tends to go crazy and spin around in circles around him to piss him off, and he gets angry and whips his tail at her face. he nevber strikes. He's torn up, but she isn't really. He's far too gentle and I don't know if she wants to lay because of that.

Her belly is full and I really hope she starts to lay soon. I've only had her for 3 weeks so I'm not too sure. Maybe another week and she might lay? If so, her tube has been stuck out for 2 weeks almost. perhaps she's just maturing still? No idea. THank you for the information though, I'll update you in a week or if she lays eggs any time soon!:)
 
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Update: Tube has been going in and out. Or I’m probably too dumb to realise. Put a tile down with the rough side up and the male and female started to clean it together for about 10 minutes. No longer cleaning anymore and just left it. Sometimes comes by and swims to it and cleans it but the male does all the work. Female watches. Male is at the divider all the time and female just swims softly around. About to hit 3 and a half weeks of a tube progressively going down with no eggs... Male really wants to go the other side but female ain’t giving him attention :/ Ill update in a week or so :(
 
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