New to Flowerhorns

[cwj108]

After researching for a while, i got hooked on flowerhorns. I started looking and posted a few wtb ads. I said i wanted a male flowerhorn and that i wasnt too picky. I bought this one off of a guy who said it was a male with potential but im starting to doubt it is a male. Its still stressed(color wise) from being new to the tank but eats and interacts like a beast. First pic is one from his tank, the second is one from mine with it showing stressed colors. Any opinions on whether male or female, too young to tell? Its between 3 and 4 inches. Please help, any advice would be great. Current diet is hikari gold, grand sumo red, and bloodworms. Any hope that this is a male? Not looking for a showstopper, was just hoping for a male and some sort of kok growth, and decent color. Im entry level at this point.

 

[Brandonclark88]

I see no spot at all on the dorsal. A zz that size would display some sort of spot or blotch on the dorsal if it was a female. My money's on male. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a grade doesn't define how great of a wet your fish is going to be. Give it time and I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I'd put a background on the set up and maybe a couple hiding spots to let it settle in. Also a little bit of substrate too

 

[cwj108]

Thank you! The guy sold it to me as a super red dragon. I swapped out the black background for blue until i can get a brighter one. I have a flower pot in there for now and can add more hiding spots. Personality wise this fish has already won me over, just looking to learn more about him or her as im new to the flowerhorn game. Right now it was a 50/50 bulb but might switch to a reef sun bulb or something brighter.

 

[Brandonclark88]

Flowerhorns do not like bright light. I use just a regular white/blue led with mine and they do great. A reef light might be a bit much

 

[cwj108]

Ok, ill just stick with the 50/50 bulb, its a blue white mixture and isnt very bright.

 

[cwj108]

I see no spot at all on the dorsal. A zz that size would display some sort of spot or blotch on the dorsal if it was a female. My money's on male. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a grade doesn't define how great of a wet your fish is going to be. Give it time and I'm sure you'll be happy with it. I'd put a background on the set up and maybe a couple hiding spots to let it settle in. Also a little bit of substrate too

At what size do they start to develop their kok? I read conflicting articles. Mine is close to 4 inches, should he have a bigger one by now if he was gonna get a big one? or will he most likely just have a small bump like in the pic.

 

[cwj108]

Heres an updated pic... still male in your opinion? Colors are starting to look good.

 

[Man-made Monsters]

Hello fellow NJ member. That flowerhorn does have nice colors; but sadly he will not grow a large head like you were hoping for. The person that sold him to you was either very dishonest or did not know the type of flowerhorn he was selling because that is not a super red dragon. That is a zz hybrid of some sort. He may grow a hard kok which will develop as he ages, but if you enjoy how the fish looks and interacts with you then thats all that matters.

 

[cwj108]

Hello fellow NJ member. That flowerhorn does have nice colors; but sadly he will not grow a large head like you were hoping for. The person that sold him to you was either very dishonest or did not know the type of flowerhorn he was selling because that is not a super red dragon. That is a zz hybrid of some sort. He may grow a hard kok which will develop as he ages, but if you enjoy how the fish looks and interacts with you then thats all that matters.

Thank you for the response. I had a feeling I got ripped within a week of buying him and reading more about flowerhorns. This guy does have an awesome personality and will not be going anywhere... this just means I need to get setup for another flowerhorn lol. Someone just told me about Discus R Us here in NJ so ill be heading there.

 

[Khoi Ta]

Thank you for the response. I had a feeling I got ripped within a week of buying him and reading more about flowerhorns. This guy does have an awesome personality and will not be going anywhere... this just means I need to get setup for another flowerhorn lol. Someone just told me about Discus R Us here in NJ so ill be heading there.

I used to have a one inch that look exactly like the one you have right now. I guess I made the right choices by getting rid of it and replace it with this 4-5 inches GRADE A flowerhorn, by getting rid of it mean that it got ate and killed by this monster right here. This a picture 3 weeks ago, his kok is way bigger now. Don't have anymore but I'll take one tomorrow since it is 12:26 AM EST right now and scared to go downstair