WHY CAN'T FLOWERHORNS LIVE WITH OTHER FISH?
- Thread starter swordtail
- Start date
I kept a 5" FH in with 7 Oscars all but one were over 8-9" The one that was the same size as teh FH got picked on ther oters didn't.
my 4 inch male is doing fine with my pair of polleni and red texas. I should also mention my polleni and texas is small enough to fit in his mouth, guess he likes kids....
some are nice when they are small, but most in the few ive had the attitude increases a lot when they get bigger.
i have a 4-5 incher in with a 5-6" jag, 5" buttekoferi, a 5" bonzai red devil, 14" arowana,8" Red Terror Festae, and a 10" giant gourami and they all get along in my 180. the more beasts you throw in together the harder it is for one to gang up on all the rest.
its also depend on what you feed them too. They sure are aggressive with each other though. They are just like Asian arowana, the more fish in the tank with the less aggressive they are. But they still pick on other no matter what.
There are two types of temperment: Specific and Conspecific. Specific temperment relates to how the type of fish will react in close proximity with other non-related fish. Conspecific temperment relates to how the fish will react when in close proximity to fish of the same species. Every fish is judged on their specific and conspecific temeperment. The problem with FH is that they are derived from numerous species of Central and South American cichlids all of which have Extremely high Conspecific aggressiveness and Very high Specific Agressiveness. If you try to house a FH with any other FH they will most likely always fight and try to kill each other based upon their conspecific traits. When you put them in with any other fish that make up the FH ie. Midas, Synspilum, Texas, Red Devil, etc. they will all fight and try to kill each other. That is the basis of why FH are so aggressive. Also some breeders will actually torment their FH by tapping or even hitting the glass, using mirrors, and other techniques to increase agressiveness. FH are bred for this as one of their many, many traits. Typically the more aggressive a FH the larger his nuchal hump will become. That is why with some fish that carry the correct gene you can get the head to "pop" by placing smaller MALE fish in the tank for the fish to chase around or by placing a mirror on the side of the tank for the FH to attack. The earlier part can only be done with male fish as by adding a female will cause the male to try and breed and thus the head will shrink. I do believe for FH that you can keep a tank of all males together as long as there is little to no room for "fighting". If you keep your water clear enough you could manage this as this is what almost all fish shops do. I don't believe that having an all female tank would work because in my exp. females become just as aggresive as males but towards other females. Any female FH I have kept with other fish they have all sought out and destroyed the other females almost instantly. Your best bet for keeping FH with other fish would be to keep them with fish that are unrelated. Also try raising them in the same tank together with fish of similar sizes. Just remember that FH grow much faster than most other fish. Hope that helps.
