As a Flowerhorn Fish parent, I faced many problems in the initial days of rearing Flowerhorn. Taking care of Flowerhorn seemed so hard, and One of my struggles was with their diet. I could never decide what to feed them and how to feed them, and I tried so many things on my Flowerhorn as an experiment. And one of them was if I could feed them fruits, especially apples. But, do Flowerhorn eat an apple?
Well, yes, your Flowerhorn does eat an apple as it is nutritionally rich, helps in digestion, and provides satiety, making it an excellent feed to your fish. But do not go overboard and drop the entire apple into their tank; boil and cut the apple into the bite-size for your flowerhorn.
For more details regarding feeding apples to the Flowerhorn, you need to read this article to the end. I am probably sure that you will benefit after reading this.
Does Flowerhorn Eat An Apple?
Yes, your Flowerhorn fish eat an apple if you know how to prepare it as it is one of the readily available fruits and easy to prepare.
It needs both veg and non-veg food. Your Flowerhorn’s gut is naturally meant to digest plant-based and animal-based food. Thus Flowerhorn obviously consumes fruit.
Hence, it won’t be tedious for your Flowerhorn to eat an apple; above that, your fish certainly enjoys apples.
What Are The Benefits Of Giving An Apple To Flowerhorn?
There are ample benefits to feeding your Flowerhorn. You will be more than happy to know about the advantages of an overlooked fruit: Apples. Let’s see then.
Source Of Vitamins And Minerals
Apples are a great source of vitamins like vitamin C and B and minerals like potassium. These nutrients help in the metabolism and absorption of other nutrients like proteins. Apples even help in enhancing the color and growth of the headhump
Aids Variety To The Diet
A continuous non-veg diet makes your Flowerhorn diet boring, and your flowerhorn fish will start to lose interest in food. Thus, feeding apples twice a week aids variety to the diet and helps your fish in various ways.
You can also feed the following:
- Hikari Flowerhorn Fish Food
- OKIKO flowerhorn Cichlid Fish
- Fluval A6581 Bug Bites Cichlid Pellets
- Amzey Dries Shrimp Fish Foods
- Appetizing Shrimp Mealworms
- Tetra Jumbokrill Jumbo Shrimp
- Ocean Pellets Humpy Xo Flowerhorn Food
Source Of Antioxidant
Antioxidants help in boosting immunity and ultimately prevent infection. Flowerhorn might encounter infection that affects the fin, tail, and head. Thus, providing food rich in antioxidants helps in avoiding these problems.
Source Of Fiber
The fiber content of an apple will help to clear the digestive system. It even provides satiety for a longer period so that your Flowerhorn does not opt to eat soon.
How Do You Feed An Apple To Flowerhorn?
Feeding apples to your Flowerhorn is comparatively an easy task. You need to follow a few steps before feeding the apple. I have mentioned those processes step-wise. Let’s have a look at it.
Selection
Make sure you select a wholesome apple free from rot and bruises to ensure apples are free from health hazards.
Peeling
The second step is peeling. You need to peel off the skin as it is too hard for your Flowerhorn to digest.
Cutting
You need to cut the apples into the shape of your desire but keep in mind the mouth size and cut pieces. I suggest you cut apples per the mouth size of your Flowerhorn.
Blanching
Blanching is normally used to soften the apples and enhance digestion. You have to blanch the apples if you are feeding them for the first time.
Blanching is optional once your Flowerhorn is used to the apple. Moreover, the taste solely depends on the preference of your Flowerhorn. For example, some might prefer blanched over raw. Likewise, the other group of Flowerhorn likes to have blanched.
Methods To Feed Apple To Your Flowerhorn
Yeah, I know; it seems weird to tell you how to give apples to your flowerhorn. But I really don’t want you to drop an entire uncut apple into the tank.
There are three different ways you can feed apples to your flowerhorn, but first, you have to cut the apple into smaller slices or bite-size of your fish.
Dried Apple For Your Flowerhorn
First, wash your apple properly and peel it off. Next, you need to cut and take out the core and all the seed sections of the apple.
Now, cut it into 1/4 inches smaller bite-size for the flowerhorn and let it dry in direct sunlight. Or it is always better to use the oven (preset the oven at 140 to 150 F before washing the apple) as it eliminates the harmful bacteria or virus present in the apple.
Place them on the baking sheet and put them in the oven. Let it sit in the oven for 6 to 10 hours to become leathery or crispy.
After that, cool it down for 20 minutes and store it near your aquarium. Then, drop a few of them or what flowerhorn can eat within 2-3 minutes every day.
The dried apple will start to swell and become sluggish, so avoid overfeeding it to your flowerhorn. Any leftover is harmful to their health.
Raw Apple
Now, it is the simplest one of all. Just wash the apple properly, peel it off, remove the core and seed, and cut them into bite pieces.
Place those bite pieces in the petri dish and place them in the bottom of the tank or just drop them directly in the tank.
Boiled Apple
Just repeat the process I have mentioned in the “How Do You Feed An Apple To Flowerhorn?” section above. You will do well if you follow my instructions correctly.
What Is The Effect Of Overfeeding Apple To A Flowerhorn?
Overfeeding does no good to your Flowerhorn. If you overfeed your Flowerhorn apple, your fish might suffer from indigestion, constipation, and bloating. They might even encounter the fatty liver disease.
Indigestion
Overfeeding apples and any other meat-based or plant-based food results in indigestion. Thus it would help to feed them properly to prevent your fish from indigestion.
Fatty Liver
Extra sugar from the apple is converted into fat, and finally, these fat deposits are accumulated in the liver resulting in fatty liver. Thus, it would help to keep in mind not to overfeed your Flowerhorn.
How Much Apple Does Your Flowerhorn Eat?
If you continuously drop the apple pieces, your Flowerhorn will gulp them. But, they will never say “No”!
Therefore, you must know the actual quantity to feed. You can feed a small amount, like two or three slices, twice a week.
Remember not to overfeed apples to your Flowerhorn. This again may be problematic to you and your Flowerhorn both.
Is Apple Good For My Flowerhorn?
Undoubtedly “Yes”! Apples are good for your Flowerhorn. They contain essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
These nutrients help your Flowerhorn by enhancing immunity and helping in proper absorption and utilization of food.
What Other Fruits Can You Feed Your Flowerhorn?
There are ample other fruits that your Flowerhorn loves to have. Fruits are essential as they provide nutrients important for your fish’s smooth growth and development.
Some of the widely consumed fruits by your Flowerhorn besides apples are bananas, melons, papaya, peaches, etc.
These fruits are good from the health point of view and break the chain of a monotonous diet of your Flowerhorn by providing a different taste than usual.
FAQs
Does Flowerhorn Eat Carrots?
Flowerhorn consumes a lot of veggies. This is because veggies are not only readily available but are easy to feed. In addition, veggies like carrots have high fiber that relieves constipation and bloating. Constipation is a common problem of your Flowerhorn; thus, you can feed carrots to your Flowerhorn sometimes, which maintains gut health and aids in digestion.
What Can You Feed Your Flowerhorn?
Flowerhorn loves to have varied food instead of similar monotonous food. As your Flowerhorn is an omnivore, you can feed various foods, including veg and non-veg items.
Flowerhorn loves to eat fruits like apples, bananas, melons, papayas, peaches, etc. Likewise, you can even feed peas, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, etc., from the vegetable group.
Non-veg food like shrimp, krill, minnows, bloodworms, earthworms, grasshoppers, anchovies, organ meat, etc., are also good sources of nutrients for the Flowerhorn. Thus, you can feed these in live or dried form and even frozen.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I suggest you feed your Flowerhorn apple twice a week so that your Flowerehorn can get anti-oxidant, vitamins, minerals, and fibers essential to your Fish. As a result, your Flowerhorn gets a break from the daily scheduled diet, enhancing their appetite.
Apples are readily available and economical. You can feed them without any second thought, but remember that overfeeding might lead to indigestion problems. Thus feeding apples in moderate quantity does benefit your Flowerhorn.
I hope this article is helpful enough to meet your queries related to feeding apples to your Flowerhorn. For more useful articles like this, please keep in touch with us.
Happy Fishkeeping!
