Do you think it’s easy to keep a Flowerhorn? Do you think owning a Flowerhorn is an easy job? Let us discuss the difficulties that arise while caring for a Flowerhorn.
Flowerhorns are one of the most exhilarating cichlids, with a unique appearance and vibrant color not found in other fish. That being said, Flowerhorns are pretty large fish. You need to focus on caring for Flowerhorn. If you can provide proper nourishment to Flowerhorn, you might not feel any difficulties keeping a Flowerhorn.
You need to know proper caring for your Flowerhorn. Flowerhorns may also suffer from various diseases if you do not give them adequate care.
Things To Consider While Keeping A Flowerhorn
You need to be careful if you own a Flowerhorn fish. They are a little different species than other species of fish. You need to be accurate and consistent while feeding and caring for Flowerhorns.
You need to consider the following things:
Aquarium Environment
Flowerhorn’s health depends on the type of environment it is in. So, you need to set up the proper environment for them. Let’s look at the environment that Flowerhorns prefer.
Cycling The Water
Flowerhorn cichlids cannot live in dirty water. They need clean water that has appropriate parameters. Cycling of water is necessary for keeping the Flowerhorn fish healthy. Perform frequent water changes by following a proper process.
After the completion of the water change process, do not forget to maintain the proper water parameters that your Flowerhorn requires. Any fluctuations in the temperature and water parameters will affect the health of your Flowerhorn.
Flowerhorns are very sensitive to ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. To clean the dirt, Flowerhorn poop, and leftover food chunks, water needs to cycle.
Keep the temperature of your tank in the range of 80°-85°F. Also, focus on the pH level, water quality, and filtration.
Filtration And Water Quality For Flowerhorn
Filtration of tank water is a crucial factor that directly affects the health of your Flowerhorn.
Selecting a filter depends on the size of the Flowerhorn as well as the Flowerhorn tank. The filtration process is a necessity to provide your flowerhorn with quality water. Timely filtration of the tank water is an essential part of the good health of your flowerhorn.
You can choose from the following:
- Hydro Professional External Canister Filter
- Eheim Classic External Canister Filter
- Aqua Clear Power Filter IIO
- Fluval FX6 Canister Filter
Tank Size
Generally, Flowerhorns requires a minimum tank size of 55 gallons. Keeping a pair of Flowerhorns needs a tank size of 150 gallons. They need adequate space so that they can freely swim around. Enough space gives Flowerhorns comfort to move around and play. Space makes them happy fish.
Tank size determines the health of your Flowerhorn. The size of the tank you provide to your Flowerhorn also determines the lifespan of your Flowerhorn.
How Does A Flowerhorn’s Tank Size Influences The Filter?
First of all, Flowerhorn cichlids are large-bodied fish reaching from 12 to 16 inches in length. It is required to maintain a tank of 55 gallons.
Water filtration is a crucial part of cleaning the tank water. It directly affects the health of your Flowerhorn. There are various filters you can use. Here is the list of recommended filters.
- Aqua Clear Power Filter 110
- Fluval FX6 Canister Filter
- Marineland Emperor 400 Filter
Flowerhorns require greater cycling from the filter. So, choosing the best filter will be better for your Flowerhorn’s health.
Better Substrate
I’ll recommend you to use the substrate having a height of 2 to 2.5 inches as deeper layers of the substrate can be dangerous for your Flowerhorn.
As leftover food particles can sink into a deeper layer, they will produce hydrogen sulfite that is toxic for Flowerhorns.
If you have a larger Flowerhorn, gravel substrate cannot be used as they may swallow the gravel pieces with food. This may infect their intestines which stop from passing any waste, and causes a health risk for Flowerhorn.
- WAYBER 1 Lb/460g Natural Pink Quartz Crystal Stones Irregular Aquarium Pebbles Rock Sands for Turtle Tank/Succulent Plants/Vase Decoration (Fill 1 Cup)
- Carib Sea ACS05820 Super Natural Moonlight Sand for Aquarium, 5-Pound
- Carib Sea ACS05840 Super Naturals Crystal River Sand for Aquarium, 5-Pound
Provide Hiding Spots
Making hiding spots for your Flowerhorn is one of the crucial things you need to consider while keeping a Flowerhorn. Flowerhorns need hiding spots whenever they are stressed, or they are new to the aquarium environment.
Another reason they need hiding spots is their aggressiveness. Whenever Flowerhorns are aggressive, they tend to hide in the corner, filter, or hide spots to calm their anger.
Placement Of Flowerhorn Tank
You should be careful while choosing the location to keep your Flowerhorn tank. Do not forget that Flowerhorn gets stressed due to loud noises. Make sure to keep the tank in a place where there is lesser noise.
Exposing the Flowerhorn tank to loud noises creates serious health problems in Flowerhorn.
Therefore, providing a Flowerhorn tank with lots of hiding spaces will prevent stress and aggressiveness in your Flowerhorn. This will also increase the lifespan of Flowerhorn.
Consideration Of Flowerhorn Diet
As the saying goes, “Good food choices are good investments.” your flowerhorn will stay healthy, which will benefit the longer lifespan of your fish.
Feed your Flowerhorn the proper amount of food (no overfeeding or underfeeding). Give them a balanced diet like pellets, shrimp, live foods, etc.
You especially need to focus on the quality of food and its portion as diet has a main role in the health and lifespan of Flowerhorn.
Flowerhorn Diseases
Well, Flowerhorn can suffer from various diseases. Some of the common diseases that the Flowerhorn can commonly suffer from are:
Flowerhorn Fungus Disease
Fungus infection is one of the many diseases that most Flowerhorn gets affected with.
The fungus appears where there is a decaying matter or the presence of unfertilized or dead eggs. It starts growing on the body and eggs of the Flowerhorns. Fungus mainly occurs due to poor water conditions.
Fungus is caused due to bacteria and fish waste. Generally, the fungus is found in water that has alkaline pH.
Fungus is likely to release millions of spores that infect the Flowerhorn eggs or Flowerhorn fish. If you ignore the fungus growing, your Flowerhorn will get a severe infection.
If you see fungus in the Flowerhorn egg tank, you should immediately put medicine that treats fungus in the water. Otherwise, the whole egg will get infected.
If you take good care of your Flowerhorn and do timely Fungus treatment, your Flowerhorn will again be healthy.
Flowerhorn Bloating Disease
Bloating is a serious problem for Flowerhorn, which seem uncomfortable and unbalanced. Bloating is caused due to starchy foods, stress, bacterial infections, and impaired bladder.
Quarantine your Flowerhorn for a few days if you wish to cure your fish from bloating. Make sure to fix the water parameters. For treating Flowerhorns from bloating, ensure optimal water parameters.
Flowerhorn White Poop Disease
White poop is a disease where Flowerhorn excretes white stringy and sticky poops. Flowerhorn may stop eating or may have a swollen belly when they suffer from this disease. This is mainly caused due to feeding of live and frozen foods to your Flowerhorn. The diet that contains high protein also causes worms inside the Flowerhorn.
You will notice the Flowerhorn losing its appetite and excreting stringy and sticky poop. Internal parasites in Flowerhorn’s stomach will also cause white poop disease.
Flowerhorn Skin Peeling Disease
Flowerhorns usually have a habit of scratching themselves on hard surfaces like rocks, aquarium walls, and aquarium decorations. Due to these, there is a high chance of Flowerhorn skin getting peeled off. The wound can get worse if proper care is not given.
Symptoms of this disease are patches all over the skin of Flowerhorn. Additionally, Flowerhorns have less appetite and swim slowly than usual. For treating this disease, give your Flowerhorn antibiotic and quarantine it for a few days.
Stress In Flowerhorn
Most of the fish experience stress. However, Flowerhorns cichlids are mostly said to experience stress. Flowerhorns should not be kept stressed for a longer time.
There is various reason why Flowerhorns experience stress. The changes in the environment, tank size, location, water parameters, and diet are the main reasons for stress in Flowerhorns.
Why do you think Flowerhorns get stressed? Well, you can find different reasons for the stress of Flowerhorns. Some reasons are due to changes in the environment, tank size, water parameters, location, changes in appetite, and temperature. Additionally, the human intervention also stresses the Flowerhorn.
You should be careful not to give stress your fish. If you have been keeping your Flowerhorn tank near noisy places, change the location of the tank immediately.
Choosing Tankmates For Flowerhorn
As you know, Flowerhorns are aggressive fish. You need to be careful about what to do and what not to do to prevent them from being more aggressive.
Species like Oscar, Silver Arowana, Big Cichlids, Plecos, and Spotted Hoplo Catfish are some of the fish that can go as a tankmate for your flowerhorn. You can check our article dedicated to the best flowerhorn tankmates.
Do not keep snails or shrimps as Flowerhorns might eat them. However, I suggest you keep your Flowerhorn alone or only with the opposite Flowerhorn.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Do You Select a Tankmate For Your Flowerhorn?
Selecting mates for Flowerhorn is a crucial task. . Species like Oscar, Silver Arowana, Big Cichlids, Plecos, and Spotted Hoplo Catfish are some of the fish that can go as a tankmate for your flowerhorn. You should not keep small-sized fish as Flowerhorn will hurt and even tend to kill them.
Are Flowerhorns Hard To Keep?
Flowerhorns are not very difficult to care for as long as you manage to give them whatever is suitable for them. If you can control and manage its aggression and prevent Flowerhorns from diseases, Flowerhorns are easy to keep.
Conclusion
The difficulty in keeping a Flowerhorn depends on how much effort you can give to your Flowerhorn fish. If you give the proper environment, food, water conditions, and proper environment, your Flowerhorn will have a healthy growth.
However, if you are unable to provide them with their requirement, they will not have normal growth. They can suffer from different diseases. However, if you focus more on the requirement of Flowerhorn, you will not feel as difficult as you have thought.