If you ever had a Flowerhorn of your own then you must’ve faced the problem that in some cases your fish is less active than the other fishes in the group. This is one of the most common problems every beginner faces. I also had similar problems when I first started keeping fish as pets.
Fish or specifically talking about Flowerhorns usually become inactive when the water is dirty or has a lot of ammonia mixed in it, water temperature plays a major role in affecting the activity of the fish. Sometimes fish overeat so it becomes inactive. Keep these things in mind: keep the water clean, maintain water temperature, and don’t overfeed.
This article will cover all the necessary guidance you’ll be needing to make fish alive and active in your aquarium.
To get into details about how to keep your fish healthy, happy, and active, keep on scrolling on this article. Some key factors have also been pointed out which might come in handy.
How To Keep Flowerhorn Fish Active, Healthy, and Alive?
These simple steps will certainly help the fish and it will become active again.
Check What You Feed The Flowerhorn
The quality of the food determines the activeness of a Flowerhorn. To keep your fishes happy and healthy good quality food should be provided. Feeding them the right food at the right time will ultimately increase the activeness of the fish. As one would expect, Flowerhorn are heavy eaters, so feeding good quality food constantly is necessary.
Their balanced diet mainly consists of food with a balanced amount of vitamins, minerals, and proteins. This includes foods like brine shrimp, bloodworms, some vegetables, and fish flakes. These foods contain a necessary amount of nutrients that are essential for the fish to grow healthy and active.
You can look for:
- 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
Frequency of Feeding
For having an active Flowerhorn, just feeding them the right food is not sufficient. Feeding them a particular frequency is also important. You always need to feed the fish at least about 3 times a day alongside checking the quantity of how much you feed them.
Also if you feed your Flowerhorn more, then they are going to produce more waste. So naturally, you need to keep on cleaning the water regularly.
To keep the fish active and healthy, you need to maintain all three aspects i.e quality, quantity, and frequency of feeding the fish.
Maintain Tank Conditions For Fish Growth
A surrounding environment also employs a great role in the activeness of fishes in general.
Here your fish’s environment is the tank he lives in. It is necessary to create a natural and healthy environment for the Flowerhorn so that these fishes don’t have to adapt that much.
The following things are to be kept in mind while maintaining your tank conditions:
Size of Tank
Packing Flowerhorns inside a small tank can affect their growth. So Flowerhorns require enough space for their good physical growth.
Having a big enough tank means your fishes can swim around more often and become playful. A tank should be at minimum 55 gallons big. Having a 75-gallon tank is even better. Big tanks are also necessary for their enrichment and comfort. They can run laps, and roam around bigger tanks more easily.
SeaClear Acrylic Combo Aquarium is a good choice for your flowerhorn.
Water Parameters
When it comes to Flowerhorn fishes it is necessary to maintain the water parameters. This will help them to develop more thoroughly and also helps in avoiding many common diseases.
Temperature
Since Flowerhorns have somewhat similarities with tropical fishes, maintaining an average temperature between 80°F to 86°F is favorable. This will help the fish to be more comfortable in the environment while being more aggressive.
pH Levels
Flowerhorns tend to become more active and healthy and do their best in the 7- 8 PH range
PH changes gradually as your tank gets dirtier, so it is necessary to keep the tank clean and to regularly test the pH levels with a water testing kit at the same time.
Water Hardness
8-20 GH is the preferred amount of water hardness in which the Flowerhorns are seen as the most active and happiest.
Habitat
Flowerhorn cichlids do not normally exist in the wild. cichlids have been bred completely in captivity over the years. So a well-maintained natural tropical environment is favorable as these fishes have been bred in similar environments over the years.
As you may have seen in videos, the tanks in which the Flowerhorns are kept are a little bare. Aquarists prefer these types of tanks, which interact much more with their fishes. My personal preference would be to provide fishes with substrates and plants to interact with. This will make them more active, naturally.
Flowerhorns love digging up roots and playing with the substrate and surroundings. So you could use soft substrate and less fragile plants to reduce the chance of your fish getting hurt.
Filtration
To keep the Flowerhorns active and healthy, it is necessary to maintain water quality. When the fishes are healthy it has a natural growth of their Kok, thus the water needs to be filtered properly. It is favorable that the filter you’re using can filter 10 times the water the aquarium can hold in an hour.
Apart from regular filtration, it is necessary to do at least 30% partial water change in a three-day gap. Apart from that, the insides of the tank should also be cleaned. If your filter isn’t strong enough, I would suggest a partial water change every two days.
You could use a normal aquarium filter, fleece filter, canister filter, or a water pump that could help you with the filtration process and the water changing process. Moreover, you should also check your filter regularly to see if any filtrate is blocking the filter.
You can get additional information about the best filters for your flowerhorn from here.
Tank Lighting
Lighting has an important and positive effect on the life of the fish. This also holds for Flowerhorns. The aquarium must get a sufficient amount of sunlight.
It has natural elements that will help the fish to become more aggressive or active. Try to put your aquarium in a place where direct sunlight can reach the aquarium at certain times of the day. This will make the fishes more comfortable in their habitat, hence feeling more lively and active.
Apart from that, you can make a system for lighting that will keep light inside the tank for at least 10 hours a day. This will make sure that the environment is comfortable enough for the Flowerhorns.
Stimulate Kok’s Growth By Playing With The Fishes
To stimulate the growth of the Kok, you need to play with Flowerhorn as active Flowerhorn has bigger koks. You should try to get the fish to take part in different games that will make it feel like a strong Flowerhorn.
When you are feeding the fish do not just throw the food in the tank. Play with the fish by giving it the food once and again taking the food away. The Flowerhorn feels like it has just snatched his food from your hand and will feel like they need to fight for their food. This will tend to make them more aggressive and active to get their food.
Apart from that, you could add soft substrates as mentioned above like gravel.
soil, sand, aragonite, vermiculite, and peat moss. Flowerhorn likes to play with the substrate. All this will help in the growth of the Kok of the Flowerhorn.
Taking Care of Genes
In Flowerhorn fish normally sex isn’t that much of a big factor but it is sometimes found that males are much more active and aggressive than females. It is because of the presence of bigger koks in males while in females it depends on their genes. So if you want naturally aggressive Flowerhorns then I prefer you buy male ones.
So if you want to differentiate between males and females you should check out their vent and anus. females have U-shaped vents while males have V-shaped vents.
The anus of a male Flowerhorn is not as wide as that of a female. Be careful while choosing Flowerhorns because if their genes do not consist of having great koks or aggressive nature then no matter what you try it will be hard to develop that in them. So try your luck or seek expert assistance while choosing Flowerhorn fishes.
Placing a Mirror In Front of Them
It is seen that Flowerhorns with bigger Koks tend to be more aggressive than other ones who have smaller koks. When Flowerhorns are found in the wild it is usually seen that the fish who are active and aggressive have larger Koks. Which points out that more aggressive cichlids have larger Kok. So, how would you help the fishes in increasing the size of their koks?
Well firstly, You could introduce a mirror in the tank and place it in front so that the fishes can see their reflection. Once the Flowerhorn notices its reflection in the mirror it will try to create dominance in the tank by trying to fight with it or by trying to become aggressive. They will become more aggressive and dominant as the size of their Kok Increases.
Flowerhorn fishes will feel that they are fighting with a male and enjoy that too. After you remove the mirror the Flowerhorn will think that the other Flowerhorn was frightened and has run away. Thus he feels more dominant and aggressive. Finally making him more active.
Crowding The Tank With Friendly Fishes
Normally due to their aggressive nature, it is difficult to find tank mates for your Flowerhorn. Flowerhorns are big fishes that think of the tank as their own and don’t like sharing their territory. They enjoy their own company and don’t often like visitors of other species.
But in case you find your Flowerhorn to be less active then you could consider giving them a buddy, the safest tank mate for these fish is one of their own species. There are plenty of aquarists who keep these fish in pairs. Just make sure that you saved enough space in the tank so that all of them can live.
Tank mates of other species are also possible to be kept, there’s just some amount of risk with it. Here are some Flowerhorn cichlid tank mates that they might get along with
- Oscar Fish
- Plecos (the Sailfin/Leopard is great)
- Silver Arowana
- Bristlenose plecos
- Bichir
- Spotted hoplo catfish
- Big Cichlids
Fishes that are smaller than your average Flowerhorn are not good tank mates and should not be kept in the same tank with them. They are necessary to have the size and speed to seem aggressive enough or swim away if necessary.
Reduce Fish Stress
Sometimes your Flowerhorn also requires some alone time. Time for themselves. Provide them with some kind of a cover or place to hide so they can spend time with themselves. This helps in reducing their stress and tiredness. keep an eye on them if the fishes are showing any kind of stress and act accordingly.
You could use some kind of a sheet to cover your tank or add decorations like hollow rocks, and floating plants in which the fishes could hide and take a rest. They can also help block the sunlight and give fish some shade.
Don’t Leave Them Alone
Like any normal pet, you can’t just go on a long vacation while leaving your pets alone. Your Flowerhorns cannot fend for themselves. They need someone who can take care of them, and feed them.
So it is necessary for the fishes to have human interaction from time to time. Leave them over to your friends or family’s house if you’re going on a vacation so the fish can be taken care of.
Maintain Noise Levels
Flowerhorn fishes tend to thrive in quieter and calmer places. An average tank is not able to shield from those annoying traffic noises, people speaking or any other medium of noise.
It is recommended to keep the tanks far from any type of annoying vibrations that would cause stress in these fishes.
Remove Algae(Microorganisms)
It is a must to keep their habitat clean by washing the sides of the tank and removing excess algae. Since Flowerhorn fishes do not feed on algae, it will be your duty to remove algae from the tank. Accumulating algae in your tank will deplete oxygen for the fish and make your aquarium dirty.
Removing such unwanted vegetation from your tank will help in maintaining the pH levels and toxicity levels of your water. you should buy a long brush and an algae magnet for proper removable.
Don’t Do It Just For The Decor
I can agree that having a fish tank in your living room or any room could increase the attractiveness of the room. Although, keeping the fish just for decoration is not a good practice.
They are proper living beings and need proper caring and looking after as much as any other animals you would tame. So you should have a proper mindset before taming these fishes because they need constant care and human interaction.
Give them enough space to swim around and play with. Give them partners to mate and get active around. Add substrates and plants so the fishes can play with them or hide and rest if needed. Care for them as you would care for any other pets.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you identify stress in Flowerhorns?
Fishes develop odd swimming patterns when they get stressed. If you see your fish madly swimming without reaching a destination, hitting the sides of the tank, rubbing itself against the substrates then you can take a hint that your Flowerhorn is stressed.
What is Flowerhorn deworming?
Deworming is the process of removing all the undigested food worms and parasites from the fish’s body. All species of Flowerhorn need to go through the process of deworming.
Why does Flowerhorn spit out my food?
It might be because the fish is full. Flowerhorns don’t like to be overfed. Flowerhorn will eat the food till it’s full and then spit out the rest.
Sometimes the food might get stuck somewhere in the fish, so it flushes it out.
Why is my Flowerhorns head getting smaller?
There might be many reasons for it. Factors such as stress, unhealthy water, lack of human interaction, alone time, and lack of balanced diet in frequency-time might be the cause of your Flowerhorns head getting smaller.
Conclusion
Flowerhorn fish care is not so complicated once you have a rigid understanding of the fish. From a tank size and water parameter condition point of view, they are pretty easily manageable.
However, due to aggression, it is difficult to find suitable tank mates for these fishes.
Owning a Flowerhorn fish can be highly rewarding and enjoyable as they are naturally aggressive except for a few situations or exceptions. Therefore, they are quite intelligent fish and can create quite a bond between them and their owners. Happy fish keeping!
