Flower Horn Fish Care Guide And Breeding

Big Head Flowerhorn Cichlids Fish Overview, Water Conditions and Aquarium Setup, Care Guide, Tank Mates, Diet and Breeding:

Flowerhorn cichlid is a beautiful fish from cichlid family. You can keep Flowerhorn cichlid fish in aquarium without any problem. However, this fish is exotic in nature. Flowerhorn cichlid fish was started in Taiwan & Malaysia. This fish is born as cross breeding of cichlid. Other name of Flowerhorn Cichlid fish is Warships.

It is important to have better water conditions & have right aquarium size if you want to keep Flowerhorn cichlid fish.

Big Head Flowerhorn fish was first bred in 1993 which resulted in a beautiful colored fish with protruding head which is also called Kaloi or warhips.

Every aquarist wants to have Flowerhorn Cichlids in aquarium due to its beautiful colors & big size. It has graceful look & amazing colors which makes it very exciting & people keep only one of the fish in aquarium due to its exotic & territorial nature.

You can start from keeping this fish even though you have not kept such exotic fish in aquarium before. It needs an intermediate care level.

 

Category	Rating
Care Level	Medium
Temperament	Medium to Highly Aggressive, & Territorial
Lifespan	Up to 10 Years
Fish Length	Up to 16 Inches
Food	Omnivore
Family	Cichlid
Minimum Aquarium Size	75 Gallon
Aquarium Set-Up	Freshwater, & Few Plants
Compatibility	Limited

 

Best Water Conditions for Flowerhorn Cichlid Fish:

Water temperature requirement for this fish is the same as tropical fish. But the ideal water temperature that allows them to grow well & live happy is to maintain temperature from 28 to 31 Degree Celsius.

Best pH level for this fish is from 7.5 to 8. It is advisable to change water twice a week. Make sure you do not change water pH suddenly because it can be dangerous for the fish. Also monitor the pH level of water in aquarium.

Ensure good filtration system in aquarium which is essential for the fish. An overhead filter is best for this purpose as it can clean water well & there is minimal clogging. Selecting a better filter is required for better efficiency, easy cleaning, that reduces clogging.

Big Head Flowerhorn Fish Aquarium Setup:

It would be difficult to maintain a small aquarium so go for a big one if you are planning to keep Flowerhorn fish happy & healthy.

Change of water & feeding adequate amount of food is necessary because it can help the health & growth of the fish.

Maintain your aquarium with proper cleaning & clean the bottom of your aquarium when you change water using gravel cleaner.

The leftover food & other debris can affect your Flowerhorn fish health. Use heater to warm tank water & it can help comfort your Flowerhorn.

It is advisable to oxygenate your aquarium. Oxygenation can be carried out using an air stone. If oxygenation is not done well, then it can stress your Flowerhorn, & may kill your fish. Also you can use your filter for oxygenation & for cleaning water too.

Adding decoration is another way to keep your fish comfortable. Adding rocks, structures, or small stones in tank can be used as better decoration. It will help your fish stay healthy & stress free, & they will also enjoy playing with small stones.

 

Big Head Flowerhorn Fish Care Guide:

Ensure you have best water quality. Monitoring water is essential if you are keeping Flowerhorn fish in aquarium. It is needed to keep fish happy & healthy. A best filter is required for proper cleaning of the tank & changing partial water is very important.

It is easy to feed hybrid fish because they like to eat live foods along with pellets. Ensure you provide them enough food for best growth. A mixed diet is better for Flowerhorn fish. Offering them live diet is better, but it will cost more. Offer them live fish as a treat once a week.

Big Head Flowehorn fish is exotic & very territorial in nature & do not like other fish in the same aquarium. If you want to keep 2 or more fish in a single aquarium, then make sure you partition your aquarium or keep only one in a single aquarium & arrange another aquarium for the other one.

This fish needs a thin gravel layer. Make sure you do not put your fish in stress & offer a homely feel to your fish.

If your Flowerhorn fish is in stress then it could get discoloration, that avoids better growth.

Flowerhorn Cichlids are hardy & do not require lots of care & it is the best starting point for such type of fish.

Even though beginners can keep this fish but they need a very large aquarium which could be difficult for novices. So it needs lots of time to clean the aquarium & maintain the tank equipment.

Not only Flowerhorn Cichlids are large but they can be extremely territorial which makes things complex especially for beginners. Sometimes they might show lots of aggression, & could attack the aquarist during feeding. But it rarely happens.

 

Big Head Flowerhorn Fish Diet:

Feeding fish is an exciting activity. Seeing the happiness of your fish while feeding them pellets is very exciting. Do not overfeed your fish as it can be the cause of your fish death & can pollute your aquarium water. Your Flowerhorn fish can be stressed because of many factors including size of aquarium, diet, water condition etc.

Flowerhorn loves to eat small live fish or you can offer shrimp. Frozen worms is the best food that contain high nutrition & you can feed them twice a week.

 

Big Head Flowerhorn Cichlid Fish Breeding:

Make sure you know the breeding procedure of this fish before you actually opt for breeding them in aquarium. It is important to know Flowerhorn Cichlid fish breeding basics in order to select the correct type of fish for breeding. Find the pair that you want to mate. Then keep pair in a single aquarium & make sure you provide full nutrition diet to them.

It is advisable to put a newspaper around aquarium during mating process for privacy.

It is crucial to monitor Flowerhorn Cichlid fish during breeding time because they might fight if they do not agree for mating. If this happens, then separate them.

However, if mating is done, then put rocks in the nest.

Also separate the female that has eggs in belly & ensure that aquarium is well filtered. Ensure that your filter does not suck the eggs.

It is a unique type of cichlid having a big head & it looks beautiful. They need an aquarium that holds 75 gallons of fresh water. It helps in growth of the fish & provide best conditions & provide enough room for swimming. Swimming helps in reducing the stress on the fish & offer adequate space for a fish to avoid stress condition. Ideal water conditions for Flowerhorn fish is 28 to 30 Degree Celsius. Maintain the right pH level to help the fish survive in the aquarium. You can choose a small aquarium if you want to keep 1 or 2-inch Big Head Flowerhorn fish in it. Aquarium that can hold 20 gallons is better if you want to keep small fish in it. When it grows in size, then choose a bigger aquarium that can hold 40 to 55 gallons of water. Aquarium has an effect on the fish growth so make sure you have the right size for them.

 

Big Head Flowerhorn Cichlid Fish Tank Mates:

Big head Flowerhorn cichlid can live together but they might be very exotic & territorial so keeping them in one tank might be hard.

Make sure you have 150 plus gallons of water for every single fish & there is lots of free swimming space & every fish gets lots of food so they would not fight against each other.