Newbie, need help with my flowerhorns.

Hi to all the members of this forum. I got my first flowerhorn in Sept. It is my very first pet fish and I have zero experience. I enjoy them so much that at present I have 11 flowerhorns different sizes etc.

So far in 3 months 3 different flowerhorns laid eggs inside their aquarium and with no mates. I tried to put in a male but it seems that the male will try to eat the eggs and beat up the female. :-#

So far I have not been successful in hatching the eggs in all 3 times. :0011: :m13:

1st experience the female ate the eggs.

2nd experience I placed the male inside the aquarium of the female as soon as she laid her eggs but the male fought the female and ate her eggs.

3rd experience after the female laid her eggs, I placed the male with the female and when the male tried to attack the female I then removed the female and placed her on a different tank.
When the male showed signs of eating the eggs I then removed the male and placed the female back. I'm on my fifth day now and nothing seems to happen with the eggs.

Can anyone help me coz i'm sure they will eventually lay eggs again. I need help on the following:

1. What can I do to make the eggs fertile and to hatch them successfully?

2. How can I stop the male from beating up the female?

3. Is there a sign of compatibility? Coz in some days they are ok together and all of a sudden the male would just attack the female for no reason at all!!!!

4. Is there a schedule as to how often they would lay eggs? Is this quarterly, semi-annually or yearly?

5. Is there a step by step guideline on what I should do as soon as that small transparent tube comes out of the belly of the female that I can download?

sorry for all the question but I just don't want all the eggs to go to waste and my females to be beaten up by the males.

Thanks in advance :bow_now:
mon

 

Firstly, with 11 flowerhorns, how many tanks do you have, how big are they, how many fish are in each, and how big are the fish?

Flowerhorns are a type of fish that form breeding pairs. You can't just throw a male & female together and expect them to breed. They have to get used to eachother, like eachother, and form a bond. It's like people; you can't throw a guy & girl together and say "Make babies!". It doesn't work like that. When trying to breed fish that pair off, it's best to get several juveniles and let them pair off naturally then remove all but the pair.

The reason you're havin so many problems with aggression is because you're throwing two fish together who aren't used to eachother. The female wants to defend her territory and the male wants to claim new territory.

And eating is fairly normal, especially if the eggs are infertile or the parents are inexperienced.

Lastly, if you ever do get your flowerhorns to breed, what do you plan on doing with the thousands (no I'm not exaggerrating) of fry you will get? Breeding fish isn't something that should just be jumped into. It takes a lot of planning. You can't just assume your LFS will be happy to take thousands of little fishies off your hands. Some won't even buy from local breeders.

-Chelle

 

yea, t_chelles right...sometimes a pair will give off a few thousand fry in a single batch...one of the guys from a different forum i go on had his pair lay atleast 3000 eggs and they all hatched....he toom some pictures of it...it was amazing.....i can post them if any1 wants me to.

 

do it gnrlemonade, i wanna see the fry.

 

newbie and owner of 11 flowerhorns

 

well, it will take to long to post the pictures, so heres his website....the pics are under the Got Flowerhorn? bumpersticker...


LFS stand for Local Fish Store....and yes, do show us some pictures fo flowerhorns...they are my absolute favorite fish :y_the_best:

 

I agree, watch out for all the babies as flowerhorns are such a large fish. Remember that water quality and ph play a huge role in getting fishes to spawn successfully. I am afraid that I don't know what the ideal parameters would be for a flowerhorn fish. Just because you can't get them to spawn doesn't make you less of an aquarist. Enjoy your fishes and concentrate on keeping them happy and healthy.

Take care!
Hooben

 

Honestly, I think you should forget about trying to get them to breed for the time being and work on getting them in more appropriate living quarters. Flowerhorns are large, messy, aggressive fish. They really should have at least 50 gallons each. Which means you should have at least 550 gallons worth of tanks.

-Chelle

 

hmmm, the website didnt come up...let me retry that....
http://www.goldenflowerhorn.com/page2.html