More Kamfas Credit to Chinatown pets for the pictures.
Blue Dragon ZZ
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
How do flowerhorn breed?
Flowerhorns are rather aggressive and very territorial fish. They are so territorial that they need lots aquarium space all to themselves. This aggressiveness can also be observed during flowerhorn breeding. Nobody does love making as passionately and as violently as the flowerhorns.
After being introduced to each other, the couple immediately goes into a ritual dance. The male would encircle the female several times rubbing his body against her. Then he heats things up a by hitting her body alternately with his tail and his mouth. Then they bite each other pushing each other back and forth and around their nesting plate. They do this for several minutes until the female ultimately reaches her climax and lays her egg. The male then starts to fertilize the eggs by swimming over them and releasing his sperm.
After egg laying both parents would swim on top of their nest guarding the eggs and maintaining the cleanliness of the nest.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Taking Care Of Flowerhorn Fry..
How to feed flowerhorn frys.
Flowerhorn frys can be fed with a variety of foods. The important thing to remember is that whatever you offer your fries should be readily accepted, has high protein content and should cause minimal water pollution.
Start feeding fries when they are freely swimming. Start out with hard boiled egg yolk and crushed flowerhorn pellets. I prefer to give humpy head only as it is cheap and the high protein content makes the frys grow fast. Other pellets would do as long as they are crushed. I have also tried Nutra fin Brine shrimp flakes, earthworm flakes and tropical fish color enhancing flakes. This flake foods are easy to give and are readily accepted by the fries. Frys grow faster when they are given live brine shrimp and daphnia.
By the 3rd week introduce other live feeds like superworms and mosquito larvae. What I do is cut a superworm in half and squeeze each half to release the insides of the superworm. This method causes turbid water afterwards which would require you to do water change. Frys also have strong carnivorous instinct and will attack and eat mosquito larvae. Frys by this stage are already close to a centimeter in lenght and will be showing the plum line and a little color usually a reddish hue.
By the 4th week I give them tubifex worm, mosquito larvae or frozen blood worms. I also add osterized beef heart or osterized market shrimps. These together with crushed pellets makes your fry grow faster and
How frequent should you do water change?
Check your water parameters every now and then in order to know when to make water change but the rule of thumb is do 30% water change every other day. Daily water change may be indicated if you have a large number of fries as compared to the size of your aquarium, if your water turns murky after feeding and if you notice a lot of sediments at the bottom of the tank after feeding.
When you do water change add a little salt, chlorine eliminator, and if you like water conditioner of your choice. I prefer using a water conditioner because aside from eliminating chlorine it also stabilizes water pH. Other water conditioner have an added feature of providing for balance electrolyte and vitamins as well.
What filter should you use?
For obvious reason the only filter that would be needed is a sponge filter. Overhead filters are a not used because the suction action is too great and could easily suck all your fries into the overhead filter.
Should I use a heater?
Heaters maybe used to maintain your water temperature at 28-30oC. If you live in colder regions of the world then water heaters are a must. But if you live in warmer regions then water heaters are only indicated on colder seasons of the year.
Flowerhorn frys can be fed with a variety of foods. The important thing to remember is that whatever you offer your fries should be readily accepted, has high protein content and should cause minimal water pollution.
Start feeding fries when they are freely swimming. Start out with hard boiled egg yolk and crushed flowerhorn pellets. I prefer to give humpy head only as it is cheap and the high protein content makes the frys grow fast. Other pellets would do as long as they are crushed. I have also tried Nutra fin Brine shrimp flakes, earthworm flakes and tropical fish color enhancing flakes. This flake foods are easy to give and are readily accepted by the fries. Frys grow faster when they are given live brine shrimp and daphnia.
By the 3rd week introduce other live feeds like superworms and mosquito larvae. What I do is cut a superworm in half and squeeze each half to release the insides of the superworm. This method causes turbid water afterwards which would require you to do water change. Frys also have strong carnivorous instinct and will attack and eat mosquito larvae. Frys by this stage are already close to a centimeter in lenght and will be showing the plum line and a little color usually a reddish hue.
By the 4th week I give them tubifex worm, mosquito larvae or frozen blood worms. I also add osterized beef heart or osterized market shrimps. These together with crushed pellets makes your fry grow faster and
How frequent should you do water change?
Check your water parameters every now and then in order to know when to make water change but the rule of thumb is do 30% water change every other day. Daily water change may be indicated if you have a large number of fries as compared to the size of your aquarium, if your water turns murky after feeding and if you notice a lot of sediments at the bottom of the tank after feeding.
When you do water change add a little salt, chlorine eliminator, and if you like water conditioner of your choice. I prefer using a water conditioner because aside from eliminating chlorine it also stabilizes water pH. Other water conditioner have an added feature of providing for balance electrolyte and vitamins as well.
What filter should you use?
For obvious reason the only filter that would be needed is a sponge filter. Overhead filters are a not used because the suction action is too great and could easily suck all your fries into the overhead filter.
Should I use a heater?
Heaters maybe used to maintain your water temperature at 28-30oC. If you live in colder regions of the world then water heaters are a must. But if you live in warmer regions then water heaters are only indicated on colder seasons of the year.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Master's Secrets To Breeding Flowerhorn
Its every Flowerhorn hobbyist dream of breeding his flowehorn. The process is easy and can be a very fulfilling activity. Keep in mind that flowerhorns are the most passionate lovers. They love to do rough play before engaging in copulation.
Here some pointers for you so that your breeding program will be successful.
Things you will need during your breeding.
1.Aquarium should be around 50-75 gallons. The size of the aquarium is of utmost importance.If you try breeding your pair in a tight space your pair may end up having a marital dispute instead of a having honeymoon and pairing successfully.
2.Water Heater-Water temperature is important because it keeps your breeding pair healthy and in heat. Get it heater and "in heat"? Set a nd maintain your water heater to about 30 deg..
3.A pottery dish or any flat surface like the rough side of a tile. This is where your breeding pair will nest and eventually lay her eggs.
4. Aerator-you need an aerator to serve two purpose.First is to keep the Oxygen levels in your water constant so have your aerator connected to an air stone. The second purpose is for filtering. Connect your aerator to a foam filter for this purpose.
5. Methylene blue.-Methylene will be used for your fertilized eggs to avoid fungal growth.
The Process of breeding your flowerhorn.
1.Selection and Introduction of breeding pair.
Choose the healthiest brood stock for you to breed. Healthy brood stock means more fertilized eggs and more fries to select from.
I introduce my breeding pair as early as 2 weeks before breeding. I place them in an aquarium with dividers. I do this so that the pair will be familiar with each other before their breeding hormones drive them crazy.
2.Getting your flowerhorn to mate. Your visual cue that your breeding pair is ready is when the female starts to loose its color and turns darker and with dark stripes all over it.Once your flowerhorn are ready all you need to do is put them together and wait for them to mate. You should however keep an eye on them while they are breeding, as flowerhorn aggressiveness can get out hand which would result in severe injuries or even death.
3. Getting your female to lay eggs. So how do I do that? Well the secret actually lies in you doing a 10% water change prior to bringing your breeding pair together. The water change changes the water temperature and chemistry a bit which in turn induces your female to lay eggs. Water change also mimics rainfall which also induces your female to lay eggs. So what I do is when I fill the tanks again I use the water hose as a sprayer which would mimic rainfall.
4.Getting a divorce. After your female has laid her eggs and the male has fertilzed them. Its time for the pair to part ways. Simply place them in separate aquariums and care for them as you usually do.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Some Interesting Facts About The Origins Of The Zhen Zhou/Pearly Flowerhorn
Zhen zhou flowerhorn or pearl flowerhorn is one of the main breed of flowerhorn. They originated from the original luohans and through several crosses and line breeding were able to produce the pearly fish that it is today.
Whatever the strain of zz it is generally believed that zz's have Amphilopus trimaculatus as a main ancestor.
Trimaculatus also known as the "rainbow cichlid" is responsible for giving the zz's its flowerline, the body shape, the lip shape, and of course the fin shape. Trimaculatus was then cross bred with other central american cichlid in order to produce the pearly zz's we have today.
As you can see below the picture of a trimaculatus and some zz's.
Trimaculatus by Brent Smith
Some zhen zhous especially the low grade ones are more tri-mac in appearance. Of the classic zhen zhous it is Eastern maiden strain that closely resembles a trimaculatus.
The downside to having the midas cichlid as ancestor is that the fierce nature and territoriality of the midas cichlid is passed to the next generations and becomes genetically fixed. Male zhen zhu with bigger humps tend to be more aggressive than males with no humps. These males are known to kill their females and other fish,a characteristic which is observed with the midas cichlid.
Whatever the strain of zz it is generally believed that zz's have Amphilopus trimaculatus as a main ancestor.
Trimaculatus also known as the "rainbow cichlid" is responsible for giving the zz's its flowerline, the body shape, the lip shape, and of course the fin shape. Trimaculatus was then cross bred with other central american cichlid in order to produce the pearly zz's we have today.
As you can see below the picture of a trimaculatus and some zz's.
Trimaculatus by Brent Smith
Some zhen zhous especially the low grade ones are more tri-mac in appearance. Of the classic zhen zhous it is Eastern maiden strain that closely resembles a trimaculatus.
The downside to having a trimaculatus as an ancestor is that the trait of having a weak tail and having a small kok is passed down to the next generations.
The Trimacs were bred to Amphipolus citrenelum which gave the zhen zhus their koks and added to the zhen zhus color variety and the trailing fins. Some facial features of the midas cichlid were inherited as well.
modern day zhen zhu
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