A Little Bit Of Flowerhorn Fish History!

Flowerhorn is a truly wonderful fish.  Eye cathcing, captivating and awe inspiring these fishes has taken the world by storm. Flowerhorn fish history involves trying to explain the origins  of a flowerhorn in order for us to truly appreciate this species. From its first appearance up to the present time the Rajah Cichlasoma is constantly evolving to meet the ultimate aim of fish hobbyists a beautiful body with matching colors, distinguished stripes, gorgeous shine, a nice big kok and hopefully a more hardy and disease resistant fish.  This chart explains the evolution of flowerhorn fishes.

Flowerhorns were believed to have first evolved in Malaysia sometime in 1993 although many Malaysian breeders would contend to having bred them as early as the 1980's. Malaysians  admired these various cross bred cichlid fishes with protruding head, known as Karoi, in the western part of Malaysia.These Karoi fishes were most probably cross breed of Cichlosoma festae and Cichlosoma trimaculatus as to the exact steps and proportion onl the master breeders would know. The Taiwanese were also at the same time breeding these chiclids due to the auspicious nature that a slight protruding forehead and long tail, would bring.  The following year (1994)saw the introduction of the Red devil cichlid to Malaysia which gave the early flowerhorns their human face or monkey face characteristic. The cross breed were aptly named as The Human Face Red God Of Fortune. The following year (1995)the Human Face Red God Of Fortune were bred to the blood parrot which gave rise to five colors god of fortune.  They were also called as Chai sen strain and included also the three colors and five colors god of fortune. In 1998 the jing gang parrot and seven-colours blue fiery mouth, from South America, known as Greenish Gold Tiger were used to create what is now known as the Hua Lou Han. The Hua Lou Han is what we now know as the modern day flowerhorn. The following are pictures of early flowerhorns known as the Hua Kok as made popular by Ah Meng in 2000.

Coronation Link

Tornado Effect

Perfect Harmony

Unique track

Absolute wonder

Ancient Warship

Creative Measure

Exotic marvel

Legacy

Living Legend

Pacific miracle

Quantum grace

Rising rainbow

Royal degree

Scarlet Passion

What followed then was the widespread distribution of the flowerhorn to surrounding countries and to the Western world. Widespread distribution also meant widespread breeding and inbreeding to further develope new strains which would create flowerhorns that would be representative of that particular region. Thus we have thai, indo, singapore, taiwan, pinoy  strains of flowerhorn. But from whatever part of the world they would come from they still fall into four major breed categories namely the zhen zhou, kamfa, kamalau and the golden base.

What is a flowerhorn?

A flowerhorn is a hardy ornamental fish which was first developed in Malaysia and Taiwan. It was developed by cross breeding several South American cichlid breeds namely Amphipolus trimaculatus (trimacs), Cichlasoma festae, Amphipolus citrenellium (Midas cichlid),jing gang blood parrot and now a days any other cichlid or cichlid hybrid which has features that could contribute to the improvement in the appearance, color, body shape, fin structure, kok formation, and overall flowerhorn deportment and appearance.

Trimac	Midas Cichlid	Cichlasoma festae

                 Jin gang blood parrot


Physical features

The flowerhorn fish can be grouped into big, medium sized and short body categories. Bigger fishes tend to grow up to 12 inches in length or bigger and weight up to 3kg. or heavier depending on the diet and overall health of the flowerhorn fish.

A beautiful short body zz.

My spzz x tzzxtk. Reached a length of 12 inches and body width of 6-7inches.

The most prominent and most sought after feature of these fishes is the kok or nuchal hump which would come in all shapes and sizes. The bigger the kok the better since the nuchal hump is considered as having an auspicious nature. The chinese believe that the bigger the kok grows the  more financial blessings is in store for the owner.

Emperor

Fagioli

The next feature is the the black markings on its body otherwise known as plums. The plums also have an auspicious nature as a story tells of a man who won the lottery as he interpreted the plums on his fish. Anyway the plums should  ideally be thick and straight continuous line or thick  and broken straight line spanning from the gill folds,operculum, up to the tail area. The plums should be highlighted by greenish to bluish metallic scales. Plums may or may not resemble a chinese character or number but if it is so the the fish is considered auspicious.

Plumless Indomalau

Double row plums in a king kamfa

The flower next to the kok is visible in all zhen zhu but is inconspicuous in all golden base and some kamfa strain. A heart shaped flower is said to bind the family together or to keep the romance between lovers alive and strong.
And lastly the flowerhorn is known for its scales and vibrant colors. Each strain of flowerhorn is known for the the different color and scale color and shape.  Generally a flowerhorn should have vibrant color and pearly scales which are evenly distributed giving rise to a pleasing aesthetic appearance of the fish.

Nice flowerhorn with vibrant mix of yellow and red color accentuated by bluish pearls.

Superb RD+Titanium by Mrfh. With nice even colors and evenly distributed worm pearls. This is a juvy with great potential.

Character

The flowerhorn fish is a very aggressive and territorial fish. It should be kept singly in large tanks which is about 3 times its body length. Two flowerhorn maybe kept in a sinlge aquarium provided that dividers are used to separate the two fish. Flowerhorns are known to be aggressive towards their mates and offspring that is why proper techniques are observed during breeding and rearing of flowerhorn babies. The flowerhorn is also aggressive towards other cichlids and maybe to its human companion. Nasty bites an cuts from sharp teeth maybe expereinced from overly aggressive fishes. Proper precaution should be instituted to avoid this accidental bites.

The flowerhorn fish is a very hardy fish being able to withstand extreme water conditions for some period of time.It is however advised to provide optimal water parameters in order to bring out the best from your flowerhorn. They are  also particulary prone to certain fungal, and sporozoan infections that poor water quality brings.

The flowerhorn is not a picky eater and will  eat just about anything that it is being offered. Just like any carnivorous fish it would prefer live food over dead or pellet fish food. There are several brands of pellet food available in the market. It is wise to see and try which pellet food would be beneficial in bringing out the full potential of your flowerhorn.

Welcome To Flowerhorn Fish Craze

Hi there! Thanks for viewing Flowerhorn Fish Craze. This blog is all about the beautiful and awe inspiring flowerhorn fish. I hope that you enjoy reading all about the care of flowerhorn fishes, selection of flowerhorn frys, selection and breeding of flowerhorn fishes, choosing and keeping aquariums for flowerhorn fishes and photos of all kinds of flowerhorn.