flowerhorn babies help.........

[MasterHuang]

i have 2, one male and one female flowerhorn in a 80g tank, my female flowerhorn seen to laid eggs all the time (atleast onece amonth), but everytime the flowerhorns just ate the eggs before the eggs hatch, this time her eggs hatch, i can see hundreds tiny fry in my tank. since flowerhorns are a very aggresive fish, my questions are: will the parents eat their babies?  should i move the parents or the babies to a different tank?  what should i feed the babies with?  Thank you for any help and advice.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

If you want you could leave the parents to let them learn to rear their young, I personally would probably do it this way.

Another route is to remove the parents and rear the fry yourself....good aeration/filtration(cover intakes), would probably look into hatching my own brine or feed cyclopeze or daphnia but crush flakes and stuff should work as well.

[rrocket2002]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

If the parents do the same as Red Devils, they will not eat the young.  After a week or two, the Male gets overly protective and will even try to keep the female away from the fry.  Keep an eye on any aggression towards the female, He will kill here.  Again, this is my experience with Red Devils.  

I also experienced the same thing when I had a mated pair of Jack Dempseys.  Not as much aggression as the Red Devil, but the same behavior after the fry were born.

My suggestion would be leave the parents with them for about a week and then remove them.  Its alot more difficult to remove hundreds for fry.  

When my SA laid eggs and I new they were fertilized...usually on a rock, slate or driftwood, I would remove the object with the eggs and transpland into a smaller bare tank with good aeration and filtration.  Of course I would take precautions to make sure fry could not be sucked into the filter.

I fed crushed flake and as they get a little bigger, live brine.

Hope that helps.

[SOULJAA]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Master, I had the same thing happen to me w/ my F-Horns. It would be seemingly easier to just isolate the parents or just remove the fry once you see their numbers declining. The latter require a somewhat diligent vigil if possible.

As far as feeding them... the powder which is in the bottom of the bag (assuming you feed the parents/other fish pellets) works just fine. I, for instance, feed my fish Hikari Staple and Hikari Gold. So I just transfer the pellets into a jar of some sort w/ a top, and the powder (which has come from the bag being handled) into something w/ a top. It works great b/c it's already in a "dust-like form". Some particles will be bigger than others, but don't worry. They will eventually eat it. Just feed them a dash or 2 once maybe twice a day (you want to avoid the build-up of uneaten food). I even do once every other day at my house. Now once you see the fry has doubled in size, then you can start w/ the flakes (either whole or somewhat crushed). I personally do both. Then once they double (maybe triple) in size, then you can begin w/ just droppin' a few pellets in the tank, allowing them to pick/nibble on them. I used large pellets, so 3-4 is good enough. Just take into consideration how many fish you're feeding.

[dblondfemme]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Ditto with above mentioned.
Only addition... I take a mortar and pestal and grind color bits, flake, dried blood worms and mysis to a very fine powder.  I take a small pinch and sprinkle 2x daily except on the weekends when they have to wait for me to return Monday.

[SOULJAA]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Mortar and pestal...I likes  :clap:  never thought about that. I order so many bag at a time...that when I empty the bags in plastic containers, I have enough food to fill a small container about the size of a C battery.

Master...if the fry last  ray: I would like to get a few from you if you decide to part w/ any.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Back in the olden days, we had a flour sifter.   Sort of like a big metal coffee cup with a screen on the bottom and a hand crank on the side.
Just put the lumpy stuff in the sifter and turn the crank and you get extra fine powder out of the bottom.  Your kids will love doing this one and you can control how muct is fed by how mutch you put in the sifter.  Add a little paprica to give the fish more color.

Just call me baker, because I always need dough.

[MasterHuang]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Thanks for all the tips guys!!  my baby fhorns are getting very well with their parents.  they are one week old now and very healthy and active.  when they were new born, they all stayed together one spot in the bottom of my tank, right now they are swimming all over my tank.  one more problem now is that my water is pretty dirty, can i do water change? i cant use my python, what can i use?

[Zulaab]

Re: flowerhorn babies help.........

Go find yourself some pantyhose and then put it on the end of the Python... Just remove water and re-add water again.. this should solve your water change without taking young with you into the system.