# baby flowerhorns in community tank



## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Djamm brought home 2 "mystery fish" which are actually 1" baby flowerhorns last night. 

They're in the 30g tropical/grow-out community tank right now with the other babies and seem to be doing fine. However, I know that these fish can be psychotically aggressive when they get bigger, so I'm nervous about how long this peaceful state will last and how fast they will grow. 

I'm thinking that my best bet right now is to move them to the 75g by themselves when we get the current inhabitants into the 180g tank, but are they ever likely to be able to co-exist with 2 oscars, the JD and the catfish in the 180g? I think FH's are gorgeous, but I wasn't planning to have a single large tank for just them, assuming that they will even live together as adults without trying to kill each other!


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

Hi Elle,

In my past experience, the flowerhorns ARE psychotically aggressive, but to their own kind only. I currently have my flower horn with a florida gar, synodontis catfish, black ghost knife and bichir and she seems to be quite civilized. She's about 6.5'' (maybe a bit more) and is a bit of a pig. She always gets first dibs on food as the others are aware of her aggression. 

For most part, they do get along. HOwever, when I had another flowerhorn in the tank, she totally destroyed it after 2 weeks of living with it. It was just like sudden PMS. 2 weeks of being best buds, swimming together, then one day, I wake up to a badly beaten flowerhorn. hope this helps. 

oh, if you're curious, all my other fish are smaller than the flower horn.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

That's what happened with my JD when he murdered my green terror. Nothing, nothing, some chasing, then BAM! dead. How large was your tank?

My concern is mixing the adult FHs with either each other or the nasty-ass JD. Right now as babies they're OK, but as soon as they get a bit bigger they'll have to come out of the 30g. There's nowhere else to put them at the moment, as the SA cichlids would eat them at this size.

For now, I'm thinking that an egg crate divider in the 75g will be my friend as they grow out, but god knows where I'll put them when they get too big for that tank.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Elle said:


> Djamm brought home 2 "mystery fish" which are actually 1" baby flowerhorns last night. !


For the love of God, Drew ! Impulse purchases can be quite surprising. Good luck with you new 'terrors'.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Well this was an impulse purchase...But its not like we have any lack of those in our house JD, Oscars, Silver Dollars, Catfish, etc... My intention is not to keep them forever together in a community grow out tank.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

> But its not like we have any lack of those in our house JD, Oscars, Silver Dollars, Catfish, etc...


Yeah, yeah. I'm way more guilty of this than you (since those are all my fish). I admit it. 

I'm just nervous about a possible fishy Armageddon.


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## Unicorrs (Oct 26, 2011)

based on my experience with our flowerhorns, the only tankmates they had are their food! since I'm not a "fish whisperer" I don't know how to tame these aggressive creatures and I don't want to try giving them tankmates other than their food.


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## FishFreaks (May 15, 2011)

*fish*

i keep my fh with severums,butterkoferi, and jack dempsey and like 20 corydoras with no problems and their all like 4-6inches


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## cowis (Apr 21, 2010)

shortbody fh are alot less agressive then regular ones. The aggression leval is all based on each fish and their personality.... i have had lots of fh in the past some mean as hell some nice and calm. Its hard to say till what size or for how long the fish will stay peaceful.


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## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

F.H. grow fast, in no time they are will be busting up the community tank ! also they are psychotic, I have seen them in community tanks when they are slightly over crowded do o.k., but I ended up having to buy a separate tank and take mine out of my 125g SA/CA tank because it was too damn aggressive.


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

Elle said:


> How large was your tank?
> 
> .


I have her in a 108g tank. I get iffy adding new fish in but if there are a decent size, they usually get along. I did have a lot of isolating. She was separated from the rest for 3-4 months before I let her join the group.

She started off with a divider in the 108, then was thrown into a 10g for a while cause I sprung a leak in my 108. I guess she felt so lonely that when she finally went into a tank with potential friends, she calmed the *bleep* down. but she is definitely the dominant one in the tank. Always taking first dibs on food, snatching food from other fishes mouths lol!

Quite an interesting character but I am glad she's not attacking anyone. For a while, she'd chase my catfish around but it almost seemed like she was more curious what the catfish was doing than actually attacking it.


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## blueheron (Dec 2, 2011)

I have 2 that are paired up in a 90 gallon, they share with catfish and plecos. They are very protective of their tank! But they actually snuggle up to my bullseye catfish - he's about 10 inches, a bit bigger than the male. The female fh is more aggressive than the male.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

We're guessing at the moment that we have a male and a female. We've moved the whole community tank to a 60 gallon with lots of hiding spots and they're actually doing pretty well with their tank mates, although somebody murdered the blue ram last night.

Not much chasing or aggression, and they seem to be pretty laid back except over food.


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

I thought I might share a couple of photos.









now about 3 to 3.5 inches. Male?









smaller about 2.5 to 3 inches. Female?

Neither have much in the way of Kok, but I am not sure if it is because they are only a few months old?









chilling with the silver dollars and severums and others...


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

i recently moved my flower horn out of the 108 and into a new 60g and what a difference. all the other fish don't hide anymore and they come out to play and eat!! amazing!


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## cowis (Apr 21, 2010)

from the pics id say both are red dragons and both male. they will get a kok as they age. they wont have a massive kok but still get an ok sized one.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Thanks Cowis! What do you look for to determine sex at this age? If they're both male, I see problems ahead when they start to get territorial.  We'll likely end up keeping one by itself in the 60 gallon and rehoming the other. How big do the red dragons get? Is 60g enough for a single adult?

OTOH, I do have a spare 150g tank...but that was kind of earmarked for the clown loaches/southeast asian community. Another option might be to put one of them in the 180g with the 2 oscars and the JD when they're large enough not to be food...but that might start WWIII.

How old were most people's FH's when they needed to get separated from the other fish?


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## cowis (Apr 21, 2010)

ok so i saw a few questions in there... First off yes u can keep a full grown fh in a 60 gallon. They tend to max out between 10-12 inches id say from what iv seen. To sex the fish female will have a black "dot" on the dorsal fin.

this might help with questons:

Flowerhorn Frequently Asked Questions (faqs) - Flowerhorn Craze


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