ChrissFishes01
New Member
Okay, so this is my first journal thread here - the tank has been up with the fish for a couple weeks now, so there'll be a bit of catching up.
The tank was put together for a flowerhorn. I used to breed these guys years ago (just a few spawns), but I eventually rehomed them all due to their large size and the fact that you can't keep other fish or even decor with most of them. However, I'm moving to a bigger place soon (buying a house!), and miss keeping large cichlids. Smaller fish are fun, but there's something about these huge, beautiful fish that keeps bringing me back.
Anyway, when I got to the store to buy (on Saturday, September 25th), they had four flowerhorns in stock. Three at around 3-4" (all supposedly male), and one smaller one (2") who was unsexed. Two were kinda shy and seemed to have more grey on them than anything else - the third was interacting with me through the glass, but was a little too short-bodied for my taste. The fourth one, though, was attacking my hand through the glass, had some very nice color on him, and seemed like a healthy fish. I chose that one. On the way to catch him, the employee asked which one I wanted, to which I replied "The one in the tank on the far left." He said, "Ah, the aggressive one that bites me every time I clean the tank?" It was then that I knew I made the right choice!
I decided to name him "Nanaue" after the DC character. I had just watched Suicide Squad, so naming him after a man-eating shark demigod seemed fitting.
When I got him home and into the tank, this is what he looked like:
You can see that the tank is completely bare besides substrate and a sponge filter, as that's how I've kept flowerhorns in the past. He was very interactive that first night, ate, and seemed to be doing very well. Over the next day or two, he became very skittish, and lost some color. I decided to spruce the tank up with some decor, so I pulled some silk plants out of my brackish tank and went to Lowe's to get some pots. Here was the result:
As you can see, he was not happy with me digging around in the tank, but he soon got over it. He decided he actually liked the pots:
I ended up trying some live plants in his tank, too, once I saw that he didn't bother the fake ones. He's the first flowerhorn I've had that I've been able to keep plants with! So far, they're all just rescues from other tanks where they were getting overgrown, but hey, it's a nice addition IMO.
https://i.imgur.com/QtRrPkT.jpg
I forgot this Anubias in a ziplock baggie for three weeks. It survived. Barely!
And, finally, Nanaue himself after being in his new home for a week or two:
Thanks for the read, and I'll be updating this every few days or so!
The tank was put together for a flowerhorn. I used to breed these guys years ago (just a few spawns), but I eventually rehomed them all due to their large size and the fact that you can't keep other fish or even decor with most of them. However, I'm moving to a bigger place soon (buying a house!), and miss keeping large cichlids. Smaller fish are fun, but there's something about these huge, beautiful fish that keeps bringing me back.
Anyway, when I got to the store to buy (on Saturday, September 25th), they had four flowerhorns in stock. Three at around 3-4" (all supposedly male), and one smaller one (2") who was unsexed. Two were kinda shy and seemed to have more grey on them than anything else - the third was interacting with me through the glass, but was a little too short-bodied for my taste. The fourth one, though, was attacking my hand through the glass, had some very nice color on him, and seemed like a healthy fish. I chose that one. On the way to catch him, the employee asked which one I wanted, to which I replied "The one in the tank on the far left." He said, "Ah, the aggressive one that bites me every time I clean the tank?" It was then that I knew I made the right choice!
I decided to name him "Nanaue" after the DC character. I had just watched Suicide Squad, so naming him after a man-eating shark demigod seemed fitting.
When I got him home and into the tank, this is what he looked like:
You can see that the tank is completely bare besides substrate and a sponge filter, as that's how I've kept flowerhorns in the past. He was very interactive that first night, ate, and seemed to be doing very well. Over the next day or two, he became very skittish, and lost some color. I decided to spruce the tank up with some decor, so I pulled some silk plants out of my brackish tank and went to Lowe's to get some pots. Here was the result:
As you can see, he was not happy with me digging around in the tank, but he soon got over it. He decided he actually liked the pots:
I ended up trying some live plants in his tank, too, once I saw that he didn't bother the fake ones. He's the first flowerhorn I've had that I've been able to keep plants with! So far, they're all just rescues from other tanks where they were getting overgrown, but hey, it's a nice addition IMO.
https://i.imgur.com/QtRrPkT.jpg
I forgot this Anubias in a ziplock baggie for three weeks. It survived. Barely!
And, finally, Nanaue himself after being in his new home for a week or two:
Thanks for the read, and I'll be updating this every few days or so!
... Ive seen flowerhorns before and have always wanted to keep them, but they need tank sizes I cant have in my parents' house. So yeah, for now I shall admire others
