Flowerhorns!

[Bilbo]

Ooops i said the F word. Please be easy. I breed discus, rams and flowerhorns. I know ALOT of people dont like flowerhorns in the hobby but for those who look at it as just a colorful fish to enjoy then i have some wonderful pictures that you may like that i can post here!

[worldf]

I'm with the sister club up here in KC, we have a lot of flowerhorn lovers, be sure to stop by the forums to chat about them. http://www.kcfishclub.org/forum.html

[sumpnfishy]

I would be one of those who you could have called a flowerhorn hater. I would say that has lessened greatly. The early flowerhorns looked just like trimacs when they were young so it was making it quite likely that it would be hard to find true trimacs in the hobby and there seemed to be no advantage as the flowerhorns were no prettier than the wild forms. That has changed now as the colors on many of them are incredible and the young ones even have good color.
That is not to say you will find them in my fishroom but then again you won't find very many fish in my fishroom that have any bright colors unless they are my son's.
So, get those pics up!
Michael

[TerriM]

Definitely put those pics up! I've never really seen/read much anything on these. Your post made me google it to see exactly what they are. I've seen the name mentioned a few times in passing on the forums but haven't looked into them further. Interesting. Some are quite stunning.

[Bilbo]

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[Bilbo]

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[Bilbo]

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[Bilbo]

Nope, no Trimacs here!! I have always had a very opened mind about flowerhorns. After all, a person within her/himself can find fault in anything if you look hard enough. For me it all boils down to if the fish was physically harmed or not. Im not about injecting die in fish or cutting fins, etc.... Flowerhorns were bred from about 4 different species of fish to establish them. During this phase of wild crossings there were only a tiny percentage out of a single spawn that would look unusual. The rest would look like Trimacs, Vieja and so forth. Many years have passed since those days and there are established strains of flowerhorns now. At the very least when you breed any flowerhorn color to a different flowerhorn color you will not get ANY of the fry that resemble a trimac. One of two things will be oustandably noticible when you breed any flowerhorn together nowaday and that is either the fry will have pearls or more color, or a combination of both. Both of which i might add will be in far more abundantcy and intensity than a Trimaculatus. I am not trying to make people who hate flowerhorns love them. No, that is not my intent. My intent is to share these beautiful creatures with those who have an open mind and who would like to see something perhaps they have not seen before. Flowerhorns are special and i love them dearly. But they still only come second to my first love BLUE RAMS... and discus, lol !!

[Chard56]

I look at Flowerhorns now like I looked at Bettas 4 and a half years ago. I hadn't had any aquarium fish in 15 years and fell in love all over again when I got online and saw all the beautiful Bettas that had been developed since I last had them. The last time I had Texas, Red Devil; Severum and Red Heads or Trimacs was 34 years ago. Seeing what has been done by crossing these species is completely amazing. There are still enough purists out there that have the original species and the Flowerhorns of today are so far removed from the originals that they may as well be an entirely different species. I can't see crossing them back to one of the original fish used to make them. Gorgeous pictures and I especially like the Yellow Gold one with Red and Purple on the face. Thanks for sharing. ~ Richard

[mewickham]

Nice looking fish! I'm not a fan of hybrids, but those pictures make me want to change my mind.

[Bilbo]

I have many, MANY more pics that would blow your mind. There is only one other fresh water fish that can compete with the variety and over all intensity of the color of flowerhorns and that is the discus.

[im2smart4u]

I love the color of the flowerhorns. My big problem with them is the shape. I hate that huge bump above the head. It just makes the fish look too weird.

[Bilbo]

Thats the way i was when i first saw flowerhorns years ago.. YUCK! They all laughed at me when i was ordering flowerhorns without no nuchal hump. But as time went on i started to look at it like i look at a deer with a huge rack, rarity. From then on i loved the nuchal hump. I dont like it to be to big but i defintately want my flowerhorns to have some sort of rack!