Need Some Advice On My Flowerhorn

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Ok so this is a post I put in the "new world cichlid" section earlier today under my tread "my Thai Silk Flowerhorn". I was adviced to put that same post in this section to see if I can get the correct answers for my question.... so here goes,

Ok just a quick update and a question on my flowerhorn....

He has now been moved into the 125 gal with my ornate bichir and all is well. They dont go near each other. He is eating well 3 times a day and taking food from my hand, growing very nicely, getting better colour (a little darker blue like other Thai Silks iv seen) but as with most flowerhorns iv seen and heard of he is getting a bad attitude even though he is still only around 3 inches.

I will get an updated pic of him on here ASAP

The question i have is that quite often he swims around in loops? As in he will swim in circles up and bk around as though he is doing backflips lol is this normal? Reason I ask is there like I said above, everything else about him is great and there is no change in water readings... 0 ammonia 0 nitrites 20 nitrates... As its always been in all my tanks such as the 40 he was in before moving to the 125.

Iv been doing water changes as I normally do which is 50% water change once a week and a gravel vac. Topped back up with heated dechlorinated water (added seachem prime). It's funny to watch him I just want to put my mind at rest. He never hides away and is always lively. When he's not doing this he is trying to attack his reflection

Any input/advice is appreciated...

Thanks...

 

[BerryAttack]

well you say that he is doing "back flips" while swimming could be because he has a swim bladder issue... when you look from the top of the water or from the side, is his spin straight?

 

[Chad]

What is the flow like in the tank?

When you say loops...are they short loops or the length of the 125 gallon tank (is it a standard 6' tank)?

 

[dbanner]

well you say that he is doing "back flips" while swimming could be because he has a swim bladder issue... when you look from the top of the water or from the side, is his spin straight?

no they are not completely straight. Also he only does it for around 10 minutes a day and then stops....

 

[BerryAttack]

well you say that he is doing "back flips" while swimming could be because he has a swim bladder issue... when you look from the top of the water or from the side, is his spin straight?

no they are not completely straight. Also he only does it for around 10 minutes a day and then stops....

so his spin is curved? when he does the flips does he only do it while feeding? or just randomly?

 

[dbanner]

What is the flow like in the tank?

When you say loops...are they short loops or the length of the 125 gallon tank (is it a standard 6' tank)?

hi, no they are very short loops, around say 8 inches in diameter. The tank is a Juwel Rio 400 so 5 foot long, 2 foot wide and a little under 2 feet high. it is listed as 450 litres as it is the newer type Rio. i think that works out as 100UK gallons/125 US gallons? the filtration i have is 2 tetratec ex1200's so take into account the media in the filters i have around 1800lph turnover. He does these loops for about 10 mins a day and then stops. as i stated above there is no change in his appearance, his eating or how lively he is. just never come across a fish doing this. iv kept all sorts cichlids in this setup before like a jag, a red devil, a JD, green terror, jewels, a texas, oscar... list goes on... obviously i didnt have all those at 1 time. iv only ever had 1 in there at a time apart from when i had the jewels JD and texas together. never had any health issues with any of them apart from the texas which got a fungal infection which i didnt catch in time and sadly lost him. That was months ago and my Ornate was put in there a few months after the tank was treated.

well you say that he is doing "back flips" while swimming could be because he has a swim bladder issue... when you look from the top of the water or from the side, is his spin straight?

no they are not completely straight. Also he only does it for around 10 minutes a day and then stops....

so his spin is curved? when he does the flips does he only do it while feeding? or just randomly?

very slightly yes, he does it randomly. If i walk up to the tank or the Ornate swims by him he stops and doesnt usually start again unless its for literally a few seconds then he goes off exploring the tank and attacking his reflection again lol

 

[dbanner]

Thanks to those who replied, I think iv found the answer i was after...

Iv just seen loads of videos of flowerhorns doing exactly the same as mine does and apparently it's common for them to do it especially when younger. They do it to show they are calm and used to the tank and surroundings and also believed that they do it to get thier owners attention, maybe thats why mine only does it until i walk up to the tank? Seems about right.. There are also numerous threads on various other sites such as MFK (hope I haven't broke any rules by putting that on here, if I have I apologise in advance) that back this up. They say exactly the same thing on all the threads and videos i seen.

I wasnt so much as "worried" more along the lines of "curious" to see why it was they did this... I guess now I know.

Hopefully this may help others with the same query

 

[Chad]

Well that's very interesting. Puffers are well known for this sort of attention getting behavior but I've never seen it in any of my cichlids. Good bit of info.

 

[dbanner]

Iv heard of puffers doing it but not owned to see it. This is the 1st time iv ever seen it personally in any of the fish iv owned and like I said iv owned quite a few cichlids. No probs on the info

Apart from him just generally playing and attention seeking it may also be his way of saying "hey you, yeah you sat over there... Look what i can do... Now come and feed me" lol

 

[Chad]

It's your child!

 

[Flute]

When I visited Star4's, I saw her severums do loops like you've described, and it was all to get her attention. Might be worth sending her a PM to see what she thinks?

 

[dbanner]

It's your child!

Might as well be with the amount of attention he actually gets lol I find him brilliant to watch. So much more personality than all the other cichlids iv had

When I visited Star4's, I saw her severums do loops like you've described, and it was all to get her attention. Might be worth sending her a PM to see what she thinks?

Thanks for that, iv just spoke to a friend that used to keep flowerhorns years ago and he said 4 out of the 5 flowerhorns he kept did the same thing, 3 of which still did it when they were exceeding 8-9 inches in length. He said it's quite rare for them to do it that size but common when under 5-6 inches.

 

[dbanner]

Ok so I tried to PM Star4 to ask her opinion on it but my phone won't let me send PM's

Let's just hope Star4 takes a look at this thread lol

I'm feeling much better about it though since seeing all the videos and then have them all backed up from people's experiences with them and so on. This thread was just a "better to be safe than sorry" thread. I'd hate for anything to happen to him...

 

[star4]

I havnt had the pleasure of a flowerhorn, but it sure sounds like attention seeking to me. My 3 belem severums do it, especially just before feeding time and if they see someone new. I have 4 tanks of fish in my front room any visitors MUST visit Chops the oscar first and admire him else he will throw himself at the lid and splash water everywhere (I have to feed him first too) He also attempts the backflips of the severums in the tank opposite to his, but he just cant do it and ends up circling on his side and ends up in a heap on the bottom, got a pic of him trying his circle lol,

I dont think you have anything to worry about, just enjoy the bond you have built with him

 

[dbanner]

Well thank you very much for confirming that for me

Aww your Oscar sounds and looks awesome, although I bet he looks better when he is the right way up lol

I have my FH in the tank on his own now (you probably already know that now from seeing my other thread) and he seems even better than he was when the Onate was with him