CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

i would like to get your opinion on flowerhorn cichlids. u cannot deny that these r some of the best looking fish on the market these days. we all know that yes they r hybrid fish but again u can't deny the beauty & aggressiveness of these fish. we know that they were breed & started in asia, what these guys do with colors in that country is the same as what they do with high dollar discus & high dollar bettas, so my question is why the hate for flowerhorns.

Originally posted by domdes
i would like to get your opinion on flowerhorn cichlids. u cannot deny that these r some of the best looking fish on the market these days. we all know that yes they r hybrid fish but again u can't deny the beauty & aggressiveness of these fish. we know that they were breed & started in asia, what these guys do with colors in that country is the same as what they do with high dollar discus & high dollar bettas, so my question is why the hate for flowerhorns.

Hi domdes, Welcome to the forums!

I don't know much about Flowerhorns myself, but I took the liberty to move your post over to the Cichlids forum where some of our experts can see your question --

--Mark:cool:

their a huge, overly aggressive, fast adapting fish.

1. the point of keeping fish is for them to behave and live as naturally as possible within the confines of an aquarium. if the fish itself isnt even natural, why bother.

2. and more importantly, if this fish escapes into local water courses, and breeds, it will cause hell to break loose in the local enviroment... example.

africanised "killer" honey bees.

or

guppies (introduced in the far east to control mosquito larvae... no mosquitos, no more diseases transfered) however, they bred so quickly, and to such an extent, that they have placed alot of the local species in that area (many well known to fish keepers) on the endangered species list due to competion, predation and disease, in some cases wiping them out together (granted, it is a combination of the guppies and the lack of habitat)

one obvious loss has been the mosquito fish, another live bearer but of a differant species and breeding method i believe)

same deal with carp in all water ways, many a species in britan has been wiped out due to he un natural competition.

granted, the flower horn you buy may not make it into the wild, itll probley never leave your home, but its a risk that is being run with the breeding of these huge, hardy fish.

i think its an issue with people looking for Trimacs (i did some research) as they are often miss sold flower horns.

the price too sees to be an issue.

as i see it, everyone has their tastes, and if you want one, and you look after it to the level it deserves as any other living thing... then do as you will

its apparently a hot topic for everyone, FH keepers hate everyone who has an opinion on FH and everyone else just hates the arrogance they seem to put forward (no offence ment, im just reading another forum)

.. btw, sorry, but the best looking fish is easily my green severum, hes a right charmer.



Peace out
Craigie

so my question is why the hate for flowerhorns.

Same reason as any other hybrids - once they're sold as a real/pure fish - they ruin bloodlines of others cichlids especially to the unexpecting person.


I still see NO reason for flowerhorns - all the sales pitches are silly.

"best color" - no color unhibridized cichlids don't come in
"aggressiveness" - no more then a trimac, synspilum, midas (some of the main founding cichlids in the flowerhorn) and less then a dovii
"big nauchal hump" - no bigger then unhybridized cichlids could also be bred to have.
NO feature any unhybridized cichlid could be bred to have.

i think its an issue with people looking for Trimacs (i did some research) as they are often miss sold flower horns.

yep it's a huge issue - so many "low grade" or "early morph" flowerhorns were (and still are) sold as trimacs it's rediculas. Trimacs being fairly rare + hybrids being sold as trimacs put a real hurt on trimacs bloodlines The same thing is happening with midas cichlids and certain "strains of flowerhorns"
A fish sooooo cool it has to be marketed as something else in order to sell what!? seems odd to me.
And some people decide it's no big deal ?????
Wonder if those same people payed for a Rolls Rocye and got a wv bug with a Rolls Royce front end would decided that was ok too or is they'd get highly upset? Same difference! One thing that looks like another from certain views.

Even Flowerhorn breeders relied on trimac bloodlines to "start makeing flowerhorns" but then turn around and ruined the same bloodlines that started their craze.



My question is Why the huge fan fair for flowerhorns?
Because someone decided they were cool one day? Because they got named? Hybrids have been around for years and frowed on until someone gives them a name then they become popular?
what!? (if you don't know flowerhorn marketing history- those first hybrids were also sold under FALSE,FAKE names - seems odd to need a lie to sell something so great )
A mutt is a mutt! If they're suddenly super cool, maybe the next cool trend will be selling mutt dogs for thousands of dollars If so I'll go grab some ummmmmm weedtrumpet dogs from my local shelter

as i see it, if you like the look of flower horns, take a long hard look at their parent species.

i guess it comes down to the same deal as dogs... but the other way round. your paying tons of cash for a fish that is no better (or worse) then any other cichlid with the same characteristics.

i really hate the idea of keeping big agro fish for the sole reason of them being aggreissive.

i kept cichlids cos of their cool personalities, their hardiness, their beuty and their size... seems kind of shallow to just look into fighting ability.

(flower horns arnt much to look at either are they, lol... and the price, anyone daft enough to pay that is a fool):eek:

I had a Flowerhorn for less than a day. He was so overly agressive he had to go real quick. Picked a fight with every other fish in the tank. Almost killed my Oscar.

I will never have one again!!!