skyfish

well i recently purchased a flowerhorn fish about a week and a half ago and it came down with ICH and seems like it just recently got over it no spots or anything. it has always eaten and seemed healthy even with the ich symptoms. but since the ich has completely left its body its has turned into a bloodthristy maniac. it is very picking about what it eats and spits out fish flakes,pellets,bloodworms, etc. but to day i put about 4 dozen feeder guppy in his tank and he instantly went to work on them. my flowerhorn started at about 6pm and finished around 8pm. 4 dozen!!! all dead i didnt see him keep one fish down he'd just go gobble one up and spit it back out and go for the rest of the crowd. one even tried to play dead and it twitched a bit and the flowerhorn went to work on him. but all are dead and i have since removed the bodies from the tank. this is my first flowerhorn and wanted to know if this is normal...i heard they were aggressive but this is kinda crazy. It was almost like watching a horror movie...please help....any similar experiences

Mike19

I dont know much about the flowerhorn but with Oscars they usually play with their food swallowing and spitting it back out, so i would think the flowerhorn was doing the same, four dozen (12x4) feeder guppies at once seems a bit too much?.

skyfish

he didnt eat the guppies he just killed them...might be a territorial type of thing i dont know just guessing. he just went bonkers and destroyed the guppies. he may have eaten one or two that i didnt see but doesnt look like it though.

Nick G

Is he the only fish in the tank? How big is the tank?

skyfish

right now hes in a 8 and a half gallon quarantine tank cause he had a case of ich its gone now but i will continue treament for another week just to be safe. and yea hes the only fish in the tank

Nick G

And how big is he?

skyfish

about 2 and a half inches

Mike19

i dont think at that size they can swallow guppies, they probably killed them due to territory and natural behavior towards inferior fish.

Nick G

Yeah, I agree. My Oscars are 5 inchs and I won't give them full grow Guppie feeders yet, only juvenile guppies 1/2 inch or so. And 4 dozen is WAY too many. If he'd managed to eat 3 he'd have probably died of overeating!

skyfish

yea he'd hold them in his mouth for a bit then spit them back out...like bubble gum or something but i didnt see much swallowing

ericquins

It is just normal for a Flower Horn to do that kind of thing. If your fish is not used to have any company in the aquarium he tends to be much more aggressive much more if you will add smaller fishes. He will tend to kill them all; first for the purpose of eating them, and second is because the fish is territorial.

Amanda

That's why flowerhorns are recommended to be kept alone.

MissMTS

I had a flowerhorn for a few weeks and sold him. He was way to aggressive for me. He used to ram the side of the tank any time I got too close. They will not tollerate any other fish in the tank with them. If he is spitting out all of his food, I would be worried that he might have internal parasites.