MissMTS

I am kind of kicking myself right now.....

You all know that I know better than to buy fish on an impulse......but once in a while even the best of us disregard the rules. I guess it wasn't a complete impulse buy....I just got really excited and didn't completely think things through.

I am talking about Teddy my flowerhorn.

I will start by saying that he is a gorgeous and interesting fish. He has lots of personality and a lot of funny habbits. Overall I am really enjoying him.........except when I have to clean his tank!!! He is so viscous that I cannot stick my hand in the tank to vacuum out the bottom. He has a ton of poo and waste sitting at the bottom of the tank because I am afraid to stick my hand in there. I am doing huge weekly water changes (75 percent) but I don't think that will cancel out all of the nitrates building up from the poop.

Today, I read a post about flowerhorns that scared the you know what out of me. It said that they are known to bust through the glass when they get big enough if they get angry enough. YIKES!!!

Am I getting paranoid, or is this a scary fish?

My hubby thinks that I should get rid of him, but I feel like I should stick it out a while longer since I just got him. However, he did make a good point. Right now my overstocked 80 gallon is bursting at the seams and I am getting ready to get rid of some of my fish. He told me that if I get rid of Teddy that I could move the rest of the fish into his 55 gallon........hmmmmm..........what should I do

capekate

LOL Katie girl....
I know its not funny... but the thought of this dang flowerhorn attacking you while you vacuum the tank is a funny picture. I didnt know they are so aggressive... they look so innocent lol...
Is he in a tank with others? Or by itself? IMO any fish that attacks and disrupts to the point that the nitrates are raising I would take the other fish's health into consideration and get rid of the bugger. Would that bring peace back into the tank and make cleaning a little stress less? Can you find a good home for him or trade him back to the LFS where you bought it?
Are you really attached to it already?... I know when I bought my first JD they told me that it was a dwarf cichlid.. lol.. when I found out what it was.. I was like ooo nooo... but like you and your flowerhorn, I became attached and couldnt bring myself to bring it back to the store tank after it was housed in a pretty nice home.
Have you chased the fish off with the tube of the vacuum yet? If you do, maybe it will learn to be afraid of the tube and stop attacking the hand attached to it! Or use some kind of tank divider to separate him from the side of the tank you are working on? Its kinda freaky to think that when you want to clean your tank your fishy is going to attack! lol...
I really do not know what I would do in that situation.. but if your tank is already overstocked and you plan on getting rid of some fish, then maybe this is a good time to get rid of Teddy boy!

Shawnie

ive read that they can be mean also...but I guess you have to decide if he is worth keeping or the others you were going to give away because of overstocked are worth keeping...using a net while you vacuum and have the hubby holding him to one side for a sec each time, will work to keep him away from you..thats what I had to do when my oscars were in breeding mode......its such a tough choice and I was there once...but I chose extra water changes and more filtration until my house can expand and hold a bigger tank...goodluck darlin!

CindyJ

Can you just take him out and put him in something else while you clean the tank out?

Just wondering if that would work. Remember i'm still new at this.

Good luck!!

Allie

Most large cichlids are meanies..even my sweet looking severums have their moments.
I am not sure what a flower horn is a hybrid of exactly. I know it's two higly aggressive types tho.
A Midas was boucing around people with larges tanks in our area, b/c he would literally try to attack people...he was 14" and UGLY. Now that fish scared the pooh right out of me.
Here a little info on them. They are considered pretty aggressive.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/flowerhorn.php
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebi...lowerhorns.htm

MissMTS

Hi Kate Lol. I know it is pretty funny I feel bad taking him back to the LFS because I am pretty attached to him. I just need to be able to clean his stupid tank He is in a tank by himself. There is no way I would put him in with any other fish. Even a big fish like an oscar would not stand a chance against him. If I touch my finger to the outside of the glass he absolutely flips out and tries toa attack my finger. Think about what would happen when I put my hand in the tank. Ouch! He has been at the LFS for a year! I would feel so bad taking him back there. He really needs a home. Its not his fault that he is mean. Honestly, he kinda acts like a betta, except his size makes him a little bit scary. The other thing that I was thinking of doing is having the fish in my 80 gallon stick it out until December. I am putting an above the ground pond on my patio as my Christmas present. My goldies will be moved from my 29 gallon to my pond, and I can move some of the fish from my 80 gallon to my 29 gallon. The fish are not full grown, so technically it is not overstocked yet. I am just trying to prevent future trouble.

Thanks for the advice Shawnie Using a net is a good idea. The only problem is my husband is convinced that this fish wants to kill him. (Teddy's tank sits on my husband's dresser, and everytime he goes to get something out of the dresser, Teddy rams the tank and freaks out). I think my hubby is more scared of him than I am.....manly I know I am tempted to just stick out the 55 gallon tank that he is in until I can afford to upgrade to a 75. My hubby will love that Its not like our house isn't bursting at the seams with fish tanks already. I have always wanted to own a large cichlid, so I think it is a little too soon to give up on the dream yet, if you know what I mean.

Even though you are new at this, that is a fantastic idea. That way there is no chance of him getting through the net and biting me. It might stress him out a little bit, but hey I am sure he would prefer to be in a bucket for a few minutes once a week than a small tank at the LFS all day long. I have to put my safety before his stress unfortunately. Thanks for the imput.

MissMTS

I agree with you. Large cichlids are generally pretty evil. Even sweet puppy dog oscars have their moments. A flowerhorn is a hybrid of 4 different kinds of cichlids. Nobody knows exactly what they are since they were bred in malasia, and the breeders won't tell what they were created from. I do know that they are definetly part Trimac and part Midas though. Both of those fish are mean!!! My guess is that they tried to create a really unusual looking fish, but in the process, ended up mixing a bunch of mean fish together and the result was a pretty fish that was too mean for its own good, lol. I guess the only consolation is that unlike a midas, teddy is not ugly (at least imo). He will reach about 14 inches though, so a tank upgrade is a must. Thanks for the links. I actually already read them before. I went on a flowerhorn forum to try and learn about them, and honestly, the people who keep them seam kinda wierd. They were talking about how since flowerhorns are so hardy and can tollerate poor water conditions, you only need to do a 10% water change once a week. With a cichlid that big, I don't think so. Some people.......

Allie

I would be doing a heck of a lot more than that. 10%? The people around here who seem to be into flower horns and parrot fish are all odd. Some are nice but some are
Not too many fish tolerate poor water conditions.
I don't know much about any hybrids...so it could very well be a mix of 16 cichlids for all I know. lol

Angela_96

Wow, I would net him up and put him in a bucket w/ a airstone when I cleaned the tank. He sounds like a meanie! I thought it was odd when a girl at work told me she had an oscar bust a 200g tank and ruin her carpet in her house, but I guess it is possible...

Hey even lake malawis have their moments, my largest lab has an attitude, I thought he was going to grab the net out of my hands the other day and beat me w/ it (he is a big ol fish!)

Hybrids are so strange though, you cannot predict how they will act, but if you are attached to him, I would keep him!

kieley

a good friend of mine has a 10 or 12 inch midas and he attacks his hand everytime he tries to clean the tank out.. he says it dosent hurt or anything and it looks pretty comical now, he just shakes his head back and forth and charges... so dont worry it dosent hurt even if he does get you is my point

CindyJ

Wow I actually gave good advice? I don't think i've been able to give advice before. wow!

Do you have any pics of him!! I would love to see that this big meanie looks like!! I doub't i've ever seen a flowerhorn before.

LOL

CindyJ

Oops!! I had not yet been to the photo area yet and so I just found pics of teddy there!! I have definately not seen a fish like that before!! I like the yellow coloring on him but ya i'd be scared of him too!! He's neat though!!! You would think he'd be happier now with all that room he has now.

lol

MissMTS

I don't know very much about hybrids either. Usually, I'm not that into them, but somehow I fell in love with Teddy. This is definetly an Experience........lol.

Wow. An oscar burst a 200 gallon tank That is crazy. The glass on a 200 gallon seems like it would be pretty thick. That must have been one P.O.ed oscar, lol. Lake Malawis do have their moments. Luckly though, most of mine target those moments toward eachother and not me I think I will keep Teddy. Even though he is a little rambunctious, he is a pretty cool fish

That's definetly good to know! He looks so mean, but I don't know if he even has teath.....I guess I should read up on that Still though, the way that he flips out when my hand is on the outside of the tank makes me not want to let him any closer to it, lol.

MissMTS

Thanks He is neat. You are right, he is very different looking. That is what attracted me to him. Honestly, I think that he is happy, he just has a temper

MissMTS

So my husband and I were just talking about Teddy and whether or not I should keep him. I was joking with him about how he always wanted me to get a macho mean fish that was more of a "manly fish" and now that we have one, he hates it. He responded by saying that Teddy is not a manly fish.....he is a crazy inbred kissing cousins fish..... Then he decided that Teddy is a "Jerry Lee Lewis Fish" Still don't know what I am doing guys. He is cool right now, but I have to say, I don't know if I would be willing to upgrade to a 75 gallon for him in the future.

Iron waffle

You have a flowerhorn? Awesome! They are extremely intolerant of anything and everything intrusive i.e. your hand. If angry, they can do some serious damage. I'd get reinforced glass. They have some at my LFS, some of my dream fish. So close yet so far away...

MissMTS

Honestly, if you lived closer, I would sell him to you. Tonight when I went to feed him, he jumped out of the tank and tried to bite my hand! What a tempermental fish!

CindyJ

One question does you lfs give you your money back or at least a store credit?

I think i'm perfectly content with my molies and neons!! They've never tried to attack me!! LOL

I did have one curious friendly molly come up and take a nibble off my finger which I never even felt!

Tough decision you have! What a little stinker

Good luck with your flowerhorn and I look forward to hearing what you do. Do you think your lfs would tell you if this has happened before?

Take care!

MissMTS

My LFS will give me credit for him, but only about 1/3 of what I paid which is definetly better than nothing. My husband really wants me to take him back because he is afraid one of us is going to get bitten and he also wasn't thrilled when I told him that I will eventually have to upgrade his tank to a 75 gallon......

Coryd55

I've got 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 inch Belonesox belizanus that attack me if I put my hands in the tank. They are extremely aggressive. You just have to be careful.

You seem like you really don't like the fish and if you are actually, honestly scared of him then I would say take him back, definitley. If you just don't want to upgrade then thats up to you whether to take him back or not. But if you do keep him then remember that its your responsibility to be ready when the time for the upgrade comes.

Cory

Lonely Angel

Good luck with Teddy if you decide to keep him. He sounds like a fun fish despite his insanity issues

Actually, putting him in a bucket for a few minutes is probably less stressful for him than having a strange gravel vacuum and hand in his tank that he feels he has to attack; especially since it would take twice as long to clean the gravel if he was in the tank and and attacking.

*sigh* It's ridiculous what some people recommend for water changes. There's a 1 gallon fish bowl at petco and the label instructs "add 3-5 goldfish and change 25% of water monthly"