What do you think about Flowerhorns?

[kevkoi]

My favourite 'Sydney Cichlid Forum' just recently posted a pic of the tail less flowerhorn under the tittle 'Future of Flowerhorn?'. Naturally I had something to say about it as well. I haven't been actively searching, but when I was actively researching the 'flowerhorn' issue I typed Flowerhorn into Google and it churned out a site the sold tanks full of those tail-less fish.

[TonyG]

Hi

I'm definitely new to Lou han and no I did not keep any although I help my brother-in-law to set up his tank. Now he has 8 of them. As mentioned, they are territorial and this means they cannot be kept together, otherwise 'shio pah'. This is the first thing that put me off as I prefer community fishes. And all of us fish lovers knows that you once you in it, it is very difficult to stop buying, you will tend to buy more and this means getting more tanks or like FS did, put seperator. This also means less space for the luohan.

Having said all this, I do find them interesting and after reading the battle that Kev had in Aus, it makes me understand this fish better. BUT I will try not to appreciate then otherwise I will be into it and it spells trouble with my MRS..... But I can say that the craze is still very strong here in Singapore, everywhere I go, ppl will just crowd around those tanks with louhan and when I say ppl, I mean lots of them. Just last weekend when I when to this area where they have numerous fish farms and shops clutter together, you can see ppl carrying tanks back and in it, afew louhans.....

I share eugene sentiment....when will this craze stops??? It deprives ppl like me from admiring other fishes (bcoz all the space is taken up if you know what I mean)

Hope I won't be ban from visiting here again....

TonyG

[kevkoi]

Now why would anyone ban you for expressing legitimate views?

I have to agree with you about the limited choices....

Here currently in Aust there are 2 streams of 'in vogue' fish keeping. Cichlids... and by that I mean Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids (and not flowerhorns!), and community tropical planted tanks.... all thanks to the trend set off by Takashi Amano's new style of planting tanks. While I was into the Tang cichlid scene last year (bred some Julidochromis transcriptus, Neolamprologus lelupi), I've now moved on to learning about planted tanks and how to set them up properly..... So now I not only get to buy various fish species for the community tank, I also get to buy plants~!! ..... and I'm passionate about my plants as well!
Wanna learn more about planting aquarium plants?

[newgern]

Sure brother!
i love to see aquarium with plants! but is it hard to maintain?

[kevkoi]

John, it's not as easy as keeping flowerhorns or even an arrowana... trust me. It's lotsa work and lots of understanding the science behind it all.

Ideally, you will need a CO2 injector, a CO2 reactor (Yes, you need to pump in a supply of CO2 to grow plants underwater well. Fish breathing/respiration is not enough CO2 for plants). this CO2 injector you can make it cheap, cheap DIY. U will need to inject CO2 if you're going to have any success planting in the aquarium really.

visit: http://www.nfis.com/~hartland/aqua/co2.htm
or : http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

Then you must have enough lighting. U will need lots of lighting and lighting of the right spectrum (ie lights that will grow plants). The recommended is between 2.5W-3W per gallon (or approx 3.75L) of water. In a 3ft aquarium, you'll need about 4 tubes of flourescent lights to get to that level. (SSHEESH! THat's a lot of lighting.... )

Then you must have plant substrate for the roots to grow. I use a mixture of laterite (red sticky earth) and my favourite.... Cat litter (calcium bentonite) mixed and placed under the gravel. The gravel bed should be no less than 2.5 inches thick. 1/2 inch lateriate mix and 2inch small size gravel over the top.

Then your filter must be under water (powerfilter for small tanks, canisters for bigger tanks), and you cannot use the box filter because it creates too much turbulance at the water surface and that releases all the precious CO2 that you have pumped in! U must keep the water surface very still.

Then when you plant the plants, you cannot plant one at a time... must plant the whole tank at one go. At least 2/3 of the surface of the gravel must be planted at one go or you will have lots of algae problems. (The higher plants that you plant must outcompete the algae for food and win or else the water will just be full of stringy algae.)

There's lots more to know and learn, but I'll stop here..

Plants will grown lush and beautiful and u will need to prune every week.

Dr Tan, any interest in getting a planted tank set up like that at Zen WG office? It can cost quite a bit if you buy all the propper equipment, but hey, I'm always on a budget..... do everything on the cheap... and it still gets results.

.... ok, I'm digressing from the Flowerhorn and cichlid discussion... maybe this thread should be moved...... somewhere. Don't know where though.

[johnson lee]

Hello Kevin

I am very interested and have always been fascinated by a tank full of aquatic plants and perhaps a dozen or so tetras! I have read that you need a CO2 injector as you mentioned but they don't come cheap!

You stated that there is a DIY way for the CO2 thingy. Care to elaborate? I would be really looking forward to meeting up with you in Dec and discuss all these issues. So much to learn from you. I really like the underwater world a lot and that is why I am fascinated by beautiful green plants in an aquarium.

All advice appreciated.

Johnson

PS. I must admit that the flowerhorn has gotten to me as well. Guess you could say I've been bitten by the Luohan bug! I have to agree with Eugene, TonyG (nice to see you here as well) and the rest in that the luohan cannot be classified seriously as a cichlid due to the numerous cross breeding. I am surprise that it hasn't been sterile! We don't get as many choices of other foshes as before because there is less profits to be made, I guess!

[Khoobg]

Talk about water plant Aquarium, I had my first setup for me by Aquarium 88 in KL. Spent about RM 3000.00 on the Aquarium with alot of water plant and some comminity fish to add live to the aquarium.

Yes, lighting is extremely important and we have a timer to control both CO2 and lighting, Lighting is adjusted to be on for 12 hours and off for the other 12 hours. When the light is on, CO2 is released to the water through a dispenser. The tank that store CO2 is able to last me for about 1/2 month and need to be replenished when depleted.

There is also a need to add fertilizer to the water from time to time to promote plant growth.

The upkeeping of the plant is a tough work and the plant growing so far with tons of fertilizer and lighting, maintenance becoming troublesome and finally gave up.

Just some of my experience.

Cheers

[kevkoi]

WoW... RM8000 for a planted aquarium.... and you gave up on it?

Johnson, I had links to 2 sites discussing DIY CO2 injection systemsin my previous post. It's basically creating an alchohol brewery with yeast and sugar in a 2L Coke bottle, which will release CO2 into the aquarium. U won't be able to 'switch off' the CO2 like in the electronically controlled system (U don't have a solenoid in the DIY system).... so what I've done is put an aerator and airstone on when the lights go out. (using a timer, set on opposites.)

The yeast solution will produce enough CO2 for about 2 weeks and this is only economical/feasible if you run a small aquarium. 2ft - 2.5ft aquarium. If you wanna go with the 4ft aquarium, u're better off using the compressed gas system.

BTW, there are also sites on the internet which detail DIY compressed CO2 systems. Just buy everything (gas tank, control valves, pins etc) from the Gas producing company, and make the reactor ane everything else from household thing..... instead of buying the Dupla or Sera system.

Most importantly like webmaster has said, u need light and lots of it. I have 60W lighting on a 2ft aquarium. I prune my plants weekly and bring it over to the fish shop in exchange for frozen bloodworms.

[johnson lee]

THank you Mr Khoo for sharing your experience regarding keeping an aquatic plants aquarium! Kevin, Mr Khoo said RM3K not RM8K!

Appreciate your explanation regarding CO2 thingy. Seems like its not easy maintaining this system! I guess I better stick to kois and luohans!

Johnson

[kevkoi]

Oops... 'kok eye'.... misread 3 as 8.

I have been away for about 5 days... just got back. My planted tank now looks like a bloody jungle...... need a major trim back. Can't just leave it there for even 5 days! sigh..... lotsa work granted.