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Old September 20th, 2014, 02:04 PM   #1
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Default Black Flowerhorns Are Digging

Is it practice, or the real thing? The Black Flowerhorn pair just started digging on the 18th of September. So far they have piled about two cups of gravel on a large flat rock in the middle of the tank, and have exposed a smooth oyster shell is the back corner. They have also cleaned off about 1/3 of a large conch shell between the gravel pile and the oyster shell. They have both been eating more than usual for the past week. Seeing as how the female laid unfertilized eggs in late summer, it would seem too soon for her to be ready for another clutch, but I have seen Flowerhorns start their mating preliminaries months before the main event before.
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Old September 20th, 2014, 08:47 PM   #2
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Nature will always try to reproduce. I think you said that female was Zhen zhou? What do you call the male? and if you get offspring what type would you expect them to be?
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Old September 22nd, 2014, 11:43 AM   #3
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Default Black Flowerhorn Affinities Uncertain

The female looks similar to the third picture in the first row of "Images of Zhen Zhou Flowerhons," but is much darker and has red chin markings. Possibly what is called a Blue Dragon. Neither Jing Chan or I could be sure what the male is other than "Black": he changes color, but is always at least very dark purple, sometimes with vertical darker body stripes. In breeding color he has a purple chin,some pearling, and lots of "lettering" down the middle of the body and might be the result of the Zhen Zhou x Kamfa, but again closest to a very dark Blue Dragon. Neither has the sunken eyes of a classic Kamfa.
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Old September 22nd, 2014, 12:53 PM   #4
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The pair of Black Flowerhorns are digging and dancing today. They are not great dancers by Flowerhorn standards, but do a fair amount of side by side dancing.
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Old September 22nd, 2014, 02:53 PM   #5
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http://forum.brooklynaquariumsociety.org/picture.php?albumid=14&pictureid=117http://forum.brooklynaquariumsociety...&pictureid=117 Thanks for the id info,its interesting.I found these photos and vid from may 2012 of the female, i think she was 4-5 inches at the time. She had much blue and red then with that dot above the gills.


http://youtu.be/yuUAEDK0JkY?list=UUe...YQubeVZiS6fkOg
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Old September 24th, 2014, 11:45 AM   #6
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Nice fish

dsuperman - Were you intending on the photo appearing in the post, or the link to the photo?
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Old September 24th, 2014, 03:53 PM   #7
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All the places that were blue or red (especially fins) including the spot over the gills and excluding the throat region which is still red have turned charcoal or black. The male has the black spot over the gills as well: it's a fairly typical Zhen Zhou marking. Thanx for the pics!
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Old September 25th, 2014, 10:36 AM   #8
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Nice fish

dsuperman - Were you intending on the photo appearing in the post, or the link to the photo?
In the post. Did i know how? i don't remember.
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Old September 25th, 2014, 02:25 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elcue Nice fish

dsuperman - Were you intending on the photo appearing in the post, or the link to the photo?

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Originally Posted by dsuperman View Post
In the post. Did i know how? i don't remember.





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Old September 25th, 2014, 08:24 PM   #10
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Default Tanks!

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Originally Posted by elcue Nice fish

dsuperman - Were you intending on the photo appearing in the post, or the link to the photo?








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Old December 3rd, 2014, 08:52 AM   #11
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Default Black Flowerhorn Holiday Dance Party

On Dec 1, my male and female Black Flowerhorns (see picture of the female as a juvenile in dsuperman's entry Tanks!) starting dancing up a storm. A lot of maturity has gone on since they first danced a little this past summer. The female had then had a clutch of sterile eggs, as there was no male around, and they they were both marginally large enough to breed. Since then, they have become much darker in color, moslty grey and black but retaining a red facial blush, and they have grow to 7.5 inches long for the female by 4.5 inches high, and 9.5 inches long for the male by 6 inches high. They now look extremely similar to the "Grey Thunder Flowerhorn" Vietnamese poster that was presented by Anthony Tu of the Frontosa Factory at last summer's Monster Fish Convention. They have both been eating a lot, mosty shrimp, minnows, bloodworms, krill pellets, flowerhorn food pellets, and Cobalt Aquatics Pro Breeder Food flakes.

The female initiates the dancing most of the time and they have gone through about a dozen of the typical dannce steps, plus one new one which I have never seen before: One of the pair puts its snout in the corner at a 45 degree angle and shimmies until the partner comes over and nudges it. Then, they reverse roles and do it on the other end of the tank. Considering that they have been moving some pebbles around, it may be a ritual to decide where to dig. They have a large rock tunnel in their tank where one usually sleeps, but yesterday they were following each other in one end and out the other. They are not eating a lot while dancing, which is typical of Flowerhorns; they general let you know when they are hungry when they stop dancing . Last night they danced for 6 hours.
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Old December 3rd, 2014, 02:15 PM   #12
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Default Black Flowerhorns are Digging Again

This morning the Black Flowerhorn pair danced a bit and then started seriously digging in two places. They are digging under the filter near the the airstone, and also on the other side of the tank right in front of the side of their tunnel. It may be they have not decided which of the the two spots they prefer, or they may be practiciing. It's too soon to tell, especially this time of year.
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Old December 3rd, 2014, 11:53 PM   #13
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Sounds like you will have a spawn sooner rather than later. Can they be tricked into thinking its the right time of year?
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Old December 4th, 2014, 01:28 PM   #14
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Default Black Flowerhorns Seem to Have Decided on Nest Site

Having never had a winter egg clutch in 10 years, I'm second guessing a bit, but they have now become exceedingly serious. They have decided on a site: the smooth rock wall in front of the tunnel at the far end of the tank, which they are excavating lower, moving stones as large as a square inch, and shimmying and brushing the rock surface. They are also removing a lot of stones and gravel from the inside of the tunnel, which makes me speculate that after the deed is done, they will either move the fry from the front to inside the tunnel, or perhaps one of them intends to stay in the in tunnel while the other is guarding eggs or fry. They are eating sparingly these days, which is usually an indication of a fairly compulsive spawning obsession.
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Old December 6th, 2014, 08:32 AM   #15
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Default Black Flowerhorns Lay Eggs

This morning at about 4 AM the Balck Flowerhorns laid about 500 eggs on the entire square foot black shale rock that makes up haif of the outside of their tunnel. This is the same rock they were cleaing yesterday. From start to finish, this was one of the fastest spawnings I have ever seen, 2 days of dancing, 2 days of digging and then eggs. Both parents are sitting in front of the eggs, and are remarkably calm under the circumstances.
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Old December 7th, 2014, 08:58 PM   #16
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Congratulations! You had them primed. With all that dancing it was bound to happen. Good luck to you on your next step with them.
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Old December 8th, 2014, 09:21 AM   #17
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The eggs hatched last night. They were on a verical rock so they rolled down into the gravel. Since they cant swim yet, I can't see them, but the the female is is patrolling the area.
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Old December 12th, 2014, 07:37 AM   #18
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Default The Black Flowerhorns are Mouthbrooding.

I thought I was going nuts the first two time the fry disappeared and reappeared, however this morning I caught the female in the act. I turn the light on and no fry to be seen anywhere. Then he came out from the back of the tank, opened her mouth and expelled at least a 100 fry on to the cleaned glasss surface. Now they are all back. I have never hearded of mouthbrooding in Flowerhorns.

"Images of Mouthbrooding Flowerhorns" does show a few doing the same type of thing.
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Old December 12th, 2014, 12:52 PM   #19
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Sounds like a good parent. Do you have to keep the lights out and traffic low near her tank?
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Old December 14th, 2014, 12:25 PM   #20
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I keep a small light on during the day. The pair is still together. They both are very protective and still dance. I am feeding them crushed Coablt Aquatic Flakes and Shrimp soup which I make by taking half cooked shrimped and blending them until they they are like white, milky water. Unfortunately, with my broken anlke, I can't get to a pet shop to get any brine shrimp, but I think blended whole shrimps are equally nutritrious.
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Old December 14th, 2014, 05:03 PM   #21
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I keep a small light on during the day. The pair is still together. They both are very protective and still dance. I am feeding them crushed Coablt Aquatic Flakes and Shrimp soup which I make by taking half cooked shrimped and blending them until they they are like white, milky water. Unfortunately, with my broken anlke, I can't get to a pet shop to get any brine shrimp, but I think blended whole shrimps are equally nutritrious.
When did you break your ankle? Were you dancing w/ the flowerhorns? sorry, I couldn't resist. This milky water thing sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. How do you not have shrimp eggs?? Here's a link, I"ve been using the ezhatch - they're great.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/She...-Egg-c202.html

If you pm me your address, I'll mail some regular premium and non-hatching decap to hold you over...
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Old December 14th, 2014, 08:55 PM   #22
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I think it was Elcue who once said" No man over 40 should be allowed to dance!" wasn't it? Yeah that shrimp sounds good but messy. I always like to have decap on hand but crushed flake really fine should be ok for cichlids. I feed tuna from the can {in water only ] smushed between my fingers sparingly as it can be messy also.
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Old December 14th, 2014, 09:26 PM   #23
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I think it was Elcue who once said" No man over 40 should be allowed to dance!" wasn't it? Yeah that shrimp sounds good but messy. I always like to have decap on hand but crushed flake really fine should be ok for cichlids. I feed tuna from the can {in water only ] smushed between my fingers sparingly as it can be messy also.
no, no, no, I never said such a thing. He had said, I actually used to dance until I was 46, then I got too fat , in this thread, http://forum.brooklynaquariumsociety...ead.php?t=1800. Maybe he forgot...

I wish he would reply. If I got the eggs in the mail tonight, he probably have them by Tuesday
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Old December 14th, 2014, 09:34 PM   #24
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August 21st, 2014, 11:15 AM #10
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Thats encouraging, Elcue is vying for the "Gary Kremen" award at the next meeting. My dad always said: "No man over forty should be allowed to dance!"

Well, i knew it was one of us,lol.

I'm sure those fry will do well under his care, he's probably hobbling down to the LFS right now.
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Old December 19th, 2014, 10:21 AM   #25
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Black Flowerhorns are a variety of Zhen Zhou. Zhen Zhou all have red eyes and have "Chinese lettering" on their sides. So the Fry Are Grey Thunder Zhen Zhou, as opposed to Red Dragon Zhen Zhou. Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but my ankle has kept me somewhat preoccupied.

Since the eggs were fertilized, the female has adopted what is the standard maternal coloration for Grey Thunder Flowerhorns, a continuous alternation of thick vertical grey and black dorso-ventral stripes everywhere except on the tail. This matches Anthony Tu's poster from is presentation done at the Frontosa Factory, Which I have seen once as a slide slow, but been unable to obtain a copy of. The male has not change color, and is just charcoal colored with a few black spots. Both are stil very involved in parental care, constantly moving rocks and inspecting the fry.
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Old December 20th, 2014, 06:00 PM   #26
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Thats a nice name Gray thunder Zhen Zhuo. Thanks for sharing the update, i never knew flowerhorns were good parents.
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Old December 23rd, 2014, 01:31 AM   #27
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Actually, Flowerhorns may be as good as parents as any fish. They will guard their fry ferociously until they 1-2 inches long, move them from place to place during the day, and even share their food with them. When I feed them crushed flakes or shrimp milk, the male and female parent clean up all the big pieces that the fry leave over so the tank stays clean. As of yesterday, the male will still not let me put my hand more than a thumb's lenght into the water. The bite really hard too.
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Old January 2nd, 2015, 02:52 PM   #28
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When did you break your ankle? Were you dancing w/ the flowerhorns? sorry, I couldn't resist. This milky water thing sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. How do you not have shrimp eggs?? Here's a link, I"ve been using the ezhatch - they're great.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/She...-Egg-c202.html

If you pm me your address, I'll mail some regular premium and non-hatching decap to hold you over...

Did you receive the eggs I sent you 2.5 weeks ago?
How are the fry doing?
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