Flowerhorn cichlid

{{Taxobox | name = Floweric hybrid }esemble the Chinese god of longevity, and it is believed that the owners luck will grow if the fish's hump grows. The adult males are thus the most commercially valuable. Flowerhorns have distinctive markings on their sides, which can be interpreted as recognisable symbols. It is also noteworthy that the original species from which these cichlids were hybridised also display a number of these traits.

The market for Flowerhorns exhibited a classic boom and bust cycle of the phenomenon, with rarity at the start and a huge oversupply at the end. The height of the outburst was in 2003, and was mainly in several countries in Southeast Asia.

Flowerhorns are hardy and very undemanding fish to keep in an aquarium. They do, however, require large aquariums due to their large size - they can grow up to 16 inches (40 cm) long. They are aggressive and carnivorous, and thus can only be kept with other large fish. Cannot be bred with other species of smaller fish.

The origin of flowerhorn

1993 -Malaysians admired fishes with protruding head, known as Karoi, in the western part of Malaysia, also known as warship. In Taiwan, this fish has a slight protruding forehead and long tail, and is widely accepted in the Chinese society which brings luck in geomancy.

1994 - The import of Red Devil also known as human face and Blood Parrot from Taiwan to Malaysia mark the birth of flowerhorn.

1995 - With the introduction of 1994 birth of flowerhorn this has lead to the blood parrot being crossbreed with the Human Face Red God of Fortune which produced a new species called five-colors god of fortune. With its beautiful colors, it has brought an overwhelming response.

1998 - It has further improved with the import of seven-colors blue fiery mouth, from South America, known as Greenish Gold Tiger and Jin Gang Blood Parrot from Taiwan. This crossbreeding was a success, leading to the first generation of flowerhorns hjj named Hua Luo Han which is then followed by subsequent flowerhorn developments.

1998 - It has further improved with the import of seven-colours blue fiery mouth, from South America, known as Greenish Gold Tiger and Jin Gang Parrot from Taiwan. This crossbreeding was a success, leading to the first generation of flowerhorns, named Hua Luo Han which is then followed by subsequent flowerhorn developments. The flowerhorn arena still continues till today.

Arrival In the US

When flowerhorn first arrived there were really only 2 breeds of these fish for distribution, flowerhorn and jk’s. Flowerhorn came in 2 varieties those with pearls and those with out. Jk’s also had two varieties, those that faded and those that didn’t. With the flowerhorns, the ones w/o pearls were quickly over taken by those with pearls, so then it became pearl scale flowerhorn (zhen zhou). With the jk’s the unfaded ones developed nice golden skin over the flowerhorn’s grey skin.

So at 1999 there were 4 strains of flowerhorn hitting the American market, regular flowerhorn, pearl scale flowerhorn, golden flowerhorn, and jk’s. there were so many breeders that these 4 strains had so many different names and minor variations, that names became a joke. No importer wanted to hear a name but rather look at the fish. Knowing this the breeders and exporters started line breeding going for better quality traits and so fourth. The pearl scale flowerhorn beat out regular flowerhorn and became Zhen Zhu’s

About now it’s 2000-2001 and kamfa hit the scene. These were hybrids of any type of flowerhorn crossed with any vieja or parrot. These guys brought on some new traits people became interested with. Short mouths, tail wrap, sucked in eyes, and of course bigger kok’s. seeing this those guys who had the GM’s began to line breed there fish to have similar traits. Those who had the Zhen Zhu’s wanted to completely dominate the market and began line breeding there fish to develop faster and become more colorful. This meant that they could have a fish that could compete with the kamfa strains.

Criticism

The sudden mania caused huge surplus stock, some of which was dumped in the wild, where they survived and caused havoc in the riverine ecosystems, such as in Malaysia. Flowerhorns are regarded negatively by many cichlid hobbyists in the West for a number of reasons. First, they make identification of similar cichlids difficult, if not impossible. Due to the difficulty with identifications, this can cause breeding with other pure bloodlines of cichlids. This has already occurred in a number of cichlids and other fishes commonly kept in the hobby. Secondly, flowerhorns contribute to the demand for “new” and “different” fish that may lead to questionable practices such as breeding for deformed anatomical fish similarly to the current state of goldfish breeding.

The above statements are disputed due to lack of evidence. There are reports of flowerhorns with no commercial value released into Nature http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01027/environmental.html. Another reference states flowerhorns have been found in Nature citing interview with Persatuan Memancing Malaysia member http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=iol1045231471487W253&set_id=1. Also, read case study on this page http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Soodhanan_Flowerhorns.html. The case report is one paragraph written in first person and thus author is claiming firsthand knowledge of ecological damage as the result of unethical behavior of a flowerhorn keeper. The evidence shows that some flowerhorn breeders and keepers are unethical and that flowerhorns threaten native species following unethical behavior.

However, severe criticism is reserved for placing flowerhorns into fish taxa in the first place. Flowerhorns are man made fish. Taxa are reserved for identification of living things found in Nature.Bobrfish 15:11, 1 February 2009 (UTC)bobrfish