Breeding Red-Dragon FlowerHorns

[Skychurch]

Hello,

just wondering if any hobbyist used egg crates as dividers? and know how set it up?

and how old does flowerhorn starts to breed? or maybe usually what size they start to breed?

Thanks in advance,

sky

[jvision]

I've used eggcrate as dividers quite often. I've never kept any big nasties like Flowerhorns, but my way is to cut 2 lenghts of 1/2" hose the same hight as the divider; then slice the hose down the length. Then I just wrap the hose around 2 sides of the divider and jam it into the tank - it holds quite well for most purposes. I do know of at least one member here who's needed to add much more support to this set-up b/c the flowerhorns were able to move the divider w/o much trouble.

[rED O]

Egg create would be the best. Id also have a small underwater pump on the males side for water movement on the bottom of the egg create to the females side. I believe the females can breed quite young, around 5 inches or so. But the males must be mature, around 2-3 years of age. Id do a 110 gallon tall tank for flowerhorn breeding. Keep your water conditions pristine, and good luck. Do you own a red dragon?

[darkangel]

When I was breeding my pair, I had an eggcrate divider with rocks (big ones) on both sides to hold it in place. A piece of flat slate under the divider, and a small fountain pump on the males side to create a current over to the female side. Water temp at a steady 82 degrees,50% water changes every second day, lots of live food and I would get 300-500 fry every month. As far as age and size go, my female was 4 inches and the male was about 2.5 inches when they started breeding. A little caution, DO NOT stick your hand in the tank or let any house hold pets around the tank when they have fry. I had one episode where the male (at 4") broke through a 1/4 inch glass top and took down a full grown cat that decided to take a nap on the tank, (the fish won)cat lived too.

[Bluecan]

Darkangel, did your male fertilize through the eggcrate without allowing him full access to the female? I have heard of this before , just havent spoken to someone who actually has proof...

[Bluecan]

also, for breeding, the size and age vary greatly between strains and individuals, there is no saying, but often times the problems associated with not getting a successful spawn(aside from a male being infertile) is a male not being mature enough, so even if they go at it and it doesnt work the first few times it doesnt mean it never will. I would say though if you are going into years waiting for sexual maturity its fairly safe to say he is infertile, it shouldnt take 2 or 3 years for a male to be sexually mature.

Darkangels advice about water changes, slight temperature change, and lotsa food ..is great.

Also your min. breeding tank size should be a 75 gallon. Seperate them with egg crate, and as you are preparing them for breeding , give them a couple weeks to get to know eachother and get in the mood,(its possible they could pair right away, or never but a couple weeks is a very general guesstimate) watch their behaviour, if the female starts fattening up and especially dropping her tube its a good sign, you can let them out together but you have to watch them carefully , even if they are getting along things can change extremely quickly and he could kill her, if you go this route and you dont want to lose a fish, or possibly the clutch ide seperate at least one parent after breeding(or they may kill eachother), possibly both(may eat the clutch) and hatch them yourself with an air hose passing bubbles over them, i did that and it worked great. You could also leave some of the babies with the parents and remove and try both ways, just to test of the parents will eat them or not.

you should post some pics of your fish,and progress, good luck!

p.s If your fish has a red eye it has a much greater chance of being fertile vs. a white eyed male which are generally infertile.

[Skychurch]

Egg create would be the best. Id also have a small underwater pump on the males side for water movement on the bottom of the egg create to the females side. I believe the females can breed quite young, around 5 inches or so. But the males must be mature, around 2-3 years of age. Id do a 110 gallon tall tank for flowerhorn breeding. Keep your water conditions pristine, and good luck. Do you own a red dragon?

yes sir...I do have Red Dragon...I only have 40G tank though due to lack of space.

Thanks for the reply.

Sky

[Skychurch]

Thanks for all the replies...

I'll try to post some pics tomorrow...

Thanks again...

Sky

[RD.]

In Asia the average sized FH breeding set up is probably 40 gallon (or less), so with smaller fish I wouldn't let that discourage you. As an example, check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/user/walter885#p/u/16/bIV_SrkMBGw

Certainly a larger tank would be better, but you won't find many breeders in Vietnam or Bangkok using large tanks to breed FH. If you plan on having a more permanent divider, IMO acrylic or glass is a cleaner option, and there's zero chance of the fish scraping themselves up.

Your biggest challenge will come with raising out all of the fry to a decent size, culling the duds, and keeping the handful of fish that show good potential. Having successful spawns isn't nearly as difficult or labour intensive as the raising of the offspring.

[darkangel]

Darkangel, did your male fertilize through the eggcrate without allowing him full access to the female? I have heard of this before , just havent spoken to someone who actually has proof...

Yes he did, that is the reason for the fountain pump on the males side pointing at the center of the egg crate. I had to keep them separated all the time or they would beat the crap out of each other. Almost lost the female 3 times. Out of a 1000+ eggs only about half got fertilized, and survival rate was about 25% of that. After culling them out maybe 4 to 5 would actually make it.

[Bluecan]

I agree with the raising part, .......unless you have a lot of space and money you have to cull a lot. Interesting how they bred in a small space so easily......

DA: so you just let the female lay on the bottom of the tank near the divider??

[darkangel]

DA: so you just let the female lay on the bottom of the tank near the divider??

She would lay her eggs on the slate beside the divider and the male would fertilize from the other side.