Flowerfish.com : Flowerhorn Fish Resource Center.

The 1st Generation Faded Kamalau

2007-07-16T15:51:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

Long time no post. Just to share, we have loads of fries from our prolific breeeder M17 (see previous post) and they are all ready for sale!

Check out the collection here at our gallery.

We have limited pieces of the faded kamalau available so do enquire about them with sharon(at)flowerfish.com.

BTW, we are actively looking for importers in LA, Dallas, and major cities in the USA. Do email sharon(at)flowerfish.com for more info about our partnership program. Thanks!

Out,

The Flowerfish Team.

Breeding The Faded Kamalau Dragons!

2007-05-04T20:05:00.000+08:00

Hi all!

Its been ages since we updated our blog. My apologies for being caught up with oodles of work elsewhere. Anyway, these update should be the most interesting post for all.

Remember our super breeder M17? Well, you all know that it is the top of the range Kamalau Dragon rite? it so happens to be our very prolific breeder too! Over the whole of April, between the 2 pairs in the gallery, they practically PUMPED out 10,000 to 15,000 of fries! That is indeed a shocker.. obviously a piece of very good news to all faded flowerhorn lovers!

Remember, faded flowerhorn is one thing...think (the Thai Golden FH of the yester-years) but faded short-body, wrapped tail, pearly bubble-head, super-red, Kamalau-Dragon is definitely another!

Now, see the female with M17? That so happens to be our prized 100% faded kamalau female and all other faded fishes in the past 6 months were produced by her. The only thing is that the father is another fish. This time, it is different! Its with M17!!

Our first batch should hit your shores in a month or two, so better clear an additional space in your fish room to house them! HAAA!

Breeding picture gallery here.

Cheers to all and keep on flowerhorning!

Al

Total Fish march Shipment, LA, USA.

2007-03-21T09:15:00.000+08:00

Hi everybody !

Its the time to check out fishes again! One very nice shipment is coming to Total Fish and Pets, LA sometime next week and Kim has picked his fishes. Come and see them here! I wonder who is going to walk away with the beauty red faded kamfa...mmmm.

Had an email from a hobbyist and I thought of answering it here...

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Hello Al,

I've just purchased a 3-4 inches AAA flower from Total Fish & Pet last Tuesday 3/13. The FH has beautiful detailed markings with beautiful coloration before I took it home. Now I have the fish at home in my 60 gallon tank. The water temp is 30 degree Celsius and the fish seems healthy and eating well. I've been feeding pellets and shrimp. However, the fish has become very dark in color..to the point that I can not see the detailed turquoise, red, and black marking as I saw it at Total Pet & Fish. The face appeared to be lighter with distinguish marking and coloration before I took it home. The face of the FH was yellow; now it's very dark. By the way, I have very good lighting. I'm using salt water aquarium's pink lighting which are very bright and should bring out the colors of the fish. I don't understand why the FH changed it's color :( Please advise what I did wrong or need to do to bring the nice coloration of the FH I know it has back??

B.Rgds,
Sy
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Hi Sy...

Sometimes, FH need some time to settle down. If they are not really comfortable with their surrounding, they will be dark in color. Sometimes, they will adapt to their environment by matching the background colors because FHs also have chamaeleon-like behavior. It can also possibly be that your FH is afraid of something you dont know of.

We have this problem every time in our store with many fishes. What we do is that we move the fish to another tank and the next thing we know, the color comes back! I am sure this is not practical to do at home but you have to figure out what is making the fish uncomfortable.

Another potential problem is that the water parameters is not to your fish's liking. You can read the article on how to optimize the tank for your flowerhorn.

One other possible problem is that your FH is sick. During transportation, the FH is under stress and that can lower it's immune system. This will make the fish prone to sickness. Do check if there is white faeces or white spots disease. These are the most common problems.

One last thing that I can think of is that your FH is morphing! Potentially, it is turning into a faded fish. Most faded flowerhorns start morphing by turning very dark in color. Then, parts by parts, the dark colors will fade and eventually it will completely fade the dark color away, making the fish bright yellow or orange color. Remember, the faded fish is a craze and it is much more expensive. Maybe you have got a gem!

Al.

March updates. Happenings at Flowerfish.com!

2007-03-16T13:51:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!

We have just posted pics of lots of fishes for the month of March. Do check them out. In the very near future we will be starting to send batches of faded fishes to the US and in fact, there are already some pieces trickling into the US.

Do check out our up and coming shipment to San Francisco.

Also, we are working out a big order for Total fish & Pets, LA again sometime next week. Will be posting up the pics for Total Fish once Kim has picked his choices. Cheers!

For the record, our prolific breeder Kamalau Dragon has proven its breeding prowes again this month. This time its with one of our most beautiful faded kamalau female which is almost half-body red with pearls all over. What a way to start the the month of March! Its one of the biggest spawn on record with estimated close to 3000 fries. I think the fertilization is almost 99% this time.

And guess what? Barely a week after the fries started swimming, the female spawned again today, also with M17! We are keeping our fingers crossed for this spawn to hatch at least 90%.

Will keep you all updated... Ciao!

Till then,

Al

Digg the Flower Horn fish at Digg.com!

2007-03-08T17:57:00.001+08:00

Hi friends!

We tried something interesting today just for kicks.. heard of Digg.com? Well, I thought of seeing how and what made this website so super succesful, so, there I was, finding myself creating an account there. In a matter of minutes, I was posting my very fisrst Digg story and its about the Flower Horn fish!

I guess there is a huge amount of public who still do not know the beauty of flower horns, so I though of giving the fish their overdue exposure. Do check out what the general public's idea/toughts on the flower horn fishes... do they generally love it or despise it? This should be interesting..... so, go Digg it here!

Out,

Al

read more digg story

New Baby Faded Fishes

2007-02-28T23:32:00.000+08:00

Hi all once again!

Its been a while since I made a post. We have been closed for the Chinese Lunar year celebrations. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Anyway, we are now back and raring to go. Check out our latest photo album of faded fishes. Production for this type of faded fishes is getting more by the weeks, but still, the very good ones are limited. We have sent some shipments to the USA, but those are mostly "starter/entry level" faded fishes. The "show quality" ones are still kept for breeding. Sorry!

Hopefully in a few months, we will have kept enough breeding stocks and will start to sell the rest. Keeping our fingers crossed now.

Till then, keep on flowerhorning!

New photo album & 2 questions.....

2007-02-15T13:17:00.000+08:00

Hi all..

Check out one new photo album we have just posted!

Two more questions of the day...

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sir/maam
is it necessary for a flowerhorn to have red eyes or can it be white too
thanks
david

ANSWER: It is definitely not necessary to have red or white eyes. As we all know, flower horns are hybrid fishes and depending on the genes of the fishes, it will inherit features of the stronger genes. The trimacs have red eyes and the fore-fathers of most flower horns are trimacs. So if there is strong trimac genes in your FH, it will have red eyes. At the same time, genes from the man-face cichlids or some other large south american cichilds have white eyes and it will show in your present flower horn's eyes.

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Dear peoples of Flower Fish.
My name is Evan Le and in my house, I have 2 flower fish placed in a tank.
On one occasion, one of the flower fish managed to go through the seperater and when I removed it, they started to swin very close together and in sometimes, they bite each other on the mouth and hold it as if they were kissing.

CAn you tell me anything about that please?

Thank you.

ANSWER: Your fishes are locking-lips and they are definitely not in love! They are fighting and you must separate them immediately. If you see wounds on the mouth because of the fight, you should treat them with acriflavin or salt, just to prevent the wounds from getting infected. Remember, never put two flower horns together unless you want dead or injured fishes as pets. ;)

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White poo poo!

2007-02-15T12:59:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone...

We received an email from a distraught hobbyist today and I would like to share it with all..

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Hi there,

I need a help to save my "kimo" flower-horn fish.
About 3weeks ago, he stops eating and I have notice that his color is becoming dull, he is not as happy and aggressive as he used to be.
He stops eating for the past 2weeks and his waste looks like a long soft white tread, about 2-3 inches long.

I have tried to feed him some feeder fish, but this did not work as he does not take or like to eat them.

I check on the water temperature and it is about 75 to 80 deg. F. (safe zone?)
A pet-shop vendor told me that it cold be the water temp, as we have a cold weather recently in Hawaii and he recommend to put a heater.
Also, he sold me a Furazone Green capsules to put in the water...seems not working.

I really want to save Kimo as he is my loving fish, I want to see him back in a happy condition.

Please advise what to do. Again, any help and suggestion to this is highly appreciated.

Worried Flower-horn fish friend.
Eugene

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Hi Eugene...

This is a very common case of bacteria infecting the fish's stomach. You would need antibiotics to treat it and its called metronidazole . You will have to mix the white powder with hot water, wait for it to cool down and pump it into the mouth twice a day. Just use a syringe without the needle (or what ever you call that) and shove it into the fish's mouth as deep as you can. You will have to squeeze its gills together so that the medicine does not flow out from there. Then pump as much as possible into the stomach.

Do this twice a day, and remember to raise the temperature of the tank to about 30 celcius. Do this for about 4-5 days. Start feeding the fish only after 3 days, and check if the fish eats. Check its faeces to see if the white stringy poo is still visible. Continue this until you see that the poo is dark in color and it is considered healed.

This method is not guaranteed to work but it has worked for us lots of times. Or you can read a little on other treatment methods such as here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/metranidazole.htm
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM053

Hope this helps....Al.

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Thank you. I would like to grow another one, but not sooner coz I want to make sure that I will be a good pet keeper next time.
Anyway, do you know why the fish gets this illness? I want to prevent this next time rather than getting into the same situation and curing or saving the fish mode...
Sinecrely thank you.
Thank you.

Hi Eugene..

This often happens when the fishes' immune system is low thus getting the infection easily. There is always a multitude of bacteria, protozoa, viruses, etc in the water but if your fish is healthy the chances of it getting infected is low.

Most of the time, it is because of bad water quality, stress or foreign pathogens that is introduced into the water by feeder fish or live food. Sometimes it is also the food that you feed your fish, which consists of protein that is not easily systhesized by the fish's digestive system.
You can find out a little more about proteins here.

Hope this helps, and pls post on the thread/blog here if you have more questions. This way all other readers can benefit from it.. Thanks and good luck!

Al

Feeding Regime For Flowerhorns.

2007-02-12T09:18:00.000+08:00

Hi all..

I received a very good question from a FHUSA member by email today and I think I should answer it in here...

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Al Vin

Great job w/ the new blog. I'm curious... what's the feeding routine you guys use, from fry to adults?
I'm assuming bloodworms to pellets, but I can only guess.
Food in Asia is much cheaper than it is here in America... unfortunately for us.

Regards,
Thomas (FHUSA)

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Well, Thomas...

For the fries, it depends on the size and age. For fries that are less than a week old, they are fed with live artemia(hatched) or frozen. Anything more than a week old will be fed with live tubifex worms. That is the fastest way to pump up the fries. I think it will be very difficult to get this in the US, so the next best bet would be frozen blood worms (the smaller sized ones). They are fed twice a day. But in our case, because the tubifex worms are alive, it is considered free-feeding for 24 hours.

As for the fries that are already separated for "finishing thouches" they are pumped up with blood worms and GrandSumo pellets, 3-4 times a day. GrandSumo Red is fed early in the morning, and immediately after that, a "dessert" of blood worms .. yummy!

Lunch will be purely 100% GrandSumo pellets (green) and about 3pm, again, GrandSumo pellets(green). At about 6pm in the evening, 100% frozen bloodworms is fed again and that is the last meal of the day. Sometimes, we will skip the 3pm "tea-time" for them.

As for the large breeding stocks, it is purely 100% GrandSumo(green), 3 times a day.

The most important thing to remember when feeding is concerned is that the fishes must finish their food in 10-15 minutes. If there are any leftover food, it MUST be removed else, there will be a build-up of ammonia. Pls read this article to clearly understand what I mean.

Hope this answers your question, Thomas!

Al

Whats Coming to the USA?

2007-02-09T13:27:00.000+08:00

Hi flowerhorn crazees!

Check out some of the fishes that are coming to LA next week! They are some of our better fishes and we are sending some fully faded fishes as samples.

Also coming will be ONLY 8 medium sized fishes, about 5", all top-grade, full-rounded head. You will have to see it to appreciate.

15 pieces trial shipment of 100% fully faded fishes with a combination of faded kamfas and faded ZZs.

For ZZ lovers, shock yourselves with the 40 bubble heads of dragon-ZZs, orangy Dragons, etc. Remember to visit our partner in LA... Total Fish & Pets or their website at http://www.flowerhornking.com

Ciao!

Al

Wassup with Flowerfish?

2007-01-29T23:47:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!

Its been a hectic week over here at Flowerfish.com. Lots of stuffs happening, just finished some articles for everyone. Hope all the flower horn newbies and "seasoned pros" will like those flower horn articles. Please feel free to use the articles in your website or forum postings BUT do remember to leave the copyrights, credits and reprint statements in the signature section intact, ok?! ;)

Anyway, we shipped 2 large shipments to the USA(New York) and China last week and we are almost out of stock. But the good news is that our latest batch from our prolific breeder is about 1-2 weeks away from marketable size. I am really excited over this batch!

At the same time, we had our very own heartaches last week due to the demise of two of our male breeders. One of them was my personal fav and the other was our latest potential blockbuster. Well, when the time has come for them to go, there is nothing we can do about it, rite? We came into the store one fine morning and found one dead. The next day, it was another's turn. They just turned belly-up and left us no clue whatsoever. mmmmmm? Has this happened to anyone before?

Luckily we have lotsa breeders to spare and that is why we will always keep at least 10-20 pcs of the very best from every spawn. Phew!

So, guys n gals, do read the articles, hang around our blog, POST sumthing and tell more of your friends about us, k?

Till then, happy flowerhorning!

Al

Finishing some articles for newbies..

2007-01-17T23:33:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone...

Lets see what Flowerfish has been up to in the last few days...

We have been busy getting some articles up and have just sent them for reedits... u know, the command of my English is not very ah-so ..British :) Hopefully they will be ready soon.

There are some fishes coming to NY very soon, so...New Yorkers, take note. Will also post updates on this very soon.

Oh ya... our "prolific Kamalau Dragon breeder No. M17" just fathered a HUGE spawn with a fully faded female Kamalau. mmmmm..... delicious!

Our blog has been up sometime now and we have come to a conclusion that our readers are graduates from the "shy school". We know many people read our blogs everyday.. thank god for Google Analytics! But not many people participate.

How about if we were to give out our juiciest, fattest and "pearliest" Kamalau Dragon for our very first virgin post? Will that help? he he... You know that I am not serious.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by and have fun here!

Al

New Pictures..

2007-01-12T17:42:00.000+08:00

Hi peeps !

Today, I added more pictures into Flowerfish's web album. They are 2 of my male faded fish breeders. Both are about 8 months old and one of them is a faded Kamalau and another is a faded Kamalau-Dragon. I dare say you will be impressed with their colors and huge head(at least for one of them).

At the same time I am working on some articles and do bookmark this blog to read when they are ready. (hopefully by next week) I hope these articles will help all the hobbyists to at least upgrade their level of flower horn fish-keeping and promoting more friends to take to the hobby.

Anyway, it seems that many of you reading this blog are still very shy to participate. Its ok because I dont usually comment much in other people's blogs too. After all, I am doing this for all to keep abreast with Flowerfish's latest but most of all, its for our team to be more "on its toes". Its the world watching and reading now....Yikes!

Bye for now,
Al

Welcome fellow FHUSA forumers!

2007-01-09T14:16:00.000+08:00

Today I posted something on FHUSA and the response was great! I have been out of the forums for ages due to my other businesses and I thought of taking a peek at whats going on there. Since I have started a blog, I might as well tell someone about it too!

This is something exciting and I hope that I can contribute as much as I can to the industry as a whole. But one thing I must stress is that I simply do not have the time to answer queries individually about prices, diseases or specific questions. I was bombarded with PMs after the postings and this is GOOD! The only problem is that I managed to answer most of the PMs which took a good part of the morning to do so. Sorry peeps!

So, to compensate for that, I am going to write a few articles on as much that I know and post it on Flowerfish.com. I hope with those articles, hobbyists can learn more and upgrade their knowledge about the flowerhorn fish. This articles should be up in a week or so and do check my blog for the updates.

Thats about it for now, thanks for reading this and do jump in and participate in my blog!

Till then,
Al

Is Faded Flower Horns the Latest Craze?

2007-01-08T19:51:00.000+08:00

Hi fellow flowerhornies!

The very first time I saw this faded Kamalau posted in FHUSA, I must admit that I had to pick my jaw off the floor after that! I have never seen a flower horn so beautiful in my life so I made it my quest to breed this Picasso of a fish.

I did some asking around later on and eventually found out that the particular fish is owned by one of my Indonesian friends, Pak Pudji. Almost instantly, I called him and we had a long chat. At the end of the conversation, the conclusion is that its one of those few rare faded fishes and finding one of these is like hitting the million dollar jackpot.

From then on, I searched everywhere for any faded fishes, male or female that I could find and indeed, I found quite a few! I Got myself some faded Kamalaus (extremely rare), faded ZZs, faded Kamfas, Faded Texas, etc. So the breeding program for this was underway in no time and within a few months, we had our first few spawns!

In fact, we bred Kamalaus with faded ZZs, Faded Dragons, faded Texas, King Kongs, anything you name it! Now,..... the result? Well, I had to admit that a VERY tiny percentage turned out well, not much faded fish and lots of rubbish!

But, the good news is that.. the ones that turned out good are EXTREMELY good! We now have a few eye-catching faded Kamalaus, faded Kamfas, faded Dragons, faded Kamalau-Dragons to our name.

Anything for sale you might be thinking and the answer is Yes and No. "Yes" is for the fully faded not-much head 3-4 inchers and "No" is for the super-duper gorgeous, sight-for-sore-eyes, made-for-poster fishes. These are of course kept so that we can produce F2 offsprings :).

If you want to see some of the faded fishes... bounce over here and drool!

Till then,
Al

Finally Flowerfish.com have a blog!

2007-01-07T22:04:00.000+08:00

I guess its about time.

Been too buzy going around and not getting to this, so once and for all, I found a lazy Sunday evening, set the blogging account up and here it is... Flowerfish's first ever post. Found nothing much to add yet but hopefully it will be populated with info soon.

I have also set up this Google's picture album thingy called Picasa and loaded photos there so I guess the fans of flower horn fishes will get to see all the latest that Flowerfish is producing.

Thats about it for now... I am going to take it easy on this since its my debut post.

Ciao!

Al