# Male Flowerhorn just laid eggs.....



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Ok....this is just weird: A Flowerhorn that I suspected to be a male for over a year now due to it's large nuchal hump has just laid eggs. Here's what happened - I was clearing out my 65 gallon tank to re-do it exclusively South American. I pulled the Texas Cichlid and put it in a 20 gallon w/ a divider that I had been keeping the Flowerhorn in (both temporarily of course) until I can get my 120 gallon set-up tomorrow. The plexiglass divider has no openings or holes except for a few small gaps around the outer-edge where it wedges against the inside of the glass. 

Should I take down the divider and allow the "male" Texas Cichlid to fertilize the eggs or is it too late once she has already begun laying or what? Don't they have to do a mating dance/ritual before spawning or will he go ahead and just fertilize the eggs and skip violence? Help please.


----------



## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Id guess its too late,and you would end up with violence.Best bet would be to remove the eggs,feed her up,and then introduce them again.


----------



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Has there ever been instances of a hermaphroditic Flowerhorn confirmed? I would have suspected it would have happened awhile ago, and the Texas being recently added to the other side, deters my thoughts of this somewhat, but IS it possible?


----------



## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

Hmmmmm. I am unsure if he would be able to fertilise those eggs. I would assume it will depend on what DNA the flowerhorm has. I would say the same as previous and try and feed her up and see if you can re introduce them together. 

I do like surprises though like when my two "female" jags spawned and the eggs hatched out.


----------



## markn (Jul 29, 2010)

Id wait until next time too, it shouldnt be long before she spawns again. 
Good luck:2thumb:


----------



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

caribe said:


> Hmmmmm. I am unsure if he would be able to fertilise those eggs. I would assume it will depend on what DNA the flowerhorm has. I would say the same as previous and try and feed her up and see if you can re introduce them together.
> 
> I do like surprises though like when my two "female" jags spawned and the eggs hatched out.



Not exactly sure the genetic make-up of the Flowerhorn, but I did breed her from an Exotic Marvel female and a nearly pure WHITE Midas male. "She" is calicoed, with an orange head, a magenta body and spots and markings of blackish-dark color. All her siblings look very different and of the 200-300 babies, I have 4-5 left, 2 have the original Exotic Marvel pattern, one is totally orange w/ white patching, and then there is this one.

From what I gather, most FHs are some type of combination of Trimac, Midas, Red Devil, Red Terror, Chocolate, and Red-Headed Cichlids, but my clutch (which is pushing 2 years old now) has a double dose of Midas, making the citrinellus-gene ratio at around 66%.

My guess is that if Midas can breed with Texas, then this could be possible....I have seen Red Devil x Texas hybrids, and ironically either my eyes are decieving me or some of the spermatophores managed to get thru the divider or it fertilized it's own eggs, because when I just looked, they are opaque and not white, except for about 4-5. Somehow, some way, they seem to be fertilized. let's keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. Thanks for the replies.


----------



## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

Cool, keep us posted mate as could make a very interesting fish!


----------



## markn (Jul 29, 2010)

Victor Creed said:


> Not exactly sure the genetic make-up of the Flowerhorn, but I did breed her from an Exotic Marvel female and a nearly pure WHITE Midas male. "She" is calicoed, with an orange head, a magenta body and spots and markings of blackish-dark color. All her siblings look very different and of the 200-300 babies, I have 4-5 left, 2 have the original Exotic Marvel pattern, one is totally orange w/ white patching, and then there is this one.
> 
> From what I gather, most FHs are some type of combination of Trimac, Midas, Red Devil, Red Terror, Chocolate, and Red-Headed Cichlids, but my clutch (which is pushing 2 years old now) has a double dose of Midas, making the citrinellus-gene ratio at around 66%.
> 
> My guess is that if Midas can breed with Texas, then this could be possible....I have seen Red Devil x Texas hybrids, and ironically either my eyes are decieving me or some of the spermatophores managed to get thru the divider or it fertilized it's own eggs, because when I just looked, they are opaque and not white, except for about 4-5. Somehow, some way, they seem to be fertilized. let's keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. Thanks for the replies.


You can ship a pair over to the uk then, they would go lovely in my empty 40 gallon tank if its big enough for them . lol.


----------



## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

markn said:


> You can ship a pair over to the uk then, they would go lovely in my empty 40 gallon tank if its big enough for them . lol.


Nope :lol2:


----------



## markn (Jul 29, 2010)

YUP :lol2: XXX


----------



## hippyhaplos (Jan 12, 2010)

I agree... I'd leave it as well!

If they're going back in the same setup if it's going to happen it'll happen

A female with a nuchal hump... I'd have said male as well haha


----------



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

She destroyed the nest last night or this morning. I'm working on my 120 U.S. gallon tank right now, so hopefully once I get everything acclimated, I think there should be some more spawns taking place. Thanks for the advice, peeplez.


----------



## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Victor Creed said:


> Ok....this is just weird: A Flowerhorn that I suspected to be a male for over a year now due to it's large nuchal hump has just laid eggs. Here's what happened - I was clearing out my 65 gallon tank to re-do it exclusively South American. I pulled the Texas Cichlid and put it in a 20 gallon w/ a divider that I had been keeping the Flowerhorn in (both temporarily of course) until I can get my 120 gallon set-up tomorrow. The plexiglass divider has no openings or holes except for a few small gaps around the outer-edge where it wedges against the inside of the glass.
> 
> Should I take down the divider and allow the "male" Texas Cichlid to fertilize the eggs or is it too late once she has already begun laying or what? Don't they have to do a mating dance/ritual before spawning or will he go ahead and just fertilize the eggs and skip violence? Help please.


I've got two male Trimacs, this gives me hope for them actually being a pair, seriously doubt it tho :lol2:


----------



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

The T Lord said:


> I've got two male Trimacs, this gives me hope for them actually being a pair, seriously doubt it tho :lol2:



Dude, keep the faith man....Trimacs (pure strain) are incredibly hard to find these days...most are hybridized. Like I said, this FH had a hump and was the tank-boss for well over a year.....anything is possible, and I have read that fish can change sex....Gobys and Blennys in particular, which scientists say they anatomically prove to be closest related to Cichlids.....they both seemingly came from the same common ancestor, originating in salt-water. Compare Cichlids to some of the Androgenous and Catadrogenous fish that exists, such as Striped Bass. Cichlids are the CA/SA equivalents of NA's Bass and Panfish.


----------



## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Victor Creed said:


> Dude, keep the faith man....Trimacs (pure strain) are incredibly hard to find these days...most are hybridized. Like I said, this FH had a hump and was the tank-boss for well over a year.....anything is possible, and I have read that fish can change sex....Gobys and Blennys in particular, which scientists say they anatomically prove to be closest related to Cichlids.....they both seemingly came from the same common ancestor, originating in salt-water. Compare Cichlids to some of the Androgenous and Catadrogenous fish that exists, such as Striped Bass. Cichlids are the CA/SA equivalents of NA's Bass and Panfish.


These Trimacs are Jeff Rapps stock, they're the real thing :mf_dribble: Really gutted i have to get rid of them, or at least one! :censor:

Yeah i can see what your saying with Striped Bass, i always thought they looked very similar!


----------



## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

The T Lord said:


> These Trimacs are Jeff Rapps stock, they're the real thing :mf_dribble: Really gutted i have to get rid of them, or at least one! :censor:
> 
> Yeah i can see what your saying with Striped Bass, i always thought they looked very similar!


See, if they are guaranteed Trimac 100%, and I "had" to get rid of one, I'd go through the trouble of setting up a whole new tank just so I didn't HAVE to get rid of it. Then you'll have your 2 male Trimac tanks and all you'd need to find would be females. You're sitting on potential for a small fortune, my friend...make the best of it. I wish you could understand when I tell you how difficult it is to find PURE Trimacs......not just in the U.S., but everywhere. 

Coming to think of it, I DO have a friend here, caribe who has been looking for Trimacs for a while, so if you really must get rid of one, I'm almost 110% sure he'd buy it from you.


----------



## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

Yeah I really would love to take one. The only problem I have is the dovii that are meant to be in next week are tiny and the Trimac would eat them.

AAAAAAAAAAAAGH if they were only a little bit smaller!

If you still have them next week I will contact you as they are meant to come in on Tues/Wed. If they dont (which judging by experience they never do)

I would be down at the weekend to pick up one.

Really annoyed now :censor:

I assure you I know how to look after them and would give them a good home. If the Dovii dont come it will be in with my Mana's.


----------



## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

caribe said:


> Yeah I really would love to take one. The only problem I have is the dovii that are meant to be in next week are tiny and the Trimac would eat them.
> 
> AAAAAAAAAAAAGH if they were only a little bit smaller!
> 
> ...


I'm keeping the larger male, but you're welcome to the smaller one (around 4") not even going to ask for any money mate, but feel free to give me something in exchange :whistling2: :lol2: 
Let me know either way, i'm keeping the smaller male back for you.


----------



## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Victor Creed said:


> See, if they are guaranteed Trimac 100%, and I "had" to get rid of one, I'd go through the trouble of setting up a whole new tank just so I didn't HAVE to get rid of it. Then you'll have your 2 male Trimac tanks and all you'd need to find would be females. You're sitting on potential for a small fortune, my friend...make the best of it. I wish you could understand when I tell you how difficult it is to find PURE Trimacs......not just in the U.S., but everywhere.
> 
> Coming to think of it, I DO have a friend here, caribe who has been looking for Trimacs for a while, so if you really must get rid of one, I'm almost 110% sure he'd buy it from you.


Will do my best to get pics up, they are pure, almost as good as my pair i had a few years back, which were stunning, the female was stunning, they were only a young-ish pair though, 
: victory:


----------



## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

Pics would be great mate.

Erm...... I only have the young Mana, couple of young female Dempseys and some Jewels


----------



## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

caribe said:


> Pics would be great mate.
> 
> Erm...... I only have the young Mana, couple of young female Dempseys and some Jewels


Managuense? are you happy to swap? If so, what sort of size is the fish? 
I'll PM you pictures as soon as i find the usb lead for camera : victory:
I'f you want both Trimacs i'd be happy to take the Mana and a female Dempsey mate.

Have pictures, looking for lead now, the smaller male has some fin damage as i cannot seperate them at the minute, the only other option untill i get new tank next week, is my 4x2x2 south american setup, i don't really fancy loosing my Steindarchneri (f1's)


----------

