Flowerhorn Cichlid

The flowerhorn or Louhan fish exists nowhere in the wild because it is in fact a hybrid of other fish species. All flowerhorn fish for sale originate from experimental pairings of South American cichlids. Speculation is that there are red devil cichlid genes in it's parentage. It is a secret of the original breeder as to what the exact origins are. Flowerhorns have no taxonomically correct description due to being hybrids.

These fish can grow a very prominent nuchal hump. This is a fleshy growth on the forehead that typicaly gets larger with age.

Flowerhorn cichlids usually have a lot of red pattern on a grey background. Coloration can vary due to different varieties being selectively bred. One example is the golden flowerhorn which was developed to include more gold color.

As far as fish go the flowerhorn is quite new. None were sold before the 1990's. They have become quite popular in this time and command large prices. On the other hand many loathe such fish because they are unnatural.

Owning a flowerhorn does not require specialized care; they are a hardy fish that can look after themselves in a disagreement between fish. They can be quite aggressive so most are kept alone or in a single species aquarium.

Treat them as you would a South American cichlid by feeding tropical pellets and warming the aquarium water to a tropical level.

The flowerhorn image below is shown thanks to Lerdsuwa.