Flowerhorn Shipping

Shipping flowerhorns must be understood by all hobbyists so that they can ask the right questions of the shipper.

They should also know how to take care of the fish once they're allowed out of the bag.

Flowerhorns of any size over two to three inches have sharp spines in the dorsal fins. These spines can pop the shipping bags. Some shippers double bag the fish, and put newspaper between the inner and outer bag. The logic is that the fish can pop the inner bag and the newspaper protects the outer bag, so the fish still has SOME water in with it.

But this doesn't work very well for large fish. Because the inner bag pops and lets most of the water into the outer bag away from the fish. Newspaper can dissolve into the water leaving large fish to try and live in newspaper stew.

Better to use 0.40 mil plastic bags. They're almost unbreakable.

Or, if the fish is VERY valuable, the fish could be placed in a sealed plastic (tupperware) container full of holes, and placed inside a large bag. The plastic container will allow water in an out but won't allow the fish to burst it's bag.

If fish are shipped in too little water, they cannot expel their ammonia, and this builds up in the fish and in the bag and burns off the fishes' fins and tail. It also burns the skin.

For larger fish, almost a gallon of water would be recommended. Or the following recommendation:

1 Liter of shipping water per 2 inches of fish in the bag.

This would be an ideal for fish of some value. Cheap fish sold at auction can be shipped in less and their 'wear and tear' hardly shows against their otherwise poor conformation.

All fish should be shipped under "pure oxygen" which the shippers all have.

The bags should not be tight when packed up because of expansion during flight. If the bag is "tight" it will expand in air and burst. If the bag is soft with pure oxygen it will have room to expand and the fish will not be left high and dry!

When you get the fish, you should race to unpack it. The sooner it gets out of its shipping water, the better.

The bag should be floated in the receiving tank for 15 minutes. Water temperature should be allowed to acclimate. The pH in your tank should be checked and should be 7.0 or higher.

The fish can be let out of the bag into the tank (hopefully a quarantine tank) after the water temperatures have equalized.

NOTE: Do NOT let the nasty shipping water get into your main tank. Better to slide the fish into a net or your hands, and then put the fish into the receiving tank.

Now See Problems.

Flowerhorns have the following advantages over other cichlids:

They are relatively gentle with unrelated species. I've kept my Flowerhorn "Bebe" with small gold barbs, Leporinus and Cory catfish.

Flowerhorns are more colorful than many more common species of cichlid.

Most importantly, no two Flowerhorns will be identical. You could own a Texas Cichlid for example, but someone else will have one just like yours.

They readily accept pelleted foods so you don't have to cannibalize goldfish or guppies. This makes your fish healthier because they don't catch diseases from their food. Easier, too, to keep a can of pellets than a fishtank of live food.

They max out at thirteen to fourteen inches so they're comfortable in the common 55 and 75 gallon tanks.

Cool: You can usually tell when they're "young" if they will be quality or not.

Judging Flowerhorns Article on Judging This young fish at right is 2.5 inches long and already shows three of the most important Flowerfish traits; the start of a hump on its nape, a robust red color and a nice row of flowers on the sides. Interestingly, in the smaller sizes, Flowerhorns aren't very aggressive to each other. The fish at right sold for under $300 - it's a double flowered Red Dragon with a great hump, red eyes, lyre shaped fins, and red in the fins like you see on champions. The fish at right sold for under $300 too. It's amazing because it combines finnage, red eyes, electric blue and the start of double flowering. It's gone, so stop drooling.