Facts
and Rumors of Flower Horn Fish
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Flower Horn fish is a Cichlid which is classified
under the genus Cichlasoma that
comes from the South American Cichlid family. Within just
a few years, it has ignited a new trend in the tropical
fish market all over Asia and spreading to western countries
as well. |
Similar to Blood Parrot fish, Flower Horns originated
from selective cross breeding. This beautiful hybrid is thought
to be cross-breed between Cichlasoma Trimaculatus,
Cichlasoma Festae and Jingang
Blood Parrot. But to date, a lot of better quality
Flower Horn has been produced due to the intensified eagerness
of breeders to produce the best quality fish resulting in availability
of various strains such as Golden Flower Horn
(aka Kam Fa), Golden Mercury, Coronation
Link, etc. The most distinguished feature of Flower
Horn fish is by its protruding head and its unique body design.
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Flower Horn fish is highly adaptable and is
not very demanding when it comes to techniques of care.
In general, they are relatively easy to raise and suitable
for fish hobbyist who has never kept a tropical fish before.
As all living things, Flower Horns display their most glorious
forms and colors when they live comfortably in a suitable
environment. For detail techniques of care, the instruction
can be found at Basics of Flower Horn
Fish Keeping. Choosing a healthy beautiful Flower Horn
is as important and the graphical description can be found
at Flower Horn Fish Standards.
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Some parties have claimed that we can ‘play’
with Flower Horns. As Flower Horn originated from South American
Cichlid, they are quite territorial in nature. In actual fact,
the Flower Horn fish is actually trying to get rid of the intruder;
be it a stick or a hand. Thanks to its aggressive nature, Flower
Horn is said to be more interesting and responsive, unlike most
pet fish which shy away under the same condition.
In the aspect of ‘feng-shui’, a fully
developed hump on the Flower Horn’s head symbolizes prosperity,
luck and longevity. It is believed that a huge hump on the forehead
enhances a better feng-shui for the owner. Thus, the saying
goes “the bigger, the better”!
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Another interesting feature of the Flower
Horn is the black horizontal markings or known as just ‘flowers’.
Some of these markings resemble Chinese characters and this
fetch a high price for the owner. Additionally, rumor has
it that early Flower Horn hobbyist had won lottery numbers
by the digits supposedly seen on these horizontal black
markings / flowers. This resulted in a believe that Flower
Horn brings prosperity, luck and longevity. |
All in all, the unique appearance of Flower Horn
is the main reason that attracts people’s interest and
attention. This is undoubtedly one of the causes that Flower
Horn fish has been able to generate such popularity in such
a short time.
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