When do Flowerhorn Eggs Hatch?

Flowerhorn Fish comes from a cichlid Family. There are several types of Flowerhorn fishes as King Kamfa, Kamfa, Albino FH, Faders etc. As it is an exotic and delicate breed on should always have a check before buying it. One can look for the size, behavior, color and the hump on the fish which can make it look unique than other Flowerhorns.

If you have ever wondered when Flowerhorn eggs hatch? – It takes about 3-4 days to get fertilize for hatching then they get hatched in 1-2 weeks depending on the care taken. Let us learn the process in the following section :

Preparing Flowerhorn fishes for Breeding:

Flowerhorn fish achieves sexual maturity when the female Flowerhorn develops and grows about 4 inches in size. One can virtually know the sex of the Flowerhorn only at this size. The female tends to give eggs regularly depending upon the mating with male whether the eggs will be fertilized or unfertilized.

One can predict that the female will be laying eggs with some general symptoms as loss of appetite, turns to be more aggressive and the color of the eyes turns dark, also with some marks appearing on the body in vertical order. One can also observe that the tube from which the eggs are being laid will elongate. It has a sharp and blunt end, which is similar to the sharp end of the male’s spermatic duct but is shorter than the male organ.

BREEDING – When compatibility and liking are found in a pair one can keep them together for mating. A clear water tank shall be allotted to the pair and it should be spacious enough thinking of the future possibility of the reproduction in Flowerhorn.

At, first one should keep a partition between both male and female Flowerhorn and then after a week under constant observation if it is noticed that they don’t show each other aggression it can be concluded that they are compatible enough to breed. After mating, the female will lay eggs and the male will try to fertilize them. Both play equal parts in parenting and taking care of their offspring.

Time span for Flowerhorns eggs to hatch:

A female Flowerhorn can lay up to 700-1000 eggs at a time on a flat base. Both will try to protect and guard the eggs. At this time being too much protective they can lose their temper and can start showing aggression to each other. There is a possibility that they will destroy their own eggs while fighting with each other. Or can even try to eat their own eggs because of their wild nature.

Usually, it takes about 3-4 days to get fertilize for hatching. They get hatched in 1-2 weeks depending on the care taken. Only 5% of the total laid eggs get hatch into little offsprings. One can start feeding them as soon as they start swimming after 5 days post-hatching as they are a very rare and hybrid species. Their hatching rate is very low compared to other fishes.

One also needs to make sure that the water in the tank is aged and clean. It should also be 10-12 inch deep so there is no difficulty in swimming for both the adult and baby Flowerhorns. As these Flowerhorns are unpredictable, many owners have started artificial hatching the eggs in a separate incubation tank.

These are some basic characters one can keep in mind while taking a mature flower horn fish. But if you wish to buy an infant or a baby flower horn, you need to take of its growth pattern and health so that it can be a full power pact adult at the end.

Though Flower horns are great eaters and one can feed it anytime, any day. But one needs to feed the fish mandatorily twice. One has to just put the fish food in the tank. But, feeding a baby flower horn is completely a different scenario. One needs to be very careful while selecting and getting good quality food which is healthy and nutritious.

Behaviour and Features of Flowerhorn Fish:

Regarding their care, the Flower Horn is a fish that acclimates very easily to its environment, although it is a very aggressive and very territorial species, which is why it is recommended that it be alone in the aquarium or with similar specimens and with an aquarium of large proportions so you have your living space. It can measure up to 40 cm and its force can displace decorative objects.

How to protect eggs from their wild Flowerhorn mothers?

As these species are very unpredictable and have a tropical nature, it tends to eat their own eggs. Even the female Flowerhorn fish laying eggs can eat its own egg when she is aggressive and badly hungry. So it is necessary to keep the eggs away from such mothers so that the eggs can hatch properly taking own time. One should take measures for hatching the eggs from their own mothers.

These measures to protect the eggs can be listed as follows:

• One should regularly feed the female fish in order to not let the hunger affect the eggs.

• To keep in mind that the female Flowerhorn is not disturbed while hatching and taking care of her offspring. Not to keep the tank where there is constant human interaction happening in the background.

• One should prepare the fishes first before making them breed.
• Also one should give time to the female fish after breeding so she can be calm enough while laying eggs.

• Use of Methylene blue should be done so that there are no chances of fungi to appear on the eggs. Or else the fish will eat the eggs along with the fungi.

• The female will take one hour to lay eggs, so for her privacy, there should be no disturbance in any case.

Artificial Hatching / Incubation Tank:

Most of the owners of this particular breed have started taking the eggs laid by this fish and hatch them separately in a different tank. If the eggs are incubated and hatched artificially there are more chances of getting great numbers of offsprings. It is indeed a good option when one is trying to hatch the eggs for the first time. Other than this, there are chances that there is some or other issue with the female fish.

These issues can be listed as follows:

• The mother tends to have the habit of eating her own eggs.
• At times female gets heavily injured while mating.
• When one tries to hurry the process of breeding for another time in a very short gap.

Water parameters for hatching eggs:

One should have an idea of what are the ideal ways to prepare an incubation tank of Flowerhorn fish eggs to hatch. The tank shall not be shallow and contain less water. It should be at least 10 inches deep also can exceed up to 14 inches. There should be made the use of methylene blue mandatory so that the fungi do not appear on the eggs and create a protective layer on it.

Water temperature should have a regular check which should be 28-30 degrees Celsius. One can also use aquarium heaters in cold weathers if needed. Water shall not have more saline content that makes it hard. This will degrade the hatching quality.

So there should be mandatory use of water filters. Hard water can make the surface of fish eggs very rough. Other than water and temperature control, one can add air stones to aerate the tank. Similarly, sponge filters can also be used instead of air stones.
As mentioned before, there is a noticeable decrease in the rate of hatching eggs in hard water but also there are chances of the off-springs to get physically handicapped by birth so one should regularly filter the water in the tank.

Poor quality of water will surely result in losing a lot of eggs if not filtered regularly. Also when the temperature in such filtered water, it will increase the level of hatching eggs. Depending upon the fish type, size, and age, the eggs will develop and grow to be a healthy offspring.
Also, it might depend on the tank size and its dimension has the baby fishes will require more space to swim. Some other parameters can also be considered for the degradation in the quality of fish eggs which depend on the breed and species.

Following are some of the quick Q&A which usually comes to your mind:

Q – At what time do the eggs get fertile enough to mate?
A – It takes about 3 days after laying the eggs so it can be fertile, so one can gain a good amount of fertile eggs for hatching.

Q – What steps should one do when eggs to start to hatch?
A – When it is observed that the eggs are hatched one should not get hyper and should not feed the newly born anything. There is only the fluid that is required for them to survive in such critical condition.

Q – When to feed the baby Flowerhorns?
A – They can be fed after a week of birth when it grows 4 inch in length which also makes it easy to identify the sex of the offsprings.