All living being need to have food in order to obtain a balanced diet so that they can enjoy a longer, illness free life. Fish too share the same philosophy as human. They need balance nutrition to stay healthy.

The most common food for fish is live foods such as worms, small fishes and prawns. In the wild big fish are used to chasing down and eating smaller fish and insects as their main diet. Their motion involving in long hour of food hunting and have well balanced in diet actually is the main factor that keep them healthy and alert always. However, although big fish in the tank may not be lacked in their food, but due to the fact that the fish keepers may consistently feeding one type of food, they may not have a good balanced in their diet.

Feeding a fish diverse food is the best way to achieve neutral balanced on their diet, for example feeding them once with feeder fish, twice with prawns and once with insets for a ratio of a week. This will make them healthier.

Flowerhorn size can grows up to 20cm and above, belongs to medium to large cichlids species with aggressive territorial behavior. It is recommended to keep single flowerhorn in isolation. Beside this, the tank space shall also affect the grow rate and body shape, hence, the best choice for the tank size shall be 3 feet or above in order to avoid constraint in its growth and shape. Use darker colored background such as Blue and Black to get the best visual effect of its body color.

Flowerhorns prefers neutral pH or slight acidic type of water something similar to pond water in Africa, which had constant moving flow. Choose some gravel from the river and with a grain size of 0.5cm to 1cm, while maintaining the pH at neutral level. The gravel layer should be around 5cm. Avoid using rough rocks as tank decoration because these may hurt the fish scale if the fish are not careful enough. Do also consider using some colour pebble or small stones as decoration as this will enhance the colour of the Flowerhorn.

Nature is the utmost important approach in keeping a fish healthy, grows faster and naturally. In rising this type of hybrid cichlid or well known as FLOWERHORN, both big and small fish require great care in water properties. Serious attention must be given to dissolved oxygen level and neutralize chlorine content in the water, because the gill of big fish bears stronger breathing and super suction effect. Fish who are unhealthy because of water problem and disease will inevitably die. The most alarming type of fish diseases are related to gill disease and digesting ailment, which cause by single cell parasites and multiple cell parasites. In order to obtain the best result in fish keeping, a common approach in preventing fish disease and tank management is to pay absolute attention to the water quality and conditions, as well as the sterilization and hygienic factor.

There indeed consist of other important factors that may directly or indirectly influence the slowing grow of a Flowerhorn

a) The genetic factor form the main point on a fish growth, therefore if the genetic is of small size the fish may not grow fat.
b) The fish has reached its adult age and was not growing properly prior to that. Even though the surrounding environment is greatly improved, it will not show significant growth.
c) Strong water flow produce by a good filter combines with full and complete supply of nutrient shall provide better growth changes and results. This is due to higher active body movement that encourages physical growth.
d) Stress due to space limitation will directly impact on the digesting and food hunting. So whether how can a fish grow naturally in this manner is all depending on luck?

Big fish shall live longer and more favorable, their movement and action can be clearly looking at. Lets spend some time in carrying out the above mentioned tasks, and the fish shall have better chance to grow bigger, healthier and balanced.

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