Breeding and Strains - Discussion on strains of Flowerhorn and features that make them that strains

Discussion on strains of  Flowerhorn and features that make them that strains

• This is going to vary person to person, as we all have different taste but the key traits are set in stone

There are 5 main strains of flowerhorn:

• All of which can vary a great deal depending on where they came from, and who bred them..
• Everyone has a different take on how each strain should look, so as these fish are bred more, there becomes a lot more difference within each strain..

Zhen Zhou:

• (Zhen Zhou) with large kok lots of red, but be lacking when it comes to pearls and script (flowers) and body shape.. Then the next one you may see might have great script, good body shape, good pearls, good body and fins, but has small kok (nuchal hump).
• The reason for this is that each breeder has there own idea of their perfect flowerhorn, and breed for there most desired traits. This example is also true for all other breeds of flowerhorn..
• The 5 groups we have are: ZZ/Zhen zhou, Kamfa, silks/Thai silks gold base/ Faders, and Kamalau/golden monkey..

Zhen zhou:

• It has a rounded tail, large mouth/lips, red protruding eyes,a prominent head flower
• The name Zhen zhou means pearl flowerhorn, and these are the most widely available, mostly because they are the most hardy, and the most fertile, therefore making them much easier to breed..
• For this same reason, ZZ have been bred with most other strains to improve fertility/hardiness and certain desired traits..
• Zhen Zhou Breeding: ZZ are very fertile, and can be bred the same way as most aggressive american cichlids.. The use of a divider is very handy and is the most common technique used

Zhen Zhou Care:

• They have no special needs in terms of care, they can tolerate a wide range of ph (6.8 - 7.6) 7.2-7.4 seems to get the best results..
• They can also tolerate quite high temperature of up to 32*c, with 26-28 being the optimum range
• Basic routine maintenance is all that's required a clean water and varied diet is all that's need for these to thrive..
• Classic Zhen Zhou Strains: within ZZ there are 2 strains, Red Dragon, which is known for it bright red collar and Blue Dragon, which can still have the red collar, but has more of a blue sheen on the body rather than the brighter pearls of a red dragon.. As mentioned above, there can be a lot of variation within each strain..
• A super red/Blue dragon is a variation of the 2strains meaning 3/4(majority) is the red/blue colour and for SRD it is a deep red not a light pink
• Classic zz body shape is rounded shaped like a tear drop, in Australia we have moved on to a more solid shape almost square but not as solid as kamfa and zz has a tail gap
• A perfect zz, meaning all traits have been made 100% are called mp (masterpiece)

Kamfa:

Identification:

• Some Kamfa characteristics are white/yellow eyes, although they can be red also, they have a larger square body and large water kok usually forward sitting not up on top like most zz, also even lips. A wrapped tail square and solid like a paddle end and sunken eyes..
• A basic Kamfa can be made by crossing a Zhen Zhou with a blood parrot or king kong parrot, but these normally carry more of the zz traits and have higher deformity rates but u still get the desired results with yellow or white eyes and a stronger tail, just need to cull efficiently
• More desirable kamfa can be made using many of the vieja (paratheraps) species, synspilum, breihordi, etc and Texas, or a hybrid of the above mentioned

Breeding Kamfa:

• Kamfa have been known to be less fertile than ZZ, and it is said that yellow and white eyed kamfa are likely to be infertile where as red eye kamfa have been known to be more fertile..Because of these fertility issues it can take a lot longer to produce high quality
• kamfa, and they therefore demand a higher price. 90% of the males are infertile where as females you have a higher chance.
• A perfect kamfa is called a King Kamfa, meaning all traits are met 100%, along with the added criteria the head has full coverage of pearl and colour
• A debated thing with King Kamfa is eye colour I am of the understanding “king” meaning best of, means the eye colour has to be white/yellow and no where near red/orange as this colour is a zz trait, I no this is a old guide but to me it’s still the real guide.

Silks/Thai silks:

• In Australia most will resemble the body shape of zz but there is also kamfa strained ones
• There strain is a relatively new strain compared to the others, ideally it is almost completely metallic blue or white. Its origins are unclear, but many theories are that they are created from the following key breeds -blue dragon x Veija x Texas

Care:

• No special care is needed, just good water conditions and a good diet the same as a ZZ will bring out there best potential..

Gold base/ Faders:

• They are called "Faders" because when they are juvies, they turn a dark colour, and then fade to a nice yellow/orange or red colour..
• As stated above there is a lot of variation within this classification, for example, the red texas is also classed as a fader..

Care:

• No special care is needed, just good water conditions and a good diet the same as a ZZ will bring out there best potential..

Golden monkey/ Kamalau:

• I'm not going to get into the big argument that can be had about kamalau, what ill do is give a quick overview.. The original Kamalau does not exist anymore, what is around is a replacement for them..
• They are as close as breeders could get (the original breeder couldnt even replicate this breed)
• To be classified as GM, it should have a shorter face then ZZ, an underbite the jaw actually lifts up, square gill plates, stronger tail than zz but not as wrapped as kamfa, and
• generally worm pearl covering, covering at least the head..

Short based/bonsai:

• Short based as the name suggests is a short compact version of Flowerhorn, all strains have this and this can be achieved by selective breeding but generally it is due to been bred with a parrot somewhere in its genetic lineage, these still have a tail gap between body and tail
• Bonsai, is even shorter then short base usually have no tail gap is simply body then tail, these are believed to be 100% line bred to achieve this mutation but there is a debate on that, I have owned bonsai Texas before that I bred and the batch was a mix of standard and bonsai fry.
• Standard is as the name suggest the most common these do not come with the faults of pop gut and parrot mutation but arguably may not look as nice some strains can looked stretched if not selected and culled correctly