A very knowledgable biologist has pointed this sceintific research out to me in a discussion we had. Very intresting and a great topic to start with.

Here is the full article here

Everything you need to know is right below

George Barlow and Paul Siri considered many possible functions for the hump. It could be an organ of fat storage, offer mechanical advantage in fights, improve hydrodynamics, serve as an anti-predation device, or be the object of mate choice. First the researchers marshalled the facts. The hump changes size over time. It gets larger during courtship and actually shrinks during the parental phase. Males and females fight during the parental phase so if the hump was a fighting weapon, females should develop humps equal to those in males. Similarly, if the hump serves in fat storage or as protection from predators, why don't females develop them? Furthermore, the hump doesn't actually contain large volumes of fat, it is for the most part filled with water. The hydrodynamic explanation may apply to other kinds of fishes with humps (e.g., salmon), but the bulbous shape of the cichlid's hump is likely a hydrodynamic deterrent, if anything.

By offering female Midas cichlids a choice of rubber dummies of male Midas cichlids molded with differently-sized humps, Barlow and Siri found that females prefer males with humps over those without, but only up to a certain point. Once the hump becomes enormous, female preference declines. Several possible explanations exist. Hump size may serve as a measure of a male's condition or quality. Or, the hump may merely serve as a way to distinguish males from females. Many of the species with humps are highly monomorphic - males and females look alike - and the fact that the hump peaks in size at the time of pair formation strongly suggests a role in sex recognition. Nonetheless, the story is not finished because, as the researchers point out, well-fed fish develop larger humps: if sex recognition were the sole factor, the hump would develop to a specific size, but no further. The enormous humps seen on some captive males - and shown to be unappealing to females in the experiments - may not occur in the wild because it may not be possible for large males to afford such elaborate displays. Future experiments and observations will be needed to sort out the explanations for this intriguing character.

wow great research PoseidonX.

may this be the same theory as why female have breasts and male don't?

we also tried to discuss exceptions to this. Im not an expert on genetics, but the scientist indicate that with pure species, only the males can get heads. Now there are some female flowerhorns which have had enormous heads (very rare ones). This might indicate that the sexual trait has some how passed to the female chromosome as well. breeding two fish like this should give you a migh higher yield of big head fish.

may i ask u if are for or against hybrids? Flowerhorns for example..

thank you..
please share more from ur research!!

most definately for... sorry this is a new screen name formerly bdking57. Just wanted to share a scientific element of our favorite part of the flowehorn!

OMG!!! hahaha wasup man

i thought i smelled something fishy

Very informative.....GREAT ARTICLE ! This should help clear the air on some issues which have been posed to us, especially the beginners / sceptics.
Good Job !

HAHA yes its all about power, as long as that power is balanced in all aspects.. just like the greatest of warriors

Bright it's great for you to explain in great length...now...si there anything about identifying a flowerhorn with potential head hump at fry or baby stage?..cheers!!

that is the master breeder and sellers secret... i think good sense, maybe when you see enough of them you will know.

i think that's something most of us would like to know!

If only someone can point us out the recipe to it...muhahahaha!!

Yeah it's tough to pick a fish out fish with a potential kok at under 3 inches. I would suggest buying fish 3 inches or more with a little head sticking out. If it's under 3 inches and you see a head then... .buy, buy!

yes generally is true bro.to choose a gd fh tis not that easy also...
1)check the origin of the fry...does it came from a family of hard kok
2)normally fish shop will disply whole bunch of small fries in 1 tank,carefully check for the most aggressive ones.tis tend to male n more likely to hav kok
3)check for body size..generally front part of the fish body should be bigger than the tail end..forming like a triangle shape...tis type tend to be kok in the future!!
4)genetic of the fish,enviroment,stress level,water condition,size of ur tank!!
5)and not forgeting T.L.C

tis r jus my own experience.doesnt represent anyone else!i no expert but tis is wat i generally do when i choose a fish(percentage abt 88%)

isnt it true sometimes that the females are more colorful and aggressive when small.. below 2". I received a fry that was the best of 50 as a fry, very red color at less then 1" and it was also the meanest while the other was very passive and got bullied. After a month the roles completely reversed and the male started packing on pund while the female learned her place.

yeah is true sometimes female r more aggressive than male when young.but tis oni jus small percentage.most of the time u will most likely be a male.tis r u best bet!! try it!

venting is also a key process, someone should explain how they vent their fry.

Hi Guys..lets me intruduce my self ..I am chingmix...I am new member in here...
I came from Indonesia. FlowerHorn become very famous in Indonesia since 1999 and now maybe more than 10.000.000 million people hasve this fish. Not only in teh city but also until the village...from oldman, youngmen and also childrens.

Nice discussion, according to my experience and also after take smal operation of the "kok" of flowerhorn and check it in lab...they are 3 layer inside of kok: Bone, meal, and one part look like "jelly".

The last part is the biggest portion of big kok and kok can be big ;ike a ball.

This "jelly" content of water, fat and protein complex many people call is lipoprotein. PUFA and HUFA from Fati Acid important think to support also. Amino acid such thing like tryptophan, methionin, and lysine also.

This is my experiment fish with feed which i made it.

Before with my beefheart home made






after feeding with my beefheart home made






if you want to see more my experiment fish co can click here : http://gallery.o-fish.com/chingmix

Thanks
regards

omg look at the difference.........damnnn.....that's a hell lot of changes

amazing information, your great man!


asmdriskell