1. Overview of Arhat fish species
The Arhat fish has the English name Flower Horn, belonging to the Order: Perciformes (order of sea bass), Family: Cichlidae (family of tilapia). Is one of the tropical ornamental fishes that are bred by artisans from red snapper and tilapia. Called the Arhat because they have a large hunchback head like a fairy, with colorful colors on the sides and a symbol of luck and prosperity.

– Origin: First appeared in aquariums in Malaysia, after the fish competition in 2001, the Arhat fish farming movement became more and more popular and spread to Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam,….

– Their main food is usually shrimp, snails, juvenile fish, liver and minced meat, etc. Arhat fish reproduce easily and are artificially fed in the aquarium. As ornamental fish easy to raise, healthy and less diseased, their lifespan is quite high (over 10 years), the size can reach 25-30 cm.

– Classification: The hybrid arhat has more than 60 species, but the most popular and popular are the diamond, red Thai, King Kamfa and King hybrid varieties…

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2. Characteristics of the Arhat fish breed
With a colorful sparkling body and different large humpback heads, this fish is majestically beautiful and funny, they are hunted by many aquarists.

Arhat fish reproduce quite easily, but the number of adult fish with beautiful colors and strange big heads is very rare, accounting for only a very small number of the species that are born. When mature, the arhat fish can reach a size of 25-30cm and inherit the funny beauty of their parents such as a beautiful spreading tail, long fins, not big eyes and 2 short gills. In particular, the large deformed head makes them not confused with any other fish. This is also the standard by which to judge their value.

3. Food and habitat
Arhat fish live in all water layers, if raising fish in a tank, it is necessary to design a tank with the appropriate length: about 120cm in length, about 250L in volume. Because this is a very smart and active species, the tank needs a large space with a gravel bottom combined with simple decoration to facilitate tank management.

Food sources are extremely diverse, such as:
Live food: wild fish, fresh shrimp, carp, nettle, worms, worms and bobo, etc.

Frozen food: frozen shrimp and shrimp, red worm, beef, beef, small fish such as fillet, frozen basa, yellow snail, frozen puree.

Feed pellets: only used when feeding fish weaning or when other foods are not available.
Other foods: Some other fresh foods can also be used as food for Arhat fish such as cockroaches, crickets, locusts, ant eggs, insects, lizards, earthworms, etc. There is almost no risk of disease transmission to fish compared with feeds of aquatic origin.

4. Popular Arhat fish species

Arhat fish are bred with more than 60 species, of which 4 are the most popular and raised in aquariums of families, resorts, and ecology today:

Diamond Arhat Fish
Diamond Arhat (also known as Diamond Phuc Loc Tho) is a cross-breeding line from Chau Kim Cuong male with Blue Dragon female. The outstanding feature of the diamond arhat fish is its impressively strong, round body, the lines running from the gills to the tail dot are clear on the background full of blue pearls. They have inscriptions printed on the body along both sides of the body, the round body is covered by white pearls, the fish head protrudes into a bulging circle forward. The eyes are red, the face is slightly yellow.

Due to inbreeding to get the head but ignore the deformity, today’s diamond line is almost degenerate: most of the tail is drooping, especially many flat fish, no more than 4 fingers big.

Red Thai Arhat Fish
With the front head bulging quite large with the main bright red color, this aquarium line when kept in the aquarium will be extremely prominent. The main color is bright red (the color that makes them beautiful and colorful), the body is compact, there are many glowing pearls, especially in the tail, the fins on the tail are always spread wide, making them flexible. and gentle when swimming.

Arhat King Kamfa

King Kamfa fish is the most expensive and imported variety of the species currently bred in Thailand due to some mutants that are thin, thick and bright. The common feature of fish imported from Thailand like the red monkey and the Texas Red is that it is difficult to reproduce and takes a long time to mature.

King Lai Arhat Fish
This fish is usually crossed between a female King Kamfa and a male Diamond. The “king hybrid” lines in Vietnam are La Han male crosses with female KKF, then select the individuals with the most KKF characteristics to continue or backcross with the mother. But the rate of malformations is quite high due to pasteurellosis, so they cross-breed with kkf females from different groups.