Fish Toys, for, you know, the Fish

Soooooooooooo. I am assuming at this point that no one who regularly posts here owns flowerhorns. How about other large cichlids?

My flowerhorn seems downright bored. Seriously, he's bored. He is housed alone obviously, and tends to spend his days re-arranging his substrate and repeatedly killing his bubble bar. (note to self, I need to get the glass heater out of there asap).

I read a little online about giving toys to your FH smaller mock fish for them to 'kill' etc.

I'm thinking though of putting together a little toy for him (as I have birds I'm used to animals needing things to occupy their time during the day).

So far I have some ping pong balls, plenty of airline tubing and some ideas. He has some sharp teeth and he loves to grab on to that airline tubing and go at it. Maybe float some pingpong balls at the top over the bubble bar? Put some sand in the tubing to weight it down? Get some kind of hoop or something that he could swim though?

I would not leave this in the tank while I'm away... ok, I feel I'm rambling now. Anyone else doing anything like this? Tank enrichment for 10" long fish?

I have a large CA/SA cichlid community tank, so they help entertain each other. One thing I do for them to keep things interesting is re-aquascape the tank with each water change. It breaks up the territories and gives them a change of scenery, so to speak.

Things you might try for your flowerhorn: plastic plants - you can insert them in the sand or let them float, but they are safe for him to grab and toss around. Also, some river rock type stones - my oscars like to move them around and spit them at the glass. clay flowerpots - you can easily cut the end off a large pot to give him a "lair".

I think you are probably on the right track with your ideas.

One thing that will get a sparring reaction from male bettas is a mirror. I sees the competitor as a rival. It may stress the fish to do this long term, but a couple hours here and there would keep things interesting if it works on Flowerhorns.

How about this toy?

https://youtu.be/i3MFvGDXuSs