Grading System for Tropical

Question
Hello, My wife and I were in a tropical fish store and saw a "Grade A Flower Horn". How was this fish graded? Is there a grading scale for all tropical fish?

Answer
Hi David:

Some fish like the flowerhorn are all about pearl... which is to say the beautiful pearl like scales that stand out on fish such as the flowerhorn.

When fish are small breeders rate them on a Zenzu rating scale Zenzu is from the Mandarin language and pretty much means pearls. A Zenzu pearl in young fish is given for each dark flowerline found on the flowerhorns body.  These flowerlines are surrounded by Iridescent hue and sheen which is similar to that seen on a black pearl.

Grade A - flowerline should be more than 70% to 100%.
Grade B - flowerline should be more than 50% to 70%.
Grade C - flowerline which are less than 50%
.Other attributes go into grading a flowerhorn and those traits would be looked at in the parent fish... attributes such as the size of the Kok, colors, body shape, fins and tail shape and size and of course the flowerlines.

Higher grades are available such as AA and AAA...

Hope this helps you... dave