whats the diffrence between hard KOK and water KOK? how does one determine which fish will get either? does genetics play a part?

thanks :)

A hard kok is bone and tishue and only grows to a small consistant size.a water kok is just skin and water which can shrink or expand do to his attitude and surroundings it gets much larger than a hard kok.an example is for a hard kok look at a frontosa that is hard kok.pat

Here is the skull of a frontasa and you can see the hard kok here.

dang mr danz that iz some hardcore skull ...hahahahahah so that bone stick out iz the hard kok huh?i wonder how flowerhorn bone look like water kok

There are couple of ways to tell them apart

1. Water koks are somewhat translucent when backlit, whereas hard koks are not
Here is a pic from Anh Andy illustrating a backlit Waterkok:

2. Water koks will change more drastically depending on the fishes mood/stress level, whereas hard koks are generally more stable
3. Water Koks are generally bigger than hard koks

This post has been edited by Pantherlax: May 12 2008, 02:41 PM

wow Dan exceptional photo you got there.

thank u for the replies... but how do u determine if ur fish will get a hard KOk or water KOK?

I think the best way to see if it will get a water kok is if it start to show it at an early age, if the fish is past 4" with no sign of a head then chances are you will be lucky to get a hard kok let alone a water. Every fish and strain is different but if thats what your looking for in a fish you need to look early.

so if u have a 2 inch fish with signs of a KOk is it for sure that it will get a water KOK?

Nothing is for sure but at 2" if you see a kok starting to form like say mini-me owned by jaydubber69 the I would bet it would have a water kok as long as you nurture it.

so i guess genetics plays a part? thanks for being patient and explaining everything! :)

Genetics is prob the most critical aspect of a KOK, you cant create what isn't there but if you dont care for the fish you can decrease the KOK.

thank u for the reply, and i am sorry i could not reply earlier :)

do you have pics to show us of your fish then we will tell you if its a hard or water kok

Most of my flowerhorn (if not all) have a hard KOk.. i was just confused what they meant :)

thanks for the help :)