Honduran red point
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| Archocentrus sp. |
Honduran Red Points are a Central American species of cichlids found in freshwater streams and lakes. These fish are very close genecticly to Convict cichlids. Like convicts, they are very aggressive towards other fish when breeding, they are very defensive of their fry and breeding site.
Slightly harder to breed than convicts, they are still one of the easiest cichlids to breed in an aquarium.
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[edit] Environment
Honduran Red Points or HRPs prefer to live around many large rocks in order to shelter themselves and their young. They usually dig a nest at the bottom with loose sand or gravel. In aquaria, they often use the inside of a clay pot to lay eggs and guard it until the fry disperse.
[edit] Breeding
Like convicts, HRPs pair off with a dance in which the male swimming parallel to the female. The female contracts her scales to darken her stripes and brighten her underside. Females usually show an orange type belly color that intenses when close to breeding. The female will find a secluded shelter to lay about 50-200 eggs such as a large crevice between rocks or a nest dug in the gravel. The male will then fertilize the eggs and then aggressively protect them from any other fish which come near.
[edit] Fry
Three days after ferrilization the eggs will hatch and the fry will be what are known as wrigglers, They will still be attached to the egg but there bodies will be constantly moving. Approximately 3-4 days later the fry will become free swiming and should be fed newly hatched brine shrimp or a commercially available fry food. They can be left with the parents as cichlids make good parents but they may eat a few of the fry. When the pair is ready to mate again you must move the fry to a grow out tank of the parents will eat them in order to make room for the next batch of fry. Depending on the pair this could be 2 to as many as 9 months. The fry of this species is also slower growing than most other cichlid species.
