Honduran Red Points

Kianna

Kianna

New Member
It all started with a 29 gal I bought at Petco on their $ sale. Bought a stand, painted the bottom and back of the tank black, added an AC 70 with 3 sponges (2 were well seeded) and a heater that I already had. Threw on a light, a couple of clay pots and some silk plants for quick decorations.

Now onto the Hondurans:

I had a male HRP in with some yellow labs for the last year. They were all given to me as small babies and I was never that crazy about him. Anyway he grew and became quite striking IMO. Heres some pics of him:















Placed him in the new 29 gal and did a some water testing to make sure my well seeded sponges were doing their job. Gave him some extra attention and feedings....in hopes of getting him prepared for a possible new girlfriend.

Then I recently bought what I thought was a female....just going on some belly colorations. She's been in QT for 3 weeks doing really good. Heres some pics of her:


















I added her to his tank and it was love at first sight for him! He started immediately doing dances and shimmeys for her but she didn't seem too interested at all. He followed her around like a little lost puppy. I was just happy that she was in fact a "she" and they seemed to tolerate each other.

Well I took these pics of the male and female yesterday and this morning I found this...





So sometime last night they spawned! Doesn't seem to be alot of eggs but thats ok. Mama seems to be the one tending the eggs and papa's just hanging out near by. I did stick my hand in the tank to turn the pot just enough so that I could photograph the eggs and neither one seemed the least bit interested in my hand. When I was breeding GBR they attacked me everytime I did anything in the tank.


Soooo now what! Breeding HRP is new for me so any information you guys/gals have would be much appreciated.

Some Q's I have:

1. Are they normally good parents?
2. Should I expect them to eat the eggs the first few spawns?
3. How long before the eggs hatch....free swimming?
4. What do I feed the fry?
 
Paintguy

Paintguy

Active Member
Last time I had them (15 years ago ) the parents were great... kept all the babies in a big barnacle in my tank to protect them from the other fish and beat the fin out of my 6inch black belt, so I had to re-home him.

These were some of my best. The flash brings out more blue than there really was though:

click to see HRP's
 
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sandnuka

New Member
If there anything like convicts... which I heard they were, you will have no problem!! They are the best parents of any fish I have ever had.... and the fry eat bbs directly after free swimming, which is nice... not like the GBR that have trouble munchin them down the first few days.
 
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protocl

New Member
Paintguy said:
Last time I had them (15 years ago ) the parents were great... kept all the babies in a big barnacle in my tank to protect them from the other fish and beat the fin out of my 6inch black belt, so I had to re-home him.

These were some of my best. The flash brings out more blue than there really was though:

click to see HRP's
Click to expand...
i noticed you used a flash unit facing down on your POTM. how did you hold it in place?
 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
Well the eggs are still there !

The only thing yet to do is to cover the intake tube on the AC70. It's on the opposite end of the tank from the flower pot with the eggs. I'll wait and see if they hatch etc before covering it.

Regardless I'll keep you posted on the progress! :cheers:
 
Paintguy

Paintguy

Active Member
[/quote]
i noticed you used a flash unit facing down on your POTM. how did you hold it in place?[/quote]

I shot that one at night with all the room lights off.. all the tank lights on and pulled forward on top, then I made a paper diffuser over the stock flash so it has less of a hot spot on the fish. About 25 shots to get that one in a crisp focus.


If I could mix a Honduran Red Point with my Electric Blue Jack Daniel... now that would be a healthy tuff fish.
 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
I have wrigglers ! :punk:

I can't even tell its a fish.....just looks like a wiggling egg at this point....LOL

So....so far so good!
 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
The eggs look more like fry today. They at least have a little tail now that I can see. I tried to get pictures but it didn't come out that great. Its hard to get a focus on a pile of wiggles.







Heres a pic of dad standing guard. They seem to be sharing duty now. Notice that theres still a few white eggs on the right side. They never hatched....about 7 or 8 of them.






Then I realized they were moving them from the flower pot to somewhere else. I decided it was time to put the sponge over the intake on the filter because they were moving them closer that way.

Anyway I stuck my hand in there and papa BIT ME! He latched on to the top of my hand. It actually stung a bit (really it just scared me more than anything). So I guess Mr Mellow is gone and Mr Macho has arrived!

Heres a pic of him saying "just stick that hand in here again lady".






Heres where they moved them to. Stupid place if you ask me ...BUT THEY DIDN'T ...so oh well. They've placed them on the backside of the bridge on the steps. They are constantly putting them back when they fall off. I guess they'll be free swimming soon so it won't matter anyway. Oh and the honeymoon must be over too. I'm starting to see a little bickering. Papa was trying to help move them and mama didn't want him to so she kept nudge him away. He would nudge back as if to say "don't push me". She flared her gills a bit but that was about it.









So my next Q's are

How long can I leave the fry in there with them?

How long normally between spawns?
 
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sandnuka

New Member
If you pull the fry/adults they will spawn again within 1 month.... With all my fish that spawned I tend to pull the fry about 1 week after free swimming... It takes away there cool natural behavior though. :( but, I never have to worry about mom or dad snackin on a babys...

Love the pictures, keep us updated on everything.... I really enjoy watching fish grow and the ups and downs the owner (this case being you) have to go thru. its a great learning exp. for newbies too. Thanks again!
 
Madness

Madness

Well-Known Member
Staff member
That is awesome. I have 4 pairs of HRP. Only 2 have spawned. but none of them lasted. I guess mine are a bit confused. :scratch:
But from what I know, the parents will continue to take care of them for as long as you want them to. The female usually will not lay any more eggs until the babies have been removed. Otherwise the babies feast on the eggs. Because it was their first spawn, I would IMO remove the little ones as soon as they start free swimming. Maybe even a bit sooner. They always seem to wanna eat that first spawn. At least all of my fish have that mentality. :twisted:
 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
UPDATE: Free Swimmers

What alot of work taking care of so many children.....LOL


[flash=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/v/3NzbqibPL9k" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true[/flash]
 
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sandnuka

New Member
AWESOME VIDEO!! and look how good of parents they are collecting them and keepin them grouped together! awesome!
 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
Babies are doing good. Parents are still moving them around alot. I'm feeding BBS 3x a day but the parents are helping to feed also. I've noticed they've become messy eaters all of a sudden....spitting crushed up food out through their gills as if to feed the babies.

Anyway heres a couple more pics.



















 
Kianna

Kianna

New Member
Wolf-Keeper1 said:
Pretty cool. What are you gonna do with all the fry?
Click to expand...

Not sure yet. I didn't expect them to spawn so quickly and when they did I thought they'd probably eat them the first time or two. I'm not planning on moving them anytime soon......kind of playing it by ear to see if the parents spawn again right away or if they'll continue to raise them.

Anyway to answer your question....I'll probably keep some and sell some :D
 
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Wolf-Keeper1

New Member
K. I think I have one that survived the payara. So if you end up selling some down the road I might be intreasted. Also you said you said you went by belly color to find a female. Did that work
in the end? Do you know other ways to sex them?
 
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