Honduran Red point weird mate preference

[hanzvelez]

Apparently my Male Honduran Red Point is overly aggressive towards the female picking on her but thankfully not to life threatening levels. Any who i noticed that the male has shown a strange preference towards convict females. What can i do to hopefully improve his interest towards his own species, can't get another female due to the only HRP breeder holding all fish since he hasn't bred them in a while, Although he did tell he might sell me one at some point although he can't give me a date. The possibility of the HRP female being male is unlikely as i vented her and was sure it was female. The tank has a huge driftwood and thus provides decent cover.

Pics taken when i got them a few 2 months ago. Female is almost the same size as the male by now only being an inch shorter.

Them in the tank. Aggression heightened when the Male convict target was removed.

 

[Gourami Swami]

The two species are so closely related that he cannot tell the difference between a convict and hrp female. He has chosen the convict over the HRP just as he might choose 1 HRP over another. I think the only sure way to get him to pair with the female HRP would be to remove all the female convicts (even then it's not 100%, he might just not like that female)

 

[Toiletcar]

Agree w/ ^^. That can happen when species are so closely related. Both species are highly prolific. They reproduce very easily and quickly.
One reason I am not worried about mixing thorichthys species is because they aren’t like that. So far I’ve seen meeki pair off w/ meeki and pasionis pair off w/ pasionis. Neither species seems interested in the other.

 

[hanzvelez]

The two species are so closely related that he cannot tell the difference between a convict and hrp female. He has chosen the convict over the HRP just as he might choose 1 HRP over another. I think the only sure way to get him to pair with the female HRP would be to remove all the female convicts (even then it's not 100%, he might just not like that female)

I actually have removed all convict females he just used to see them from the glass across the divider and would spend most of his time staring into the other side. He used to be divided with Africans hence why he is probably uber aggressive. Still hoping for that alternate Honduran female hopefully the supplier sells me one soon.

 

[Toiletcar]

I actually have removed all convict females he just used to see them from the glass across the divider and would spend most of his time staring into the other side. He used to be divided with Africans hence why he is probably uber aggressive. Still hoping for that alternate Honduran female hopefully the supplier sells me one soon.

Hope you get some soon. All you need is one and they’ll spawn w/ in days lol. Then you’ll have more then you know what to do w/ lol.
One thing I have noticed that is different w/ these two species is the aggression level especially breeding is very different. Convicts of course being much higher. I wouldn’t even think of a convict pair in a community tank, where as HRP are easy on tankmates.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Scape looks amazing by the way. Love that piece of wood.

 

[Aquamojo]

I just picked up four HRP's from Jeff Rapps. He had several tanks full...and they're beauties. Best way to get a pair bond is to put in five or six more of the species...male and female. What GS said about them being close genetically is spot on. That plus a convict type fish would mate with a toothbrush if you let it in the water long enough. One more thing...give them plenty of nooks and crannies to hide. Don't mean to mess up your aquascaping, but a few pieces of slate tilted against the wood would be great shelter.

 

[hanzvelez]

Hope you get some soon. All you need is one and they’ll spawn w/ in days lol. Then you’ll have more then you know what to do w/ lol.
One thing I have noticed that is different w/ these two species is the aggression level especially breeding is very different. Convicts of course being much higher. I wouldn’t even think of a convict pair in a community tank, where as HRP are easy on tankmates.

Yeah so i noticed really haven't paid any mind to the tank mates although the male as i have noticed seems to have a bit of con in him even used to bash the glass and try to get at the convict male. Apparently a year of being divided with africans has made the little guy so aggressive due to constant charging going on.

Scape looks amazing by the way. Love that piece of wood.

Thanks this was quite a lucky find got it from a beach, boiled it for good measure for around say 8 hours didn't sink as intended took me atleast a month to get it to settle. The tannins from the water are heavy tho probably from having 3 pieces of driftwood in the tank.

I just picked up four HRP's from Jeff Rapps. He had several tanks full...and they're beauties. Best way to get a pair bond is to put in five or six more of the species...male and female. What GS said about them being close genetically is spot on. That plus a convict type fish would mate with a toothbrush if you let it in the water long enough. One more thing...give them plenty of nooks and crannies to hide. Don't mean to mess up your aquascaping, but a few pieces of slate tilted against the wood would be great shelter.

Yup, would have loved to this but geographically speaking cichlids are hard to come by in my area except for africans and hybrids. To get HRP got to order from the capital which would be a hefty shipping fee, although there is this local breeder who i got them from wasn't supposed to sell them but apparently courting the guy in his fish shop for days eventually made him relent. Actually told him i'd trade him a 2 inch Burundi frontosa for a HRP female, as i'm not that really fond of africans and where im from Fronts generally cost $ 4.4 due to availability. Was actually planning to redo that scape as i believe the frontage leaves little cover, still have to look for decent rocks asap.

 

[NW Cichlid Keith]

How about this for a weird HRP mating choice - female Freddy

 

[tiger15]

You never know when you place two closely related species in one tank. I posted a while ago that my crytoheros nanoleutus male chose a sajica female as mate in leiu of nanoleutus females available in the same tank. Why? I can understand he could be desperate if female of it’s kind is unavailable. They bonded strongly and continued to lay eggs and I finally net a few and raise them in a grow out tank.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...jica-x-nanoluteus-hydrid.670255/#post-7527951