Taxonomy & naming
Amatitlania sp. "Honduran Red Point" is a trade label for an undescribed Honduran cichlid. The Greater Chicago Cichlid Association (GCCA) files it as Archocentrus sp. "Honduran Red Point". It is also sold as Archocentrus sp. "Honduran Blue" and Archocentrus sp. "Honduran Red Point Blue"; Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) writes that, from what is known, these are all the same fish. Cichlid collector Rusty Wessel introduced it to the hobby in 2002 after a trip to Honduras. Many hobbyists first took it for a colour variant of the Convict Cichlid. Borstein reports that his son Sam Borstein argued in the March 2005 Cichlid Chatter that it is a different fish from the Convict, Archocentrus nigrofasciatum. The form is undescribed, so it has no valid name, authority or year.
Morphology
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) describes both sexes as similar: vertical bars and blotches, with metallic green-blue colour along the face and underside. Depending on mood, the colour extends into the fins. Males are somewhat larger than females and not quite as colourful. He has read reports that females show red or gold on the belly, but has not seen it himself. Juveniles lack the metallic colour. He thinks the mouth is a little rounder than in Convicts. He also notes that some photographs sold as Red Points look very different from his fish, and wonders whether some have been crossed with Convicts. The GCCA page gives no adult length; his pair first spawned at just over 2 in.
Habitat
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) says the fish was collected in a stream in Honduras and adds, "That's all we know." No more precise locality is recorded.
Feeding
No wild stomach-content analysis is known to the GCCA author. He guesses the fish is omnivorous and eats insects and other matter. He reports that his fish picked at algae and sifted the substrate more than Convicts did. In the aquarium they accepted Tetra Cichlid Flakes, New Life Spectrum and HBH Graze.
Mating
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) saw the male and female both lose the green colour and darken their stripes the day before spawning, and both showed breeding tubes. The pair first claimed a territory and drove the other fish into the upper corners of the tank. He describes the Red Points as not aggressive while spawning, unlike Convicts, which he says will kill anything in the tank while spawning.
Breeding
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) obtained five juveniles in 2004 that were already a few generations from wild. A female with a swollen belly was seen at just over 2 in. The pair spawned on the back of an inclined slate, and in other tanks on the inside roof of a clay pot; he notes that other reports describe spawning on flat surfaces. Spawns were 30 to 50 eggs, and the fry were free-swimming about a week later. He fed baby brine shrimp at once. The pair were good parents, and he left the fry with them for about two weeks. He reports a first spawn from a young Convict pair of over 200 eggs, against 30 to 40 for the Red Points.
In the aquarium
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2010) calls the fish easy to keep, with weekly water changes of half the tank volume. It is somewhat shy and does best with rockwork and caves. He kept his first group in a 20 US gal tank. He found the Red Points timid and often hiding, and says they hold their ground but are not the dominant fish, although other keepers have written that theirs were fairly aggressive. He advises against mixing the fish with Convicts or any other Archocentrus or Cryptoheros, because they may hybridise. He did not see it at retail in 2005 and expected juveniles at $8 to $12. It appears occasionally on wholesale lists and on Aquabid.
Conservation
An undescribed form has no IUCN category, and none is claimed here. Population and range data for it are not documented in the atlas's sources.