# A little look at my Red Texas, also bonus breeding dances.



## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

This is my prized Red Texas. She's a real bitch and is growing like wildfire. We've been after a high quality one of these fish for years and have never found one in person. Yes I know, I could have ordered online and that would have been that, but we wanted the "thrill of the chase" so to speak. The first video is her just a couple minutes after being cut loose, and the second video is her as of yesterday. The bonus clips are her and our Red Devil trying to spawn together.











Here are a few clips of them in breeding mode. Big Red turned into one of the meanest fish I've kept over the past week, she murdered a GT twice her size, and a Salvini about half her size. Since the breeding dance, and late night homicides have happened the tank has been split in two, and all but 4 fish have been hocked off.

Here's the breeding dance that I spoke about. They've laid one batch of eggs so far, but they didn't get fertilized. Hopefully they will try again and get it right next time. If not, I'm going to try a BP out and see if Big Red will take a liking to him.











Project Super Red Texas is a go.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Your Red Devil is female. Not only does it look and act like a female in your video but on full screen I can see it's breeding tube clear enough to tell that it is female.
Now I am not certain on the sex of your red texas as I really can't tell for sure from the video. It is not all that unusual for females of the same species to pair up, though I can't say I have ever heard of it between different species. Don't know that much about red texas though I would have supposed that females would be like Cyanaguttus/carpinitis and possess a dorsal spot. Yours clearly doesn't possess a dorsal spot.....then again, that may be a trait that is lost due to being a hybrid (??).


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

I think your red texas is just a flowerhorn


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

sumthinfishy said:


> I think your red texas is just a flowerhorn


No, I don't agree. Don't think it would really be accurate to call that a "flowerhorn" at all.
The fish obviously has Texas cichlid in it and with out looking at it closely could easily be confused with a regular texas cichlid. 
I think it's quite typical of what many if not most juvie red texas look like. It even has some slight reddish coloration on it. The majority of red texas never end up very orange or red, though it is still possible for this fish to undergo the 'peeling' process at some later stage.
I take it the OP is attempting to produce fish that would look more like a show quality specimen of red texas (??) Just bear in mind only a tiny percentage of any cross ever end up looking like these fish.
I'm not sure how the OP has determined that the fish is a she, but I certainly lean towards it being a male. Especially since the RD/midas is definitely female.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

The reds are very deep, this was taken with an iPhone camera so the quality is a bit off. We say she's female because of the fat belly on him/her looks like a bunch of eggs and there's a very pathetic vent looking thing that hangs out from time to time. They've both done everything that was said was going to happen when the eggs got dumped. It's really a guessing game, and none of this was intentional. It just kind of happened.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Hybrid_Creations said:


> there's a very pathetic vent looking thing that hangs out from time to time.


From what I can see in the video, the tip looks pointed. Looks male to me but it's not sufficient resolution for me to say with any real certainty. The only reason I came out to mention that your RD/midas is female is because it is unmistakable. At that stage, the breeding tube is simply to large, thick and blunt to ever be confused with the male organ.


Hybrid_Creations said:


> We say she's female because of the fat belly on him/her looks like a bunch of eggs


Females won't have exceptionally large bellies due to carrying eggs. At most, maybe a slight thickness to the belly and really not very noticeable at that. 
That belly is either from heavy feeding or possibly something internal (?).
Anyways, if they have eggs it should be obvious as the female will be the one fanning the eggs the vast majority of the time. In 40+ years and probably having had some where around 1000 spawns of CA cichlids, I've only had male CA take on egg fanning duties twice that I can think of, and both exceptional circumstances.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

BC in SK said:


> Hybrid_Creations said:
> 
> 
> > there's a very pathetic vent looking thing that hangs out from time to time.
> ...


Its receded at this point, but I see your point with the comment. Also, sorry about the quality of the video, youtube butchered the resolution when I uploaded it. When you say tips, do you mean the tips of the fins? If so, they are definitely pointed. If Red is male then from what I have read, he is more than likely infertile. Do you think we should separate them/take the divider out?



Hybrid_Creations said:


> We say she's female because of the fat belly on him/her looks like a bunch of eggs





BC in SK said:


> Females won't have exceptionally large bellies due to carrying eggs. At most, maybe a slight thickness to the belly and really not very noticeable at that.
> That belly is either from heavy feeding or possibly something internal (?).
> Anyways, if they have eggs it should be obvious as the female will be the one fanning the eggs the vast majority of the time. In 40+ years and probably having had some where around 1000 spawns of CA cichlids, I've only had male CA take on egg fanning duties twice that I can think of, and both exceptional circumstances.


Big Red is quite the voracious eater, and has been cleared of parasites/worms/anything internal unless it's laying dormant inside. If we can determine that Red is male and infertile, what would you try to get to breed with the Devil to make something fun? If she wants to breed, I would like to let her fulfill her plan.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Hybrid_Creations said:


> When you say tips, do you mean the tips of the fins? If so, they are definitely pointed.


No, I'm not talking about fins. Thought it was quite clear, given what I am quoting, that I am talking about it's sex organ.


Hybrid_Creations said:


> Also, sorry about the quality of the video, youtube butchered the resolution when I uploaded it.


Well, the video quality is not bad. Can't expect it to be the same as viewing the fish in person. 


Hybrid_Creations said:


> If we can determine that Red is male and infertile,


Not sure where you are getting these ideas from. Red texas females can certainly be red.....though I supose the reddest of red show quality specimens are probably usually male.
Never heard anything about red texas males being infertile. Male blood parrots are typically sterile, but that doesn't mean male red texas are sterile. 
It's not that unusual for young CA pairs to lay eggs 3-4 times before getting it right and producing offspring. So I wouldn't suspect it being sterile until at least 3-4 tries.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

BC in SK said:


> Not sure where you are getting these ideas from. Red texas females can certainly be red.....though I supose the reddest of red show quality specimens are probably usually male.


Ah, I misunderstood. Thought you were referring to the color red .....but I see now that is the name you have given your fish.
There is the claim on the internet that male red texas are sterile.....though I have definitely seen examples in threads of fry produced as well as others claiming to have produced fry. So IF some are, they are definitely not all sterile. 
Though I can't say I have ever heard of any of the super red specimens producing fry. The kind of money that these people are paying for these fish, you would think they would definitely try and breed it and see what they might get. But I sort of suspect that many of the very bright red specimens have as much to do with hormones as they do with genetics. Heavy hormone use is also supposed to make fish sterile, and it's supposedly fairly common practice in the far east. 
Anyways, I'd give your fish at least a couple more tries before concluding the male is sterile.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

BC in SK said:


> BC in SK said:
> 
> 
> > Not sure where you are getting these ideas from. Red texas females can certainly be red.....though I supose the reddest of red show quality specimens are probably usually male.
> ...


Gotcha, do you have any idea how often-ish Red Devils lay eggs? Or does it solely depend on the particular fish?


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## easywolf31 (Jan 19, 2017)

Hey there Hybrid_Creations, I think your the perfect person that might help me get some answers. So my lil Red Texas male son of a gun is growing like crazy, I'm feeding him like 7 types of good foods and treated his hole in the head disease. In the other thread you were telling me that he may be infertile and I said there wa only one way to find out so I wenback to the LFS and ot a female Red Texas. She's kind of small though, and both juveniles, he started chasing her so I didvided the 60 Gallon with egg crate (48x16) in 2 to save her. Toight as he went towards the divider his black stripes appeared for the first time..the ones that show up when Texas cichlids breed. Does that mean that the new red is a female? I notice she has a more circular black spot than he does but I'm still not certain she's a female..Think you can tell with these pictures?

Male








Male








Female?








Female?-Male Right








Female pics came out horrible..wil get more if you need.
Thanks


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

easywolf31 said:


> Hey there Hybrid_Creations, I think your the perfect person that might help me get some answers. So my lil Red Texas male son of a gun is growing like crazy, I'm feeding him like 7 types of good foods and treated his hole in the head disease. In the other thread you were telling me that he may be infertile and I said there wa only one way to find out so I wenback to the LFS and ot a female Red Texas. She's kind of small though, and both juveniles, he started chasing her so I didvided the 60 Gallon with egg crate (48x16) in 2 to save her. Toight as he went towards the divider his black stripes appeared for the first time..the ones that show up when Texas cichlids breed. Does that mean that the new red is a female? I notice she has a more circular black spot than he does but I'm still not certain she's a female..Think you can tell with these pictures?
> 
> Male
> 
> ...


My red has had his bars out for weeks now, and they've had one batch of eggs that went unfertilized. For sexing the Texas, fin shape can play a decent factor in determining male or female. Males will have longer "whisp" type dorsals, and females tend to have the more rounded finnage towards the tips. This may not be a blanket statement across the board for the Carpintis as a whole. The best way to tell is to look for the "vent" tube that will hang out from underneath the female. When she goes into breeding mode, it will drop and almost look like a small wang with no balls under the fish near the anus. I would say just wait it out, they may have started to show interest in each other, but only time will really tell.


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## easywolf31 (Jan 19, 2017)

Cool, yeah that is what I usually look at, that sharp long whisp in the end, you're right I should give it some time to grow and see. Hey, what did you breed your Texas with? The female Red Devil? I'm really into Texas Cichlids, and kind of felt sorry for these nice looking Reds that have been stuck in the same pet shop for 3-4 months now. I would not attempt to breed a Texas with another species.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

easywolf31 said:


> Cool, yeah that is what I usually look at, that sharp long whisp in the end, you're right I should give it some time to grow and see. Hey, what did you breed your Texas with? The female Red Devil? I'm really into Texas Cichlids, and kind of felt sorry for these nice looking Reds that have been stuck in the same pet shop for 3-4 months now. I would not attempt to breed a Texas with another species.


They actually chose each other. They just paired off one day, I separated them from the rest of the tank and they started laying eggs. It's the Red Texas and our Red Devil. The RD is female/RT is male. They haven't had a successful spawn yet. Fingers crossed though.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Quick reminder, Red Texas is not a "species", it is a hybrid of Texas with another species of CA Cichlid, usually a Red Devil type. So "crossing" a Red Texas with a Red Devil is not really a bad thing, you already have a hybrid involved in the breeding.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

Mr Chromedome said:


> Quick reminder, Red Texas is not a "species", it is a hybrid of Texas with another species of CA Cichlid, usually a Red Devil type. So "crossing" a Red Texas with a Red Devil is not really a bad thing, you already have a hybrid involved in the breeding.


That's why I don't feel bad trying to breed him. If I were trying to play god and create my own "strain" so to speak, then I don't know how I would feel. There's enough hybrids out there, we don't need more. Unless they're accidental.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Hybrid_Creations said:


> Mr Chromedome said:
> 
> 
> > Quick reminder, Red Texas is not a "species", it is a hybrid of Texas with another species of CA Cichlid, usually a Red Devil type. So "crossing" a Red Texas with a Red Devil is not really a bad thing, you already have a hybrid involved in the breeding.
> ...


Yeah, that comment was directed at the other guy. He said he wouldn't breed a red texas with another species. I was noting that it isn't a species in the first place. Your cross could get some better color in the young, if your two female fish figure out how to spawn without a male. :roll:


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## easywolf31 (Jan 19, 2017)

Man...I'm loving this little son of a gun of a Red Texas. He's doubled in size and it's just one great pet. I've actually taught him to let me pet him. Eats from my hand, but he's one mean son of a gun so I placed him in a temporary 55g for 5 days so he can lay off the half his size female in the 60g so I can feed her well. He was just chasing her everytime she'd come out of her hole. A 5 star fish for me, great personality and very smart.

I raised there ph to 8, trying to raise the kh and gh to around 8-10. Awesome fish one of my top 3 now with tge8Green Terror and Brichardis.


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## easywolf31 (Jan 19, 2017)

Here's a vid I just made if anyones want to see this little son of a gun lol.


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## Hybrid_Creations (Apr 25, 2017)

They grow like wildfire. Mine went from 2.5" to almost 6" in 4 months. Hungry hungry hippos.


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