Breeding Nicarauguanese

[djmeph]

I believe that my Nicaraguanese are breeding. My tank has a mix of different types of cichlids, including 2 male and 3 female Nicaraguanese. The oldest female appears to be nesting inside of a plastic tree stump in my tank. She hasn't left in almost three weeks now. At least once a day, I see the female come out of the stump, and the male go in for a while, looks busy for a while, then he comes out and the female goes right back in. I am getting ready to isolate them into a 50 breeder, and I just have a few questions. I've been looking on the internet, but I haven't found many particulars about this species and their breeding habits.

Ideally, I want to take all five of them and put them into the 50 breeder. I am wondering if the other three of the same species are going to be aggressive towards the mating pair, attack them, or attempt to eat the eggs or fry, like the Africans do. Will it be ok for me to put all five of these fish into the 50 breeder? I'm going to also put the plastic stump in there, as it seems they have made a little love nest out of it. Any other advice would be appreciated.

Otherwise, if I need to isolate the female from the rest of the fish once the eggs are fertilized, or if I need to isolate just the mating pair, I will do that and just leave the other three in the tank they're in.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[djmeph]

Here is the female poking her head out of the stump. The male constantly hovers over the stump and attacks anything that comes near it. I am trying to get a picture of the male protecting the stump, but he runs away every time I come near.