Convict Questions

[bmthomps84]

I just joined Monster a week ago and perfect timing as my Convicts have lay their first batch of eggs in some time.

Here's the story, I've had both convicts for about a year in a 55g. Shortly after I paired them up, they laid 2 or 3 batches of eggs but no fry ever hatched. Shortly after, I moved and haven't seen any eggs for months until last night.

Here are my questions:
Will two females pair up and nest? ( Both of my fish have red bellies)
What color are fertilized eggs? (I've attached some pics I snapped today)

The pair are not alone. I have an Auratus, a Yellow Lab, a Red-tailed Shark, and two Plecos. The convicts are the two largest fish in there, the largest is 5" and her partner is 3".

 

[luckydud13]

Those look like fertalized eggs, I don't know about the sex thing. But two females will NOT pair up.

 

[woofy]

are u sure they both have bright red bellies? they might lay eggs but not pair up. Are they both defending a nest? do u have a picture of each of them?

 

[oscarcrazy]

Get some clear shots of the fish, and yes, females of many species will "pair up" and go through the spawning ritual.

 

[bmthomps84]

Here are some pics of the two convicts. They are really blurry but you can see the pink on the big female. I'm pretty sure the smaller convict is a male after studying him some more.

Sadly, the eggs are all gone today with no fry around. Any ideas on why the eggs aren't hatching??

 

[woofy]

the second picture is dark but i dont see any red on the belly. Ide hate to as but any clearer shots. Properly sexing the fish will give us a waaay easier time at helping u with the issue. On one hand u can have a two females that are just laying eggs and eggs just becuase, this can happen. On the other hand u can have a pair that are either too stressed out to preform their parenting duties or the thres something wrong with the male which highly unlikely.

 

[oscarcrazy]

Your stocking list is also full of egg eaters as well. If you want to breed them you might want to try seperating them from the others.

 

[troutking]

the plecos probably ate them

 

[crowconor]

yeah seperaye and waut a couplee of weeks

 

[bmthomps84]

Thanks for all the insight guys. I can't snap a good pic of the male unfortunately, due to the glare off my tank and the little guy's wiley behavior. I can't find any pink on him though so I'm going to assume he is a male. I'm not sure that their tank mates are a problem, only because the convicts run the show and while the eggs were in there, one of them was in the cave at all times. Also my plecos are less than an inch and along with the red-tailed shark are confined to the other side of the tank by the cichlids.

I have a bum heater on the tank right now, how important is temperature to the eggs?

Could the stress of too many tank mates cause the parents to eat the eggs?

Also, the male is only about 3" compared the 5" female. Have his balls dropped yet?