Ohmygosh............my Convicts!

[bullwinkie3]

allallall allHi! I'm not new to cichlids and I've had my pair of Convicts for almost a year but never saw any eggs......until 5 days ago. I observed my female, Martini, laying a bunch of eggs from an obvious "sac" on her underbelly. I am a novice to this motherhood, but my male, Marty, skimmed over the top of the eggs numerous times while she layed the eggs on an artificial leaf. My female hovered over the eggs for two days, eating only food that passed her way. My male, tries to relieve her from fanning the eggs, and sometimes she lets him.
Today, I was shocked to see what looked like my female eating her eggs - and by tonight, there are no eggs left on the leaf. Marty and Martini have been "Lip fighting" and she has kept him away from her egg elimination almost all day. Tonight I had a hunch that my female has spent the day moving all the eggs to a more hidden area in the foliage, although I don't see them.
Is this common behavior to keep the eggs safe? I hope Martini hasn't gobbled all the eggs up. She seemed to be a good mother. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. BTW, there are no other fish in this 30 gal. tank (they've killed everything else I've ever put in with them). Please share your knowledge/experience. Thanks. bullwinkie3 :help:

 

[daikim]

From what I've read on convict cichlids (I have a pair that hasn't mated yet) and their mating, it might have been that the eggs had fungus and dead so she was cleaning them up like a good mother. I know they make excellent parents taking on fish three times their size to protect their fry (against oscars, green terrors, jack dempseys) so I'm sure there was a good reason for this behavior. I would also suggest now that you know they are interested in breeding giving them a flower pot, place it on it's side, they seem to like the cave and lay eggs in there. Hope there will be many more eggs and new additions in your future ^-^