Trouble getting convict cichlids to breed

[lil-fish-gorl]

Funny I know! Most of the time when people get cons, and they pair out, the tank owner CANNOT get them to stop breeding, but I'm having the opposite problem: ( I have had this pair of cons for a little over a month now, and I have been watching the male dig out multiple nests, but the female never lays her eggs in them(plenty of hiding spaces) parameters have been normal, the only thing out of whack is a heterotrophic bacteria bloom because I added cattapa leaves. Any suggestions
Parameters are:

PH:7.8/7.5

KH: 120/180

Hardness: hard water

Nitrite: .5

Nitrate: .20

Ammonia: 0-.5
(I had a HUGE aponogeton plant die out and it spiked the nitrate/nitrite)

[Andy Sager]

#1) are you sure you have a female?
#2) Are you sure she is not too old/young to breed?
#3) Try feeding a heartier diet with more protein to help her develop the eggs. Black worms or Bloodworms are a good part of that kind of diet.
#4) What is the temperature of the water?
#5) if all of the above check out okay, try doing a partial water change with adding some slightly cooler water back to the tank. This drop usually sparks Cichlids to spawn.

Hope this helps.

[lil-fish-gorl]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

#1) are you sure you have a female?
#2) Are you sure she is not too old/young to breed?
#3) Try feeding a heartier diet with more protein to help her develop the eggs. Black worms or Bloodworms are a good part of that kind of diet.
#4) What is the temperature of the water?
#5) if all of the above check out okay, try doing a partial water change with adding some slightly cooler water back to the tank. This drop usually sparks Cichlids to spawn.

Hope this helps.

She layed her eggs! She was showing all sorts of orange on her belly for weeks, did a waterchange and fed night crawlers and blood worms and 2 days later...EGGS!

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by lil-fish-gorl

She layed her eggs! She was showing all sorts of orange on her belly for weeks, did a waterchange and fed night crawlers and blood worms and 2 days later...EGGS!

Congrats. Cichlids just seem to be a sucker for water changes.
So, since this happened a couple weeks ago, how did the spawn turn out? You get any fry?