Convict Cichlid holding and in "net breeder"

Ok, heres my situation. I actually have a pair of convicts in my african tank, I know horrible, but only tank I have right now where they match the size of the other fish and both were sold as "tetras", so better off then they were... Anyhow, I bought a net breeder from my LFS last nite and threw my female convict in there... This afternoon, I saw she had dropped all her eggs around the net and really isnt interested in them any longer. My question is, will these still hatch or does her dropping them mean they are all no good? Also, not sure if they ever got fertilized by the male, but I thought I read that happens as the female picks them back up. I have about 2 dozen little eggs in the net breeder and wondering if i should just rinse the net out and put it away or if I should wait and they will develop. Anyone with any help is much appreciated. Jon

Convicts are not mouthbrooders. They are egg layers> Can you get a picture of what you have?

If the eggs are white, they are probably dead already or unfertilized. If the store sold them to you as tetra's...you really need to find a new store to shop at if at all possible.
It sounds like you more than likely have some type of mbuna (something like met. zebra) if they have some form of vertical barring...like terry said...without a photo we would just be speculating on what it might be. The eggs have a tendency to fungus and die without some airflow/waterflow around them and some fungicide in the water.

If they are indeed convicts just pitch the eggs. Covicts will breed in a toilet . That being said if you wanted convict fry ,they will do it again. They are correct about convicts not being mouth brooders ,they are substrate spawners. It is possible the male fertilized the eggs through a net.

Lol, first off, let me thank everyone for all the good info. These are indeed convicts and they were not sold to me as "tetras". For whatever reason, the fact that convicts are not mouthbrooders escaped me, but I already knew that, just needed a refresher, so thank you. Other then that, Im guessing that the moral of the story is just leave them alone in the tank and they will handle it... Thanks again for all the good info. Jon

Jon ,
You are correct . Convicts are very aggressive when brooding . They will "nest" and keep all other fishes at a distance. Just leave them in the tank and they will do the rest . No "breeder net " needed !
Good Luck ,, Ray

sounds cool and yep, not mouth brooders, but convicts can stand a veryy wide range of water parameters so they shouldbe fine for the time being as long as those africans dont go too hard on them.

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