Convict Cichlid breeding at 1 inch mark

So i randomly pick up two 1 inch stripped convicts on monday, 27 Feb, i got two because i have a 3 inch Pink Convict that has orange on her belly and has much compact fins and is less agressive so i assume it's a female, i got 2 stripped convicts hoping i would get a least 1 male that could eventually breed with my pink convict in a 55g tank that they are all in it, BUT... after having them fully aclimated to their new environment, i noticed one of them is almost 1 and a half inches, he doesn't have orange/yellow on belly, has tall fins and is more aggressive, the other 1 inch, is more compact, has orange/yellow and is more chill, so i assumed it's a male and female, when i first introduced them on monday they kept together the entire time, and they found the left corner of my 55g a good place to be their territory, it has a flower pot with a rock under it, some Hornwort attached to the flower pot that hangs around it and a fake wood with moss cave that my Spotted pictus Cat likes to hang out under it, today, wednesday 1, march, i noticed at the morning that the female was picking on the flowerpot, just like normal breeding behaviour where she was cleaning it to put eggs, at first i didn't think too much about it, but them i started to see that they both had their under tubes out, and after sometime now at 1pm i saw she laying eggs... but... she is a baby still, at 1 inch, laying eggs?? I don't think they will be able to fertilize and if they do, i will update this post, if anyone had the same situation please comment down bellow, it's my first time breeding them and i didn't thought it was going to happen 2 days after i just introduced them here, (if fry hatch i have a 10 gallon that i can house them) and there are other aggressive fish here on the 55g..

 

And that’s why they are known to be so prolific! I wouldn’t be surprised if they are older than you thought, perhaps they were kept in a crowded tank so while their growth was stunted they were still reproductively maturing? Hard to say really. I see convict pairs and fry in the stores pretty often now, they will breed at any given chance.

 

Although small, they look quite mature, I suspect that what Demeter said is correct, they have matured but not grown to their full potential, probably due to being raised in a crowded tank. If you want them to grow bigger it might be better to separate them for a wile If they keep breeding (and they will) especially the female will not grow very fast.

 

And that’s why they are known to be so prolific! I wouldn’t be surprised if they are older than you thought, perhaps they were kept in a crowded tank so while their growth was stunted they were still reproductively maturing? Hard to say really. I see convict pairs and fry in the stores pretty often now, they will breed at any given chance.

Thanks for the reply, they actually were in a 29 gallon in store with 15ish other baby convicts so it wasn't that crowded but i don't know if the store had more... but yeah breeding at this size is incredible

Although small, they look quite mature, I suspect that what Demeter said is correct, they have matured but not grown to their full potential, probably due to being raised in a crowded tank. If you want them to grow bigger it might be better to separate them for a wile If they keep breeding (and they will) especially the female will not grow very fast.

Yeah i have some other fish that may overgrown them but i do have another tank that they could go to, thanks for the reply

 

. UPDATE: 03/30/23.... The first Eggs didn't hatch, but on a second spawn they hatched and now i have babies still not sure how many but yeah, parents are about 1,5 to 2 inches, this proves that small Striped Convicts can easily breed And fertilize their eggs, first time having babies will move them soon to a 10g grow out!

 

It's really difficult to sell or rehome Convict Cichlid fry. When my Convicts had babies, I let nature take its course. The parents & tankmates ate the fry.

 

Breeding at that size was never in doubt