Female laying eggs

[Vix1987]

Hi
I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on this please.
I have a convict cichlid female (approx 3-4 months still small but very colourful) I purposely never put her in my 4ft tank as my dominant male would be a nightmare. However she is in atm with a small TBar male, small gourami, one paradise fish and one female betta. I had moved my other T-bar males into 4ft tank about 2 months ago and left the one in there so he could get a fair chance to feed/catch up in size. I’ve added a piece of rosewood a couple of days ago and I have just noticed my convict seems to have laid eggs under the cave like bit (looks like fluff until you look closer and see round eggs stuffed in - is that what it’s meant to look like?). Anyhow I wasn’t attempting to breed her but I would like to look after them if they hatch. It would explain why she’s been so feisty
1 Do convicts hold on to eggs for a long time?
2 do they sound like they will be fertile ?
3 what tips could anyone give?
4. Do I move the wood to keep checking or leave alone and just keep water stable?
5. can convicts crossbred with young Tbars?

 

[AggressiveAquatics]

That just looks like some sort of slime or fungus to me which is common to grow in driftwood. If they are eggs though then they were infertile and started to grow fungus.

 

[Vix1987]

Thanks for the input , would you say it’s fine to remove then ? It just seemed too quick to be fungus (the wood has been in maybe 3 days) and it does look like eggs in there when I’ve tipped it around

 

[carsonsgjs]

If its really eggs then im sure the convicts behaviour will give it away - she will be guarding them regardless of whether they have been fertilised and the other fish may try and eat them. My female t-bar laid eggs on the tank glass in the corner once and she took on an angel and a festivum which were twice the size of her! New wood can give off a kind of slime when its first added to a tank and from experience it can appear overnight or after a few days. Depends on the kind of wood, how long it was soaked for etc. Harmless to the fish from what ive seen.

 

[Vix1987]

If its really eggs then im sure the convicts behaviour will give it away - she will be guarding them regardless of whether they have been fertilised and the other fish may try and eat them. My female t-bar laid eggs on the tank glass in the corner once and she took on an angel and a festivum which were twice the size of her! New wood can give off a kind of slime when its first added to a tank and from experience it can appear overnight or after a few days. Depends on the kind of wood, how long it was soaked for etc. Harmless to the fish from what ive seen.

Aw thanks very much. Yeah she is fierce with the couple of fish in there tbh that’s why I thought I best check if anything is in the fluff - just looked weird! The wood is rosewood I think it’s called , I didn’t treat it or anything before adding to tank I just put it straight in

If its really eggs then im sure the convicts behaviour will give it away - she will be guarding them regardless of whether they have been fertilised and the other fish may try and eat them. My female t-bar laid eggs on the tank glass in the corner once and she took on an angel and a festivum which were twice the size of her! New wood can give off a kind of slime when its first added to a tank and from experience it can appear overnight or after a few days. Depends on the kind of wood, how long it was soaked for etc. Harmless to the fish from what ive seen.

I’ve attached a picture what it looks like when you flip it

 

[carsonsgjs]

They look more like air bubbles to me - they all seem to be different sizes and too round to be eggs. Maybe trapped air bubbles from when you added the wood have been sealed in by the film on the wood?

 

[Vix1987]

They look more like air bubbles to me - they all seem to be different sizes and too round to be eggs. Maybe trapped air bubbles from when you added the wood have been sealed in by the film on the wood?

I’ll check again tomorrow when I clean the tank maybe that’s all they are and the female is just guarding the piece of wood as hers instead

 

[AggressiveAquatics]

Yeah those are air bubbles not eggs. If it was eggs they wouldn’t be clear and would all be the same size

 

[Vix1987]

Thanks both