breeding jewel cichlids

Question
hello,
I am lucky enough to have a pair of blood jewel cichlids, they have spawned and laid eggs 3 times now, the first time we hadnt realised they had laid eggs, and we were rearranging rocks in the tank and found them on some wood. I made them their own sheltered spot without moving the wood with the eggs on,and they guarded the site and the eggs for about 2 days, but then ate them before hatching. (these eggs were mainly white with a few transparent ones.) The 2nd time they spawned, again we hadnt realised, and inadvertently disturbed their nesting ground, these eggs, though there were at least x10 more of them were all transparent. Again after guarding them for about 2 days they ate them before hatching. They have just laid their 3rd lot,(Saturday) and as they have used a piece of slate facing the back of the fish tank we cant see how many or what colour they are. Because we were aware of when they had laid them we did not mess with anything in the tank and left them to it. The female was guarding her eggs,continually rubbing herself over the eggs, allowing the male to guard the site around her and occasionally taking care of the eggs, but this morning when we checked it seems, yet again, they have eaten the eggs. Please can you advise us as to what to do to actually get to the fry stage. All the forums I have read say that once you have a breeding pair the rest is easy. I disagree with this. we have a breeding pair but no fry...! I know they will spawn again, and wondered if moving them to their own tank would help. they currently share a 135litre tank with pearl cichlids, firemouth cichlids, convict cichlids and an oscar. But they do tend to leave each other well alone, especially after the 1st spawning time, when the other tank occupants looked like they had just come back from fighting a war, with all their tail fins bitten. but they have all grown back and they are left to their own devises, if the others do get too close they are chased off.
Any advise on how to assist the successful breeding of this pair would be greatly appreciated. This is our first venture into trying to breed egg layers, even though we didnt set out to do this, as we have inadvertently got a breeding pair we feel it a waste to not try to successfully breed them.
Thank you for your time, and we look forward to any advise provided.

Answer
Hi Jayne,
  Sometimes it just takes a few tries for a pair to get the timing right.  The fact that the eggs were white indicates that they were not fertilized correctly by the male. There is another possibility and that is that you don't have a male, just two females.  Two females will go through the process but of course the eggs will never be fertilized. It can be difficult to determine the sex of jewels, but in general, males are longer and slimmer with a distinct "straight" section in the body whereas females are rounder, particularly in the belly region.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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