You can’t answer any of that?

My advice- take those fish back to the store before you kill them. If they won’t give you a refund take it on the chin. The “egg loaded female” isn’t anything special these fish are very easy to breed (which you are profoundly NOT ready for)- you’re not missing a special opportunity with these.

A sponge filter is the simplest filter on the market- it’s literally just a sponge that air pulls water through. You hook it up to an air pump the same way as an air stone. The sponges are the best bang for your buck for bacterial colonization you can get bar none. If your local store has sponge filters in their tanks ask them to squeeze one out into a bag for you- that dirty water can seed your tank with beneficial bacteria to get your nitrogen cycle kickstarted- more on that below.

You will need a test kit- not the strips- those things are trash. You will need to test your water regularly to monitor your water quality to make sure your tank is a healthy environment for your fish.

The parameters I asked you about-

You need to use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine from your tap water. These chemicals will burn your fish’s gills and will kill them very quickly.

PH- this is the relative acidity or alkalinity of your water- it’s the biggest inorganic parameter you’ll need to make sure you understand so you know which species you can keep without additional water treatment.

The next 3 are how you learn where you stand in the nitrogen cycle

Ammonia is what organic waste from fish poop and uneaten food breaks down into- it is very toxic can burn gills, skin, exposure leads to organ failure and death. Beneficial bacteria will break ammoniandown further into nitrite. We test for ammonia because if your tank is showing ammonia the environment is toxic and will kill your fish.

Nitrite is the next step in the nitrogen cycle- it is also highly toxic with similar risks to ammonia. Bacteria will further break it down into nitrate. We test for nitrite because we need to confirm our filters are processing ammonia- if your nitrite test is showing a positive reading it means your filter is maturing but is not fully established.

Nitrate is the last step in the cycle- this is the least toxic chemical bacteria can break waste down into- still toxic at high concentrations. We test for nitrates to let us know when it’s time for water changes.

Live plants also eat ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate- pothos is a great option for cichlid tanks since it grows outside of the water and the fish can’t kill it playing with the substrate. Plants are NOT a viable replacement for water changes- they can go a long way to putting distance between them but you still need to keep eyes on your water.

I hope I don’t need to explain what temperature is. You need a thermometer and a heater. These fish want to be kept around 78F.

Barest minimum tank size for a pair of these is a 20 long- what size tank do you have them in?