I agree with CichlidLover. once they spawn the likelyhood of losing the fry is pretty small. The only time I have ever lost fry from any spawn of any of my cichlids(other than the parents culling the weak or deformed, or me not realizing that they were there and siphoning them out during a water change :? ) was due to predation from the fish spawning in a comunity tank. Left to their own the parents will take very good care of them. In nearly twenty in this hobby I have yet to see a pair of spawning cichlids eat their brood.
As far as getting them to pair up, I have always just gotten 1 male and 1 female but getting a couple of females helps and does generally help produce stronger pairing bonds. Multiple males and 1 female can lead to a lot of conflict and some pretty beat up fish. Like I said though I get mine very small and just get 1 male 1female but since they are so small when I get them they only know each other and this also produces a pretty strong bond. My current pair has spawned already and are only about 2" , and are inseperable. This method may not always work but I've had good luck with it.
Getting them to spawn is not hard. There is no majic bullet here but frozen foods can help , simply having them in the same tank is the only real requirement. I've heard of them spawning within hours of getting them home from the LFS. Doing a large water change to encourage them to spawn does sometimes work, but does so by changing the water parameters on a large scale which can stress the fish and be counter productive. Really the best way to go is just be patient, these are convicts and sooner or later they'll start to do their thing. Give them good water and good food , and soon you'll be up to your ears in them and be wishing they'd stop spawning :lol: .