Using a bare tank with a floating mop is the way I go.
Raise the lid, you must have a jump proof one as they CAN jump.
Remove the mop, and squeeze gently and do a numbers check to make sure a fish isn't entangled in it.
Then if your eyes are okay, (I use $2.oo shop, 3Xmag hobby glasses)search the strands of the acrylic wool, which can be any color, for the little spheres about 1mm diam. for australes.
Remove these gently and place them in a shallow container of water with a slight amount of meth. blue. In close to 10 days at 24oC you should start seeing the fish babies hatching.
Remove to another shallow container, and they can be fed immediately on BBS.
My containers are close to the size of matchboxes, I use those workshop tidies.
Have a snail in with them and that should take care of any uneaten food, and they neatly parcel it up for you when you do the daily water changes.
I do about 90% changes daily.
Amieti are done similarly, but their eggs are twice the size.
Initially they went okies for me, then stopped, so I put a tray of peat in for them and they have been using that.
Leave it for ten days then remove to another container, with no other fish, and if you are lucky they should start hatching in a day or two.
Keep rotating three trays of peat for this system.
Otherwise they are the same as the australes.
The eggs are quite hard, and if they do break then they are either being held too tight, or too fresh, or not fertilized.
Remedy by
a. don't squeeze them so tightly
b. leave the picking for an hour or so after they finish laying.
c. don't worry, they weren't any good anyway, change the male if the problem persists.
All of the above is how I do it.
Others may have different ways, but this works for me.
Marty where did you get your fish, and what expenses did you incur for them.
Mine at this time of the year are almost exclusively fed live food.
Alan