Shanjing eggs !!

Okay,

I have been working with a group (1.2) 1 male 2 females for just over a year and after varying the seasons I now have eggs! Many of which are developing nicely and I hope that they will hatch in the next week. (They are on approx day 13 so it could be any time?).
I have set up brine shrimp and I just have a few questions.

Any help from those who have experience with tylototriton would be wonderful and much appreciated.

This is my plan for the larvae once they hatch (fingers crossed).
I have small containers which I plan to set up with filtered H2O.
I have read that oxygenating plants are good but I bought some which are quarantined in an aquarium but as suspected there are many snails which I would rather not risk, so I was thinking of adding a small bubbler in the corner of each container with a small flow of air instead.
I have set up two colonies of Brine Shrimp. I set up a test run last week so will these be too big to feed out? I set up a new batch yesterday and plan on doing this every other day to have a constant supply. I have read that feeding the brine shrimp themselves with something such as Spirulina (which I have) is a good thing?
I was thinking of keeping approximately five newt larvae in each container with a few inches of water. If I don't use live plants would softer plastic plants work for them to hide?

As you see I have many questions.

I raised many D. azureus tads last year but they had problems of spindly legs once morphed (we think it may have been a hereditary thing as we found out that the parents may have been second generation related). I just don't want to have many larvae and then have the numbers dwindle to nothing (I do know that some mortality can be expected but again, fingers crossed).

Thank you in advance for any help and useful information.

Rachel

I think you will find it is easier to feed newly hatched baby brine than trying to raise it up. Your plan sounds o.k. I prefer air stones to plants. It makes less to clean up. I clean every day with a turkey baster. My shanjing are spending a lot of time in the water. Maybe they are getting the idea too.

Most times spindly leg is a husbandry issue. It can usually be traced back to how the adults were cared for. It could be a genetic issue in this case. I doubt it.

Feeding the brine shrimp spirulina or similar only is of benefit after about 8 hours when the molt into feeding stage. They go from bright orange rather rounded off to duller color and enlongated...you will see what I mean.

I'd reccomend seeing if you can culture daphnia. I've found it better than BBS as you can put a lot of it in and allow the larvae to eat as they so desire. BBS is probably better for young larvae as it is easier to capture compared to daphnia. I use lots of java moss when raising larvae as I feel the water quality is more easily maintained in a more stable way than by trying to keep the tank spotless, but your mileage may vary .

Congratulations on breeding them! Perhaps a mod ought to move this to the tylo forum to get more attention.

(Message edited by fishkeeper on June 09, 2006)

Thank you so much for your input. I will see if I can re post this in another area as well.

We use autoclaved Java Moss, I was wondering whether this can be used in the water as it is no longer alive and may rot? I just want to make sure that the water stays as oxygenated as possible.

Thank you again

Rachel