Newbie question about larvae raising

Ok, so my female cynops is laying once again...and for the looks of her tummy there are tons of eggs to come. As my tank is pretty crowded with plants now, and the male has shown no interest at all in the eggs, i was thinking of separating about 20 and leaving the rest with the parents. There are small creatures in the tank they could eat but i guess i have to add some source of food. Could i throw newly hatched artemia in the tank? or will they die because of the lack of salt, or crowd my tank and destroy it??? Will the small whiteworms and the copepods be enough??? I might travel to cantabria next week so i´ll be able to collect pond "microfauna". Is there something i need to know to make sure what i collect and throw in is safe?? (apart from not taking dragonfly larvae..i know that hehe) Sorry if i´m annoying.

Artemia will die within a day and seriously foul the water. Daphnia will live in your tank until they are eaten. Depending on the substrate, chopped blackworms might be a good alternative.

You could add very small amounts of artemia, but food that stays alive in freshwater would be better. Whiteworms and copepods would be great. One other problem with artemia, copepods, and daphnia is they might be sucked out by the filter, depending on what kind of filter you have. ANY kind of food that gets sucked up by the filter will add nutrients to the tank, but not feed the larvae very effectively.

Regarding the pond water, I'd be hesitant about putting it into my "main" tank. I've used it for larvae in a separate tank, knowing that if I introduced something bad, at least it wouldn't affect the adult newts. I have very little experience with pond water, so hopefully someone else can comment on this.

Thank you.
That´s why i asked...i fear that pond water could harm my pair(and they look too healthy to commit mistakes now). The whiteworms and copepods are not very abundant...i can see about 20-30 copepods in the front glass each time i look...i know there have to be a lot more and whiteworms too..but i don´t know if they will be enough....i know larvae eat a lot and i fear they´ll starve.
I won´t use artemia in the parent´s tank then, thanx for the advice.


Also...could someone share their experience with airstones for larvae tanks?? I just put mine to work to check everything is ok in the larvae tank. I set it up yesterday so the water is ok for the larvae that i guess will hatch in 3-4 days or so. The problem is the airstone produces quite a bit of current. Is there a way to use the airstone that minimizes the current and therefore the stress for the larvae???thank u...

(Message edited by azhael on February 23, 2007)

Could you use a smallish rock on top of the airstone so the bubbles roll around it? this might disperse the current and make it weaker.

thank you i´ll try it

Sounds good Rodrigo- try wrapping the airstone in a sponge(filter sponge) that will act as a foam filter. Remeber to do serious careful water changes, take out half a day if possible.

The slight current is not such a big deal, but the water quality is the most importent thing. underfeeding, or missing a day is ok, but bad water will kill them all almost before you are aware of it.

more water=less danger, bottom line.

Thanx again. I have about 5 cm of water, but i guess i could increase the water level a little. I have another tank of the same dimensions and the same water level ready for the daily water changes. I also added some water from the main tank and some java moss so that there are some whiteworms and copepods. I´m really nervous hehe...one of the eggs is about to hatch at any moment...