Help on mixing Newts and others species

Hello all,
I am planning on purchasing an aquarium and would like to have a 50/50 land/water setup. I plan on have 2-3 FB newts. I had originally planned on possibly having some other types of frogs/toads in this tank as well, but after reading the helpful articles in this forum I have wisely decided against this. I have two basic questions:
(1) Since I want to also have other species (salamanders, FB toads, etc.), what size tank do you recommend for 2-3 newts? I want something big enough to look good and be large enough for the newts, but I don't want something too big that would possibly be excessive.
(2) In my tank with the FB newts, I had planned on keeping 1 (maybe 2) Anoles. Do you see any problem with this? I haven't found much info on this on the net so I am unsure. I would think that the Anoles and Newts would probably never even see each other considering the anoles love staying up high and the newts are semi-aquatic, but I am unsure. What do you think?

Thanks for your help, and I love the website!
Eric

Hi Eric!

I (and most people on this site) would STRONGLY recommend that you don't mix species. None! The only widely accepted co-habitants of a newt tank are ghost shrimp and white cloud minnows. Some may also say snails are okay. Definitely no reptiles though.

'tis a shame though, I feel your pain. It would certainly be cool to create a big enclosure and a whole eco-system typed set up. But you have to remember that anoles and chinese newts would NEVER meet each other in the wild. And even if they did, recreating the same shelter that nature provides is often difficult.

Anoles are tropical, while FBN like cold temperatures. You can keep 2-3 FBN in a 10 gallon tank. Also, FBN are toxic, and anoles are carnivores. If an anole sees a FBN as a snack, you've got two dead animals.

As Ali already stated, mixing is (in 99% of cases) a big no as far as caudates are concerned.

You may want to try a tropical setup with small lizards, dart frogs, and inverts, but they would all have to be from a similar area in the tropics, or you'll have trouble too.

Thanks for the responses. I just re-read my original post and noticed that I had a typo in it. For question #1, I did not mean to say that I wanted to mix species in the same tank. What I meant was what size tanks should I get since I will have different species in each tank. I plan on keeping 2-3 of each in the tanks and was just wondering what size tank is a good size tank to get that will work nicely.

As for questions 2, yeah after reading up on this (and actually thinking about it before I asked), I realized that this would not work. The "cool spot" in an Anoles tank is to be around 75 degrees, which is obivously to warm for a newt or salamander. That brings me to my next questions (which Ali and Joan have touched on a little bit already).
(1) What varieties of fish are ok to keep with a FB newt?
(2) What type of Frogs/Toads would be ok to keep with 1 or 2 anoles?
I know that this probably isn't the best forum for question #2, so if no one knows, thats ok Thanks for everyones help.

No, this isn't the best forum for question #2, because everyone here would tell you NO NO NO MIXING SPECIES-----anoles and amphibians are in completely different classes of phyla. They have totally different requirements for their food, air, land, and water conditions. In a small environment (by small, meaning anything smaller than the great outdoors), it would mean trouble keeping them together. Frogs and toads emit toxins, anoles are aggressive towards any creature they might consider to be lunch, etc. etc. Of course someone is eventually going to refer you to the inevitable article, "Species mixing disasters", so I might as well be the first----please don't mix these guys, ok.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

(Message edited by Tadpole on March 19, 2006)

As far as fish to go with your newts, you haven't got alot of choices. Some have said they've had luck with a betta in with their newts. This should be okay since firebellies aren't the most toxic newts, BUT betta personality varies ALOT. I tried putting a ghost shrimp in my betta bowl and it attacked like crazy, so I wouldn't recommend it.

White cloud minnows are the only fish I know of that are docile enough and require the same low temps.

Sounds like you're going to end up like me. I've got a betta bowl and two newt aquariums in my dorm room, and as soon as I move out the newts are upgrading to bigger tanks and I'm going to set up tropical fish tanks.

would firebellied toads work with firebellied newts?[NO]...Ali answered on my thread.

(Message edited by blue_ninja_frog on March 28, 2006)