Strange behavior

I have been perusing the board and I have already learned that I'm doing a few things wrong with my fire-bellied newt. But I wonder if anybody has specific thoughts about my situation.

We have a 10-gallon aquarium that contains the newt, a small clawed dwarf frog, three zebra danios, a goldfish and an angelfish. We have a piece of wood floating on top for the newt to have dry land, and there are a couple of places he can hide down in the water.

The newt seemed happy for the first three weeks or so, and it spent nearly all its time underwater. But in the past three or four days, it's been hanging out above the water, either on top of the wood or atop the heater. And it seems kind of listless. Then, the other day I noticed that a small fuzzy patch had appeared on the wood, and the newt almost seems to be guarding it. The first thing I wondered was whether this could be a cluster of eggs, but I don't know if that's possible since I have no mate for the newt.

Any thoughts on this change in behavior and this mysterious clump?

I doubt that your newt will lay eggs with the environment you put it into. There should not be a heater for the newt, maybe the newt became too stressful with the warmth that it moved on land. Fire bellies do not lay egg on wood but lay eggs on leaves. I will suggest you to move the newt to a new tank with no heater.

It is hard to say anything about the fuzzy patch without a photo.

Good Luck.

I agree with Ian's recommendation about moving the newt...they actually prefer cooler temperatures and do NOT need a heater. Also, newts should not be housed with most other animals, including all the ones you mentioned. this is partially due to the toxicity of the newt's skin. Also, when/if you move the newts to it's own home, you need to check water (pH, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia)...when these are out of whack, the newts can get stressed also and heat for land. There are several kits available to check these levels.

I agree: newts go to land when they are stressed. There are several things in your tank that could be stressing the newt, not the least of which are the heat and the fish. If you want the newt to do well, you need to get a second 10-gallon tank, and keep the newt separately. No heater. Have you seen the newt eat?

The clump of fuzz is probably just some piece of crud. It is certainly not an egg.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml

Thanks for the ideas. I learned after I bought the newt that they prefer cooler temperatures, but I need to maintain the heat for the fish. I figured a second tank would be the only option.

I have seen the newt eat once, but that was a while ago.

Of course the guy at the pet store didn't mention any of this; he said the newt would live along with the fish in the warm tank just fine.

Thanks again.

Newts can live for months without eating, so don't assume it's eating simply because it's still alive. Good luck!

Most pet shop employees are not experts on newts. You can often see them housing newts with other animals such as frogs, fish etc, which is a no-no. Unless you know of someone who really knows what they're talking about, I wouldn't trust their opinions too much- they just want to sell the animals. You'll find a ton more information here if you do a search on whatever you're looking for.