Need help getting set up

Hello, three days ago my parents surprised me with a five gallon tank with two chinese fire bellied newts in it. I had been looking (Unsuccessfully) for newts in my area for about 2 months and I guess my parents took the hint.

Let me get on to my main point: my father set up the tank, and it seems fine for the time being. It has about 1 inch of bottom gravel throughout the entire tank. Two additional inches of gravel take up the left 50% of the tank and two inches of water take up the right hand side. There is a plant on the right hand side, but I haven't been able to identify it yet (I'll be asking the pet store he bought it from). The gravel/rocks in the tank bother me. They are each about 3/4ths of an inch, while the newts are 2 inches or so.

In a day or so I plan to revamp the tank: 6-7 inches of water over 60-70% of the tank with a floating plant AND a submerged plant. I plan on spreading the gravel in there out and build ( on the other 30% or so) a land area. In summary, I plan on adding a plant, tripling the volume of the water, and decreasing the surface area of land by more than half.

I am having problems with my newts; they both have extremely different personalities. This may be possible, but I am worried. One newt is responsive and will react to any stimuli I might provide. He spends most of his time on land, but he moves a great deal. The other newt, is much smaller and I can see his ribcage. He is very lethargic and is very slow; I have yet to see him submerge himself in the water. Both prefer land, but the smaller newt seems sickly.

Is this just the shock of moving? At the pet store, these two were alone in a tank. I would like to go into further detail about the lethargic newt:

-Smaller
-Thinner, ribs exposed
-Unresponsive
-Slower swimmer
-Does not submerge
-Throat does not visibly move up and down
-Prefers land 90% of the time; occasionally seen resting on top of a plant.

Neither newt has eaten since I've gotten them; I can not get live food around here and have been unsuccessful in locating an earthworm of manageable size outside. I've tried freeze dried blood worms and newt cubes so far.

Wow... big wall of text, huh? Can anyone help me with any of my questions?

[edit] Just an interesting observation... its 1:30 AM and the healthier newt is laying ontop of the smaller perpendicularly...

(Message edited by jett862 on June 23, 2005)

Given that you have a small tank to begin with, you need to get as much water volume as possible. I'd suggest using as little gravel as possible (less than an inch). The gravel takes up precious space, and it provides lots more places for dirt to accumulate.

Regarding the skinny newt, your only hope is to get him eating. Bear in mind that these newts were taken from the wild, and they may have eaten nothing in the weeks of importation/sale. They have probably never eaten any "dry" food. You can buy earthworms at most Walmart stores (in the fishing dept) and bait shops, even gas stations sometimes. Try chopped pieces of worm or thawed frozen bloodworms. You may have to offer it on a tweezers. Almost all pet shops sell frozen bloodworms, and they are 100 times better than dried ones.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/people/JM/firebelly.html

(Message edited by jennewt on June 23, 2005)

I would also recommend that you try to find live blackworms. Any specialty fish store should have them. Call all the pet stores in your area and ask if they carry them. If you can't find them, you might have to bite the bullet and order some from online. If you do get a hold of them, then place a thimble full of blackworms appox. an inch from the newt on the land. Hopefully he'll catch interest and crawl over to eat a few. I use this method to feed my two notos (Eastern newts) who prefer land to water, and it's been quite successful. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll continue looking for live food.

EDIT: After an hour of digging random holes I finally found two earthworms. Each was chopped in half when I found them; the less livelier newt gobbled down a sluggish worm and the healthier one attempted to grab one (but as I've stated before my gravel is too big) but it made it's way into the gravel.

(Message edited by jett862 on June 23, 2005)

isn't it amazing how these creatures refuse food until we offer them what they really love? haha.