Babies under Substrate

Hi all,

I've had my four fire-belly newts for about a year now, housed in the tank shown here:



I've chosen the eggcrate method that I've seen around the Net. Below the eggcrate are the support containers and a fluval 2 plus pump which outputs above the substrate into the water area.



My main problem with this method is that it is very difficult and tedious to clean, and that the recent laying of eggs by one of the females in the tank has resulted in the babies popping up inside and underneath the substrate in the "resevoir" area. There's one under there right now that looks to be about 3 weeks old. I have no idea how the eggs are getting under there and I'd like to come up with a new tank design to prevent this from happening and at the same time make a more visually appealing and easy to care for tank.

Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks... more pictures below:

Are you keeping the babies?...If so I would just do what i do...I have no undergravel filter...Just a waterfall filter...It works well and gives them a very pretty appearance.

I am *trying* to keep the babies. Since the spring, I think I've removed around 10 of them from the bottom and in the gravel into a seperate smaller enclosure with just gravel and water. Tried feeding them bloodworms (mashed frozen) and crushed brine shrimp pellets but I don't think they took.

At the moment I have 3 of the babies alive in the seperate tank, along with that other one who is hanging out under the substrate.

Ideally I'd like to keep the Fluval2 plus filter and incorporate it into the new design - hoping to get rid of the eggcrate thing entirely and lower the level of the tank down to the bottom. At the moment I'd really like to somehow get some soil in there so I can have some nice plants & stuff.

What exactly is a waterfall filter?

Adam...By waterfall filter i mean a Whisper filter...There are so many different kinds...the kind I use I got with a ten gallon kit and a five gallon kit...They are Very good at cleaning...and will clear the water in minutes...I really like them...Congrats at your babies...I would try live food...blackworms,earthworms, or bloodworms...What kind of Cynops is it?..

Umm... no clue what kind it is. I think I have two species in there. As I said, there are 4 newts. 2 of them are large and darker (almost black - barely see them in my last pic), the other 2 are small and more brownish (you can see one of these in my first pic).

I'm sort of curious to know which ones are actually doing the breeding, because at peak breeding time I was discovering around 1-2 eggs per day in the gravel, and more started sprouting up under the substrate. Seems to be a pretty healthy environment for them as they are breeding, which is why I'm asking for advice on a new design. Should I even bother?

also if you want plants...Buy potted plants...It works better and you can sit the plants in the gravel...or are you talking about land plants?

Mainly aquatic plants, as I'm leaning more towards a fully aquatic design with island now. Would like some with adequate cover for the newts and that look nice too.

Ok, i understand...are you planning to do this with your babies tank also.

Nope. The baby tank is just a temp plastic container with some gravel at the bottom.

Like I say, I'm going to look into getting some Java moss, Elodea, Duckweed, and Lilaeopsis to plant in the fully submerged tank and work out some kind of island using either large rocks or an actual floating surface.

You could use corkwood and anchor it with a big rock...That would be a kewl looking island..

Hayden, it's not a good idea to recommend waterfall filters for newts. It may be working OK for your paddletails, but there is always a BIG risk (especially for firebellies) that they can escape out any tiny crack around the filter, or even up through the water outflow. In my opinion, they are the worst kind of filter for newts.

Adam, your tank design is clever, but I can see how it would create cleaning problems. The larvae probably have managed to burrow down under the gravel into the subfloor area. Read these:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/firebelly.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml

Hey all,

Went out earlier and picked up a few things and have completed the new design of my tank. Borrowed some ideas I've seen around this forum and I've created and "island paradise" for my newts











As you can see I've removed the eggcrate completely, and I've increased the amount of gravel in the tank by about 50% from stuff I had left over from my original setup.

The Fluval2plus now resides in the back right corner of the tank, surrounded by large rocks that also serve as an outcrop from the water. Some snippings from the original plants that I had in the tank are poking out of the outcropping here and there to spice it up a bit.

I've added a piece of driftwood at the bottom to liven up the bottom of the tank, and bought two types of plant. First, two of the Mayaca sellowiana ("Nanjenshan") and one Lysimachia nummularia ("Aurea"). They're all buried firmly in the gravel and reach up nicely from the ground.

Also for my "island paradise" portion, I bought a small piece of corkboard (.2 lbs worth) and broke it into two pieces. The main piece I drilled 3 holes in and put some clippings of my original plant through, and the small piece floats freely around the tank. Can't wait to see one of my little guys up on there floating around... haha.

I think the newts are going to find this to be a much more open and pleasant environment considering how many more spaces I've given them to hide away in and swim around in.

Feel free to leave any suggestions or comments - I'm very happy with my design!!

wow adam...so much more going on than in my tank...i might have to do something like that when i clean out some of my frogs and get more newts this spring...

It really looks very nice! The only thing I would do differently would be to use less gravel. The thick layer may be hard to clean, as crud will always settle to the bottom of it. Otherwise, awesome.

Good luck with the babies.

Thanks!

I added the gravel simply to cover the planting pots because I don't like the look of them sticking out of the water. I don't especially have a big problem with cleaning out the gravel now that there's no eggcrate to deal with.

In my false bottom setups I use drilled tanks so I can drain them to get the larva..

Ed

Very nice tank!
And you'll see that you won't have anymore eggs in you gravel because now you do have plants that are better to lay!

That's what I'm hoping for! So far they seem to be liking the big island, or are just apprehensive to get in the water. 2 of them are up there I haven't seen jump in yet.