Tylototriton shanjing setup

I had a question firstly about obtaining them. I will be getting my Mandarins this Saturday from a pet store. They are all located in the same tank. I will be keeping four of them. Is isolation required of each individual or would they be ok to put together? I know when adding a new animal to an existing tank it should be isolated, but this tank would just have my four new Mandarins and nothing else. So, is isolation necessary?

My last question was about their setup. I currently have grey tiger salamanders and marbled salamanders set up similar to this way, and intend to setup my Mandarins and possible some fire salamanders if I get them like this: 3 inches of coconut fibre, a large piece of bark, a large rock, an inverted bowl with a hole cut in it to make a cave effect, and several clumping of moss in the free spaces in-between. I mist the tanks daily and pour a cup of water in the corner every now and again when it looks dry. Is this setup ok for Mandarins (Or anything else I’ve mentioned if you know that off hand as well)? I’ve searched for it and they sounded very well suited for the animals, but someone has cast doubt in my mind so I thought I would ask fellow hobbyist.

Thank you in advance for all the help I know I will receive.

Rob

You won't need to isolate them seperately unless you find one is acting sickly.

As for your setup, I'd skip the coconut fiber and keep them on soil. I don't know where the idea of cocunut fiber came from, but it's not at all a natural substrate for ANY sal. There's a lot of problems with it too, like drying, pH, and mold. And coconut will not effectively create a moisture gradient like soil will, which is crucial to shanjing. You'll be far better off if they can choose how wet or dry they wish to be. My personal opinion on shanjing is they will do best in a relatively large, planted terrarium on natural soil with real plants, etc., not in an Ambystoma setup.

Good luck Rob, and congrats on the shanjing.

Problem is, most first time shanjing owners dont know the difference between a sickly one and a normal one at first, especially if they are all sickly.

I may be getting some T. shanjing also. What would be the "perfect" setup for 6 of them? Obviously, soil, plants, some hideouts. Do they need multiple hideouts, or do they happily cluster under one or two hides? Would a plastic box be workable, or is a real tank better (and how big for 4-6 of them)? Any pointers beyond the obvious for assessing their health? I hear that they may be nocturnal, does this affect how you care for them, particularly at first?

I know people who have kept them in plastic boxes (myself included) but I don't know of anyone who has bred them this way. That suggests to me it is not an optimum setup. If I were going to get 4-6 shanjing with the intentions of keeping them in optimum conditions and breeding them, I'd put them in a planted, glass terrarium with a small, filtered water area. I'd guess the best size would be a 33L+ for 4-6. Mine seemed to alternate randomly between clustering together and hiding seperately. They probably are nocturnal in the wild, and though they are very shy when first purchased, once tame they can get pretty bold. If mine were hungry for instance, and I placed them on the floor a few feet from me, they would scamper right over to me, daylight or not. I don't know of any pointers beyond the obvious for health.

Hi All,
When we bred Mandarines we bred them in 20 longs and had four to six to tank. There was a ratio was about 1/3 water to 2/3 water. The water was recirculated and flowed down a "stream" made form an inverted half piece of cork bark.
Ed

Do mandarins ever enter the water, outside of when they are breeding?

I've never seen them enter water myself.

Hi All,
I've only seen them enter shallow water on rare occasions (rare enough that I checked the cage conditions to see if there was some discernable problems) for unknown reasons. They did not stay in the water for long and it was never the whole group usually only one salamander at a time.
Ed

I know of individuals entering the water for a few days in the warmer parts of the year, but that's probably just breeding behaviour.

The tamest mandarin I've ever seen (captive bred, fed by hand all its life to adulthood) begs all the time for food but although the front of its tank was all water, it would never put more than its two front feet in the water (not the legs, just the feet).