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C. cyanurus larvae

G

garrison

Guest
Well, it's been a while since I've been on here. Within the last three months I've lost internet access and my digital camera so this'll have to do for an update. Here's my first morph today from the batch I received in december and I think one more week I'll have another. This is one out of the 15 remaining larvae I have. Hope they eat
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here goes

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It seems to follow the mosquito larvae I put in there like it's interested in eating but I'm not expecting much since it's the first day out of the water. I'm happy and I wouldn't be without the help of the people and advice on this site, so thanks!! (-any random hints at this point would be great)
 
J

jennifer

Guest
Mine hatched in November/December, so they are a bit older. Up until last week, all 4 were larvae with huge gills and big appetites. (This is in contrast with their first months, when they ate and grew very little!)

A few days ago, I had a near-disaster, as one of these fully-gilled "larvae" decided to crawl out. When I found it, it was curled up and probably beginning to dry up. It has recovered, but its gills are gone now and I'm keeping it terrestrial. Hopefully the big appetite will continue on land.

Good luck with yours, Garrison. If it's looking interested in food, I think you'll have no problems. I'll try to get photos of mine.
 
J

jennifer

Guest
Here are a couple of photos. First, the three that remain in the water look like this:

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And the one that crawled out looks like this. Unfortunately, it was very lethargic when I took the photo, so I am concerned that it may still die.

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F

frank

Guest
Hi there,

You can easily keep the metamorphosed juveniles fully aquatic: easier to feed and control them.
 
W

william

Guest
how does this species compare with orientalis/phyrrogaster? e.g. difficulty, times, sizes.
 
J

jennifer

Guest
In my experience with pyrrhogaster (and reading about orientalis), I would say that the two species are nearly identical in the timing of events and methods for raising the larvae. Cyanurus has been a different matter entirely! The hatchlings take much longer to begin feeding and are more slow-growing initially. But the fat ones in the photo are much fatter and growing faster than any pyrrhogaster I've ever seen. Cyanurus seem to spend longer as larvae, and the larvae have a preference for worms as opposed to daphnia.

I have heard that the morphs will stay aquatic. I tried to put the morphed one back in the tank with the larvae when I found it, but it clung miserably to a plant leaf above the water for more than a day. It seemed weak, so I was afraid it would drown. That's why I decided to move it terrestrial.
 
G

garrison

Guest
I've decided to keep mine in about 1/2cm of water. I'm not sure if I want to risk the fully aquatic thing just yet but he doesn't seem to mind the water as much if he can keep his feet on the ground while he's in it.

I added some flightless fruitflies yesterday and he seems to be climbing up to the area where they congregate at the top and is hopefully eating them.

The rest of my larvae seem to be fat as pigs and growing pretty rapidly aside from two or three, but I must agree with Jenn that they really seem to be quite slow growing at first and hesitant to switch to larger foods.
 
P

paris

Guest
garrison-good to see you are having luck with them...im not doing so well, and i even have a white one in the batch......
what is the main food item you have offered them as larvae-esp when small, and what temps have you been keeping the larvae at? how big are these when they are morphing for you guys?
 
W

william

Guest
oh so quite different then, what subspecies are these, and are they from the "chenggongensis" batch?
 
P

paris

Guest
will,
i posted to get help and data, not thinly veiled enmity, why dont you tell me exactly what sort of fool you think i am-that way i'll be sure not to let you down.......
 
N

nate

Guest
Paris, not sure what you read, but I think Will meant his comments as "quite different" from orientalis and pyrrhogaster in regard to his original question.
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Will: I believe all these animals are offspring from my own. These are not from the "chenggongensis" batch, although there is no clear difference between those "chenggongensis" and my animals besides perhaps that the "chenggongensis" males have irridescent colors extending well onto the sides of the body, not just the tail. This is seen in various populations of pyrrhogaster too, so who knows what it actually means. Otherwise, they are identical.

Just as a general note here on the larvae: I keep them at 64-68F in deli cups. I feed them finely chopped live blackworms as a first food which they readily take. In my experience, they do not accept any sort of frozen foods, daphnia, copepods, nor microworms. All I've ever managed to get them to eat has been blackworms, whiteworms and then later finely chopped earthworm.

I highly recommend rearing the morphs aquatic. Having tried both ways, I know that the aquatic route is much faster and easier.
 
P

paris

Guest
its a strong possibility i might have mis read that-and if that is so, then i am sorry will. my only reference points i have for "chenggongensis" is that it seems to be akin to the unicorn and only fools claim such things, i understand there is much debate over this supposed species and im not that much of a cynops buff (sorry nate
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)to want to get into the debate, all i know is i have 4 brown ones and one white one.
 
N

nate

Guest
Unicorns and chenggongensis....not a bad analogy.
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I do believe now there really are at least 2 species masquerading as cyanurus. I am in possession of both. Neither fit the full description of chenggongensis as Kou and Xing describe, but one certainly fits the description of cyanurus better than the other. I think most of the recent photos we've seen including "chenggongensis") are one species. I base this speculation purely on morphology. I'll try to post comparison photos at some point.
 
G

garrison

Guest
Ok, so, I raised my larvae at 65-68 as nate said. I started raising them on microworms but quickly switched to finely chopped blackworms as soon as possible. After that I've fed them daphnia of all sizes, cyclops(as my guess), chopped earthworm, mosquito larvae, and I've tried new life spectrum color enhancing fish food(I know most won't agree but I tried at least).

All but one surviving take the blackworms(and that one is really small). All take chopped earthworm, daphnia, maybe cyclops, and mosquito larvae. And only the very largest really took to the spectrum although its only every once in a while I feed it. It is interesting to note that in fish this really brings out red pigments as its super high in carotenoids.

The microworms probably didn't help the slower growth at smaller sizes but from what I hear from you guys I'm not the only one with slow initial growth.

other than that, good luck finding the chenggongensis
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N

nate

Guest
Garrison: they eat the spectrum without manipulating it (moving it)?
 
G

garrison

Guest
I try to drop the spectrum in right by a newt, it sits at the top for a second, then it falls. Some queue in on the movement but many go for it simply by the smell. A lot of it gets spit out as they're chewing, many of the smaller individuals won't go for it.

Aside from real obvious improvements in color, New Life boasts that their products encourage appetite in fish that are very picky or not eating well. Maybe it smells great!
 
P

paris

Guest
i think part of my problem maybe i was keeping the larvae too cool...im going to start a new thread in the help section on that issue
 
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