Eggs

I suspected my pleuro female to be gravid for quite some time now, but there never were any eggs. I started to fear that she had become unable to lay them after her accident she had some time ago: back then she looked like this:



I red somewhere that someone had problem with a triturus species that wouldn't lay eggs either. She separated her female with one male and had eggs after a while.
I tried the same thing with my pleuros. As I have 5 males and 1 female I thought maybe there was to much pressure on her. (in fact I know there's to much pressure on her - but didn't know if that would affect her egg laying)

Anyway; two days ago I've put her in a separate tank with only 1 male. This morning already I found this:


The male is separated already, I'm leaving "mama" in the tank for a few more days to see if she lays some more. I will try to remove some eggs dough.

ps: there aren't many plants in this tank as there weren't any available at the pet shop

Congratulations!

Interesting info and pics. My pleuros haven't bred for me this year. I'm tempted to try your technique with them but would rather they didn't breed as my hands are a bit full now Anyway, congrats!!

Thank you both.
I have my hands full now as well, still being a rookie I have now cynops larvae and, hopefully good, pleuro eggs. That's a lot to deal with, but on the other hand, a delight to waste my time on.

Last year "mama" laid eggs as well, but they weren't fertilized. Today I'm sure that this years batch is!
No wonder, because the last weeks, "mama" had more sperm around her than water

First 2 day old eggs, then proud mama



I have placed mama back with her friends just now. She'll probably lay some more eggs in that tank, but I'd say I have more than enough eggs already. I didn't count them but at least 200 already, only they are not all in a good condition. But still plenty to raise.

ps: keep watching the show as Ill take more pictures later on

Eggs started hatching after 4 days. That's a good thing because fungus started appearing from day 3.
I have to remove eggs everyday because of it, however, already 46 larvae have hatched. I don't have much "good" eggs left, so I won't go much higher than this number.

Congrats. If you need any tips, let me know. I have bred this species for the last 5 years and come up with some easy larva rearing techniques. The yolk sac will give you enough time to get your micro food cultures going. The larva will grow fast and at different rates.
good luck.
Al

At the moment I have very little time, but to keep you updated, the newts are doing fine. They have front legs now and are +/- 1cm long. They're on a daphnia diet.

I should have more time in a week or two and then I'll post some new(t) pictures.

1.5 month after first eggs.
In the recent heat wave I lost many larves as I wasn't at home much to keep them cool. Temperatures were around 35°C inside, didn't measure water though.

But I do have 10 left. Found an easy way to keep the shallow water cool. I have smaller boxes floating in a bigger tank. The bigger tank can be refreshed with cold water at anytime without even having to let the water be for a while. (with these temperatures it would warm up before it could help cooling)

Here are 2 pictures
The first one is the biggest larve, already a stunning 2.5cm.


The other picture show the difference in size between larves. Tomorrow I will seperate bigger and smaller larvs.
Mark that only the biggest larves survived the heat.

Hey Joeri!
Today i've bought 3 ribbed newts as well, there are 2 males and one female and the female has eggs. Now was i wondering if they are fertilised yet because i don't know if the female lays by herself or if they lay together.
Thnx
Gr. Leo

The female can lay eggs even when they aren't fertilized. Fertilization is done before the egg laying. The male takes the female on his shoulders (amplexus- you can see a picture of it in photo gallery) and then they seem to be fighting a bit.
Then the male(s) drop sperm on rocks, bottom,.. and the female will crawl over that and take them in.

It's very hard to see if eggs are fertilized the minute they are laid. What you best do is take eggs apart in plastic boxes with shallow water; which you will have to refresh daily to avoid fungus. The moment you spot fungus on an egg, throw it away or the entire batch will have fungus.

After a few days you can tell if they were fertilized when you start seeing shapes in it (see pictures above in this thread). If their color just fades and nothing happens, they weren't fertilized.
I've had 2 years of unfertilized eggs, but this summer it was bingo!

Good luck with them Leo!