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Cannibalism in hongkongensis larvae?

louise

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Yesterday I witnessed one of my 3 week old hongkongensis larvae eat another one of similar size. It took it a few hours to completely finish swallowing.

Is this normal with newt larvae, in particular paramesotriton? The larvae are well fed on daphnia and live bloodworms, and are not overcrowded.
 

John

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Benthic (bottom-dwelling) larvae, doesn't matter what species, are liable to eat each other. It's true that some species seem to be more prone to it than others but it's certainly not very rare.
 

Jennewt

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Interesting. Not many people have experience raising Paramesotriton larvae, so you are charting fairly new territory, Louise. Keep us posted.

Are they in a fairly bare setup, or do they have lots of plants and whatnot? Adding some visual barriers might help decrease the incidence of this. And of course you could keep them individually, but that's a chore if you have many.
 

louise

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They are in a couple of fish fry nurseries in the parents' tank. They have plenty of elodea in their nurseries, and enjoy hiding in it, especially the younger larvae. Some of the older larvae are twice the size of the newly hatched larvae, but interestingly this particular one chose to eat a larva around the same size as itself-probably why it took the best part of the day to swallow it fully.
 

kerry

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Wow! I will be keeping a close eye on mine then. Of the ones you sent me I have nine left, all doing well. Lost a weaker one quite early on. I have noticed they are capable of swallowing much bigger food than axolotl larvae, but didn't realise they could manage another newt of the same size. Mine have been quite nice to each other so far, but expect that will change soon enough
 

madelene

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I found that the bigger ones were feeding off of the smaller even though I give them plenty of live bloodworms so I set up another little tank and moved the smaller ones into it. I have found that they like java moss to hide in.
Maddie
 
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