Hi all members ! I'm new to the world of newtz (just bought 9 FB 5 days ago.)
I have been a freshwater fish keeper for the past 20 years and recently has decided to switch for new challenge. Therefore, I have cleaned my 4 ft tank and decorate it with bog woods and half filled water and recycled with a pump + matured bio-filter mat. After reading through almost 70% of this forum + the site articles I think I got the critical information to start venturing to this new hobby.
As I live in tropical countries, the normal water temperature for an in-house aquarium would be at 25°C (77°C). At the pet shop, there is no temperature regulation at all. Getting an electrical cooling device is much too costly (~US200) comparing to the price of the newt I bought (~US 1.50 for a FB), so I am still not "crazy" enough for this creature to spend the money. What I did to achieve a lower temperature is immersing frozen ice water in a 1.5 liter bottle and let it thaw itself. I change the bottle every 12 hours (7am and 7 pm). By doing this I see the newts spend more time in the water and has better appetite. I plan to do this for 45 days (to simulate the winter season) then stop for a while to induce breeding.
I have a few questions to ask:
1) Are there forum members currently live in Malaysia / Singapore ?
2) Do we need to keep the temperature low if the newt are originated from China and has been transport to this region - shouldn't they have adapted to our climate ?
3) There are many foods used by the forum members who lived in US and Europe but live food such as black worm can hardly found in this area. I'm currently feeding frozen bloodworm, any other local available food I can try ?
4) I used to train arowana / carnivorous fish to feed on market prawn, anyone has tried this on newt ?
5) I have put 3 baby guppies (1cm) in the tank for them to eat those leftover food (small pieces), I think of putting a freshwater prawn (2 - 3 cm) to make them clean the food residue, any comments?
Thanks in advance for answering to my questions, and best regards to all forum members.
I have been a freshwater fish keeper for the past 20 years and recently has decided to switch for new challenge. Therefore, I have cleaned my 4 ft tank and decorate it with bog woods and half filled water and recycled with a pump + matured bio-filter mat. After reading through almost 70% of this forum + the site articles I think I got the critical information to start venturing to this new hobby.
As I live in tropical countries, the normal water temperature for an in-house aquarium would be at 25°C (77°C). At the pet shop, there is no temperature regulation at all. Getting an electrical cooling device is much too costly (~US200) comparing to the price of the newt I bought (~US 1.50 for a FB), so I am still not "crazy" enough for this creature to spend the money. What I did to achieve a lower temperature is immersing frozen ice water in a 1.5 liter bottle and let it thaw itself. I change the bottle every 12 hours (7am and 7 pm). By doing this I see the newts spend more time in the water and has better appetite. I plan to do this for 45 days (to simulate the winter season) then stop for a while to induce breeding.
I have a few questions to ask:
1) Are there forum members currently live in Malaysia / Singapore ?
2) Do we need to keep the temperature low if the newt are originated from China and has been transport to this region - shouldn't they have adapted to our climate ?
3) There are many foods used by the forum members who lived in US and Europe but live food such as black worm can hardly found in this area. I'm currently feeding frozen bloodworm, any other local available food I can try ?
4) I used to train arowana / carnivorous fish to feed on market prawn, anyone has tried this on newt ?
5) I have put 3 baby guppies (1cm) in the tank for them to eat those leftover food (small pieces), I think of putting a freshwater prawn (2 - 3 cm) to make them clean the food residue, any comments?
Thanks in advance for answering to my questions, and best regards to all forum members.