do newts get lonely?

i've had a jfbn for quite a number of years by himself. he once had a cage mate who died off. i'm considering gettin him some company but am also concerned about the introduction of diseases and other issues involved in housing somehting new with him. i'm thinking about adding some white mountain cloud minnows or zebra danios. any thoughts anyone? oh and by the way the tank is a 10 gallon one.

My Cp/JFB was alone for more than a decade before I found some tank mates for her. There were no problems adding more Cp's to the tank - all animals were long term captives and healthy, and they accepted one another with no aggression (in fact, barely any curiosity). However, I do not feel that newts need companionship. I wanted to breed her, and thats the only reason I got more Cps for her tank. I would not add fish to the tank, or another species of newt. I do know that as far as fish go, white cloud minnows are one of the few if not only fish that can be safely kept with newts, but if you want to add more animals because you feel your newt is lonely there is no need. Caudates do not live in packs, herds, schools or family groups in the wild, and they certainly don't need "friends" in captivity.
Heather

jewett said:

Caudates do not live in packs, herds, schools or family groups in the wild, and they certainly don't need "friends" in captivity.

Click to expand...

I have read this as well and agree to a certain extent... I have two fnb's and they are inseparable, they are always together, lying next to or over each other… So I agree that they do not ‘need’ each other, but they certainly like the company… or so it seems to me…

Species differ in how willing they are to share territory, firebellies in general tend to be more willing to share than a lot of others. As far as "loneliness" goes and improving the quality of life, I would wildly speculate that any effect the companionship might have to increase the lifespan would be completely undone by the increased risks that another animal brings.
One thing is for certain, they don't get lonely for fish. Hungry possibly, but not lonely.

My Cp's do tend to hang out together, but I contribute this more to they all wanting to be in the most desirable place in the tank, and not that they want to keep each other company.

Heather has it correct the newts will congregate in the area with the best microhabitat. This often results in them being close together giving the appearence that they enjoy companionship but in reality it doesn't matter to them. Territoriality tends to be less in caudates that come from slow water habitats as opposed to stream dwelling ( for a good example of this, the aggression that can occur from Pachytriton labiatus) and terrestrial species (like Plethodontids).

Ed

Very Well... You guy's make a convincing argument

Let’s just say, they are friends, but only when I’m not watching...

to ed:

thansk for your response and the information. how do you know that it doesn't matter to them? they would naturally live with other fish and animals, so why would it not matter to them?

While they would naturally live in the same enviroment with other animals (including conspecifics) they do not show any social interations or bonding as seen in gregarious animals... (there are some examples such as P. cinereus that live in stable pairs but breed with other near by neighbors. (in this case on the theories is that each sex is defending the territory from others of that sex)..).

In the wild outside of courtship where multiple males may be courting a female they do not show any group behaviors. You may find more than one in the same habitat but they do not interact in the way a social group does (communication to maintain the group cohesiveness for example ( think of how troops of monkeys or flocks of birds keep track on one another).

Ed