Beginner Questions

Ok so I am getting a 55G fish tank for Christmas(for some fish). I am starting to really get into the housing of smaller animals. I have 2 cats right now and soon will have about 20 fish on top of that. I always have thought newts/salamanders are the coolest little animals. I always stare at them at the aquariums I go to. I was wondering the minimum tank size for one. I am thinking 10G but have no experience so I duno. Also what kind of maintenance do they require. What is the best one for a beginner? What do you need for a tank(filter, lights, gravel?)? Anything you can tell me would be great. Also how much would that minimum sized tank setup cost for EVERYTHING?

Thanks a bunch in advance,
Cory

Hello Cory,
Checkout the various articles at caudata culture. Many of the answers that you are looking for can be found there. To keep it real short, you could probably get away with a small group of a small species such as Cynops orientalis in a 10 gallon tank. As with anything though a bigger tank is always better. If you only have a few animals in a tank stocked with lots of live plants you could probably get away without mechanical filtration as long as you stay on top of the partial water changes. Most people will include at least an airpump driven airstone however. Off the top of my head I would estimate a basic setup to cost close to the same as a fishtank setup (minus the heater but adding a screen over). A 100.00 would probably come close to getting you everything. Again, read through the old posts and cc articles first. There is a wealth of information to be found.
Chip

Here is a link to Caudata Culture with many interesting and informative beginner and general articles.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

And species descriptions are here:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/species.shtml

I'd suggest going to the pet store and seeing first of all what is even available in your area,
and reading about that/those species and seeing what they require.

The only species I've ever seen in a pet store are Cynops orientalis, Pachytriton labiatus, and
Taricha granulosa. Of course, that is only true for my town. That's why I think you might find it easier to start by just seeing what you might have access to in the first place. How many you can have and the setup is so dependent upon the species you choose, I think you'd need to start from there.

just an option

or if you want you can find the animal that you think would work the best for you and then put something up in the wanted section and you could be setting up you environment while you wait for a reply