hi from uk

Hi guys and gals. My name is Simon and I'm 28 and live in Kent in the UK. I recently bought 2 fire belly newts which I think are great. I was originally looking at buying some ghost koi but saw the newts and decided it would be nice to look after something a little different.

Please forgive the names we have chosen.......Carmine and Snuggles. I'm a huge gears of war fan and my favourite character is a guy called Carmine, so makes sense really and my partner chose the other name. I would post pictures of my tank set up but to be fair its an embarrassing size compared to some of the set-ups I've read about on here. It's a 1 and a half ft tank that's around 10 inches high. I thought as I'm only keeping 2 newts it really isn't needed to be bigger.

They have settled in really well and I'm enjoying looking after them. The only question I have at this present time is, the newts have a rock to climb out on which has sloped gravel , either side of it to let them climb up to the top, however, they are getting to the top, poking there heads out the water and running all the way back down the slope back to the bottom of the tank. Why are they not wanting to sit on top of this rock? I thought they liked to be able to get out of the water to get air etc.

Anyway, thanks for reading my first post. All the best, Simon.

is there something im missing here? 24 views and not 1 hello? maybe im on the wrong site lol.

cheers, simon.

Welcome to the forum!
There are a lot of new people joining constantly so excuse us if we didn´t answer to this one before.
I´m not sure how many litres your tank might be, but i´ll say that the very minimum for a pair of Cynops orientalis to be housed apropiately is a 38l tank(imo). Also, these newts need water, a lot of it, the more the better.
They do not need to climb on a rock to get air, they just swim up, take a gulp and dive down again.
From what i imagine your tank to be like(post a picture if you can), i´d say you need a lot more water there. This species when healthy and stablished are totally aquatic, they may never go on land. This means land areas are a waste of space.
A 38l tank, filled with water 3-4cm from the rim, and nicely planted will make a perfect home for your newts.

Hi Simon!
And welcome!
You will learn alot here !