New ribbed newt owner!!

hello people!

first of all, i would like to say how much this site has helped me and my girlfriend with our new waltl's!

we got them at the start of this year and we think they make great pets.
Still a little confused as to wether they are male or female, i think 1 is male and 1 is female.( see the pics )

i have afew questions, being newbies and all!

1st of all im not to sure on what to feed them at the minute, they love bloodworm, but i tried putting daphnia in there but they didnt take to it. ( not sure how old they are, so im wondering if it could have something to do with that?)

2nd, obviously we use water conditioner when we do water changes, but evey week the water is cloudy and dull, i am wondering if it is normal or maybe it could be the water conditioner that we are using?

i have attached some photos for you to see, maybe a little help with their gender and i would also like your opinion on the picture of the tank.ie is it a half decent habitat for them.

I feed mine nightcrawlers and for the cloudy water do you have a filter ?

I read that if you introduce a new food then don't give them anything else to eat for a week to see if they take the new food type.

I would really recomend changing the substrate. P.waltl are agressive eaters, and they can easily swallow a pebble, which would be a serious risk to their health. also, i´m not sure but could the cloudiness of the water be caused by the white pebbles??
Anyway, fine sand is a much better substrate since it poses no danger of impaction and traps no debris.

If you keep getting cloudy water, i´d recomend increasing the water volume. The bigger the volume the longer it takes to get cloudy or foul.

Daphnia is just too small for them to become interested in eating it... Try with earthworms, they are by far the best you can give them and they should devour them with no mercy. You can also give them crickets, waxworms, isopods, slugs, pellets....

As for the sex of the newts, i can´t really tell...they both look female to me.

I would add a few more floating plants such as elodea.

I have no substrate in my P.waltl tank. This species have big appetites and produce equally large volumes of waste. Anything that traps dirt can cause a problem. I would also recommend a small filter.

As for food P.waltl are not fussy. Use earthworms as a staple and vary the diet with other easily obtained items such as bloodworm, maggots etc... Be careful not to over feed as they will over eat. I tend to feed my adults once every 2 weeks in the winter and once a week at other times of the year.

What size are they? There is nothing that indicates either is a male from the photos. They may be immature though.

I think Azhael is probably right regarding the gravel causing the cloudy water. For the brief time that I used white aquairum gravel as a substrate, the water would always go cloudy when adding new gravel; even after rinsing it several times. Even after the dust had settled, the odd movement of the newts would stir up the 'chalk' and turn the water a tad cloudy.

Just to add to this topic I have kept my P.Waltl(s) on a gravel bottom for over a year with no ill effect, that said I do hand feed them whole worms and place a jar on its side with food items like pellets bloodworm. As far as the water condition have you got any filtration - I use a air operated filter as it oxygenates the water along with filtering

Obviously you can keep them like that for ages and have no problems, but you can also have problems the very first day. It´s all about eliminating unnecessary risks.