Newt not eating

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Samphibian

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I have a fire bellied newt living by itself in an 5.5 gallon tank. I've checked the water and theres nothing wrong with it. his foot has some damage but he's regrowing them. I've tried feeding him redworms, eathworms, food sticks, dried shrimp, but he's not eating any of them. He shirks away from the food when it's presented to him. He doesn't move much and hides under moss all day. Can anyone help me figure out whats wrong? What should I try to feed him? :(
 
What was he eating before? How warm is the tank?
 
Where did you get him from? is he wild caught or captive bred?
 
Apparently it was eating frozen bloodworms before. I've also just tried freeze dried brine shrimp and some newt specific pellets to no avail. I called the aquarium where i purchased him and they said to try the frozen bloodworms. Although I'm starting to think that it might not be the food that's wrong. It recently got some toes chewed off by its neighbor so I've separated them. but since it got its toes nibbled off it has been very inactive/hasn't eaten anything in 3 days. I put some medicine in the water to try to heal its foot quicker. but It hasn't been going into the water (which i guessed was because of its foot making it hard to swim).
 
Try offering earthworms. They're nutritious, and the wiggling motion usually spurs them into eating.

Also, I don't know what kind of medication you're using, but it's probably unnecessary, and could be dangerous. A lot of medications are toxic to amphibians.
 
You did the right thing isolating it in another tank.
As per Kaysie, try feeding it live food, wiggly motions does stimulate their appetite a lot.
 
Kinda sounds like the newt might be sick. My newt didn't get his toes chopped off, but he exhibited the same behavior. I decided to try some new food, live blackworms, earthworms, and frozen bloodworms. They do miracles for the newts...I recommend you try some of this food. But as you said, it may not be the food that is making your newt like this.
 
I'll stop putting the medication in to see what happens. Though the aquarium helper said it was harmless and useful for preventing infections, it may be inhibiting the newt from going into the water. I also plan on getting frozen bloodworms for it today. I've tried giving it live food like a chopped earthworm and some small red worms. They didn't seem to have any affect so i'm trying it's original food. Hopefully this works. If anyone has any other ideas as to what might be wrong please let me know. Thanks :)
 
It may be refusing to enter the water because of poor quality. It´s difficult to maintain adequate quality in small volumes. Bare in mind that the recommended minimum volume for a single Hypselotriton (Cynops) orientalis is a 10 gallon tank. Your tank is significantly smaller.

Be patient and keep trying with earthworms. The frozen bloodworms are also ok, but don´t give it freeze-dried foods, they are no good. You might also want to try waxworms, they are perfect for finicky eaters.

Also, are you sure you have firebellies? Firebelly tipycally refers to Cynops and Hypselotriton, but pet-shops usually use it for other genera like Pachytriton. The fact that one newt bit the fingers off the other makes me think it´s unlikely to be neither Cynops nor Hypselotriton, but most likely Pachytriton, in which case you may need to separate them as soon as possible since those can get seriously agressive.
 
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I'll try changing the water and check it's parameters. As for the size it looks fine to me the landmass is just as large if not bigger than before. The water seems fine in deph/size. As for food if the frozen worms don't work I'll try waxworms.
 
Even if the size of the tank "looks fine" to you, it's still not what is recommended. Also, that small a volume of water is going to foul very quickly.
 
He's probably wild caught and is either unhealthy because of that or just getting acclimated. Mine didn't eat for nearly a month after purchased. Amphibians can go a long time without eating. Variety with foods is the key.

Good luck,
Dana
 
If he's eating, then continue to do what you're doing. It may take time to get his strength back.
 
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