Pleurodeles Waltl feeding trouble and greedy female

ribbednewt · Dec 4, 2011

I feed my two pleurodeles waltl frozen tublifex worms, but each time they are fed, even if i separate the cube in half and give a half to each, the female will steal the males food, and i dont want to have to take him out of the tank to feed him separately. what should i do?

Otterwoman · Dec 4, 2011

You could use two jars on their side and feed them each separately in each jar, giving the male more time to eat his food before the female comes over. Or, you could use those floating breeder things and feed one separately.
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froggy · Dec 5, 2011

If you are worried about removing the male to feed him, then you could remove the female, either to feed her or once she has eaten. You could also give the female a lump of food and then feed the male, and use forceps or similar to keep the female at bay while the male finishes his food. A fin al suggestion could be to increaser the number of visual barriers in the tank, by including more plants, stones, logs etc, so the female can't find the male so easily.

C

Jennewt · Dec 5, 2011

I agree - separation during feeding time is your best bet until the male bulks up a bit.

Another approach is to feed them less often, but with larger quantities. If you feed them only twice per week, but you put in 4 cubes at once, then the male has a better chance to eat. Then be sure to remove all uneaten food promptly.

Regarding dried tubifex, I would not recommend these as a staple diet. Try to diversify with earthworms and frozen bloodworms, for example.

SludgeMunkey · Dec 5, 2011

I have to hand feed mine with tweezers to ensure everyone is eating properly when together in tanks(Only species in my collection i have to do this for!). I keep each specimen separate unless breeding now-a-days as my early attempts at community tanks of this species always resulted in one or more animals getting out competed for food.

donia · Dec 6, 2011

Mine mostly get earthworms, then frozen bloodworm and tubifex on the odd occasion. I hand feed the worms, so I know how much each newt is eating, plus they are not as messy as the frozen cubes! Also, personally I think worms are better nutritionally than frozen foods....

ahritchie · Feb 17, 2012

I would suggest trying some salmon pellets, they are by far the easiest most cost effective way to feed P. Waltl. and I have had great success with feeding a diet of 99% pellets; mine are barely a year old and have laid eggs numerous times. My P.Waltl population has more than quadrupled

because of the excellent nutrition that is in these pellets, believe it or not. I just carpet bomb the entire tank bottom so the food is scattered and my colony of 6 goes to work diligently "hunting" pellets and no one is left out since there are pellets all over.

Fyi...Michael Shrom sells these on the classifieds here

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Pleurodeles Waltl feeding trouble and greedy female

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