Final Setup Complete? Newts Still Not Eating

I think I have my 10 gallon tank setup in final form. I have two FBN's, 4 ghost shrimp, and 7 minnows.

For plants I have two fox tails, one hornwort free floating, two squares of grass, and 5 corkscrew ferns. The newts can get on top of the hornwort or some of the fox tail.



The water temperature is at 21C. I'm trying to find ways to decrease it.

But my newts still don't appear to be eating. I'm offering them frozen bloodworms and sinking pellets. I'm going to try live blackworms soon. Could they just be stressed from all the moves and tank changes?

Somehow a small snail has gotten into my tank

Pull snails as you see them, or you'll probably get a population explosion.

It could be stress. Try offering small, wiggling food. Blackworms are good because uneaten ones can live in the substrate. Also try small chopped bits of earthworm, or small waxworms. Try feeding at night without the lights on over the tank. Be persistent but not annoying about it, or you'll just stress them more.

You should consider taking the minnows out of the tank. 7 minnows in just a 10 gallon would likely be a cause of stress to your newts, and its pushing the stocking limit of a tank of that size.

Kaysie said:

Pull snails as you see them, or you'll probably get a population explosion.

It could be stress. Try offering small, wiggling food. Blackworms are good because uneaten ones can live in the substrate. Also try small chopped bits of earthworm, or small waxworms. Try feeding at night without the lights on over the tank. Be persistent but not annoying about it, or you'll just stress them more.

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No snails? Why not? I understand that they can explode in numbers but can they harm anything? As far as I am aware of they are small they will just be an added food source and help keep the tank clean, and in my opinion they look cool :wacko: And he said to me they are small. just wondering. :happy:

As for the problem of them not eating, I totally agree with what JoshBA said. Fish can stress and that is a lot in one tank with the newts. And I also agree with Kaysie, those food suggestions are great. I feed at night a lot, and when I check them in the morning a lot of the pieces of worm will be gone.

It seems like there isn't much more to say. It would seem that I am out of ideas. Well, they have given you some good advice, I have agreed with them, and that's about all. I think that they pretty much covered it.

Hope what they said helps! -Seth

JoshBA said:

You should consider taking the minnows out of the tank. 7 minnows in just a 10 gallon would likely be a cause of stress to your newts, and its pushing the stocking limit of a tank of that size.

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I had a minnow die. The cause appears to be stress, but I'll still be checking the water tomorrow.

I was also under the opinion that snails were good. If I see more and more, yeah, I'll start removing them. But I've heard good things about them eating leftover food.

Snails are fine, except for apples. If they grow too big they can uproot plants. If you don't mind that, all snails should be okay. The only thing is that they pose a slight choking hazard if they're big, and, as Kaysie said, their populations can explode. Snails are both male and female, so after mating, both snails lay eggs. Just try to keep the population under control.

sde said:

No snails? Why not? I understand that they can explode in numbers but can they harm anything? As far as I am aware of they are small they will just be an added food source and help keep the tank clean, and in my opinion they look cool :wacko: And he said to me they are small. just wondering. :happy:

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Snails will predate your live plants, it's unlikely that your axolotl will actually eat them enough to be considered any sort of food source, and snails poop A LOT! By adding snails to a tank, you're only adding to the bioload and waste in the tank. They don't eat axolotl poop, so they don't 'keep the tank clean' either.

Yeah I agree. Snails produce a lot of a detritus, and on light colored sand it looks pretty messy. I'm actually thinking of introducing an army of assasin snails to my paludarium to eradicate the pond snail population. I also believe the extra waste they produce is the reason for the hair algae infestation in the tank. Have your newts started eating?