Water quality for eggs...A beginner's question!

Hello, per the advice of a well respected member of the forum I have decided to post a question that I just cannot seem to find an answer to. Here goes! In regards to eggs, particularly to the Cynops genus, how does one use appropriate water for them? My wife and I do not currently own any Cynops or other newt or salamander for that matter, however, we may or may not attempt to acquire eggs and hatch them in the near future. Should we use dechlorinator drops to treat tap water? Let the water sit out for 24 hours? Usually I do not rush into any purchase involving animals unless I know what I am doing. This is no exception. Sorry this could not be a more involved question. Thanks to anyone who is willing to help a fellow enthusiast who currently does not own a single animal, just more curiousity at the moment.
Anthony

I guess my mind has failed me, here is my other short question. How do you transport larvae from one container to the next? With a fine mesh net? Does this bother the larvae and cause them to go off food? Thanks!

Treatment drops and aging the water is one way to go. For eggs and Larvae I personally use purchased spring water. I have not had good luck with treated/aged water for the larvae for whatever reason. Be it the hardness, metals, or drops themselves. I do not have problems with treated/aged water for the adults. Make sure that you do not use distilled or drinking water. It is always good practice to use a pH tester to make sure either the tap or the purchased water is at an acceptable pH level.

As for moving the larvae I almost completely empty the one container of water and gently pour them into the new container. I rarely ever move them though, I usually stick with the same container. I use a turkey baster to remove the dirty water/waste and VERY slowly add the new water.
Here are two links, the first one is the home page to Caudata Culture and the second is about water quality.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/waterquality.shtml

Hope this helps.

Mitch

First of all, good for you for being prepared ahead of time! I'm usually the same, but now realize I bought wild caught animals 15 months ago and listened to the people at the pet store - not a good source!

Our C. Orientalis reproduced much to our shock after believing what the pet store told us. We currently have close to 50 larvae and more eggs, though I am donating them to fellow enthusiasts I've met here. I've not had a problem with the water and virtually all of my eggs have hatched. I've only lost 2 larvae. I've used tap water and drops and have tried to let it age a day before adding it to the tanks. Until recently, I didn't change the water in the eggs' tanks and now do so rather minimally. For the larvae, I change some every day and use a turkey baster to get rid of old food and debris. I do a bit more of a water change on the weekends at some point. I check the ammonia levels every few days and do the other tests fairly infrequently.

I've had wonderful success with the larvae and fed them a variety of frozen daphnia and baby brine shrimp, live white worms and blackworms, both found here on the For Sale/Trade part of the site. I used to only feed the adults frozen and thawed bloodworms until they had babies and I found this site. For the morphs, I'm trying every food possible with no success as of yet. I have four that have morphed over the past 12 days.

I've only one time "caught" the larvae with a net and cleaned out the whole tank. I won't do it again. I found it traumatic on me and them and I felt like I was going to hurt them with the net against the side of the tank. Like the first poster, I pour out most of the water for a major water change and add fresh to it very slowly. I start by removing water with large cups, then carry the whole tank (10 Gallon) over to the sink and dump as much as I can without drowning the larvae - sink is stopped up, of course in case of an escapee, but it's never happened as I watch closely and pour slowly.

Good luck! This is an exciting hobby and watching the little eggs develop and grow is truly like watching a miracle.
Dana

I use tap water, drops added, and aged. Aging alone does not entirely get rid of chlorine, and if you are doing a large percentage water change, this could be detrimental. Aging the water in addition to drops is a good idea, as it allows the water to come to the right temperature and dissipate any excess gas.

I would also add that keeping larvae in a cycled, heavily planted tank works very well. The idea is to create a pond-like environment - not dirty, but not too clean either. In this case, you would maintain the water the same way you would for any of your aquariums. And you never have to move them.

I have netted large larvae (over an inch), but wouldn't use a net on smaller ones. You can suck them up using a turkey baster, or pour them from one container to another.

Wonderful, thank you all, this is very helpful information. Thanks again Jen for asking me to post this in this section.
Anthony

Lesueurii2 said:

Wonderful, thank you all, this is very helpful information. Thanks again Jen for asking me to post this in this section.
Anthony

Click to expand...

It can be helpful to get several perspectives. Good luck with the eggs!