My newest Paddle tail Newt setup

Unsure of which my paddle tail is Pachytriton labiatus or Pachytriton brevipes.
brownish peach color with black spots, and orange and black blotched belly. I guess you'd need some better pictures to be able to tell though
I did find out that he is a male though, I saw his papillae sticking out today for the first
time, He's ready to get busy haha

Anyway, just added him to his new setup and he likes it so far. He is moving around a lot more now and now that he has some swimming room he is enjoying paddlin' around
If I could find a female paddle tail I think I'd introduce another one and see how it goes, still need to build more hides before then though.

Was housing in 10 gallon for awhile but now he is in a 30 gallon. Still needs work
and will take time for the plants to grow in some more and I need to get more plants but no one really sells a good variety here so I'd have to order them online.

Let me know what you think, any suggestions?

Sorry for the crappy pictures, I need to invest in a new camera...

Plants can help your water quality, but Pachytriton live in environments with almost NO plants.


There are presently seven known species, one still unnamed.

You're right that your pictures aren't detailed enough to identify the species. Even with better pictures it can be very difficult if not impossible to be sure. However, I would already be willing to say...
Not labiatus. Labiatus isn't a Pachytriton. (It's a Paramesotriton, and the familiar pachys were renamed inexpectatus)
Not inexpectatus. P.inexpectatus is solid brown above.
Not moi. P.moi is solid brown above and lacks red when mature.
Not archospotus. P.archospotus has a different build and lacks dorsal red marks.

The rest...
Probably not brevipes, due to presence of red coloring.
Probably not feii, which is thus far only known to be unspotted brown above.
Could be the undescribed species related to brevipes, but nothing has been described of this species.
Probably P.granulosus, which is normally slender and dark brown above with red dorsolateral spots or stripes. However, some populations are spotted and some are spotted and also have red marks. I'll have to check the literature [AGAIN] to see if ALL the brevipes-like populations were assigned to granulosus, or if brevipes still includes some 'odd' populations.

Yeah I was reading about how confusing it was to really tell the true identity so I just gave up ha..
It looked similar to P. labiatus from what I could tell. But I'm sure the tail and head play a part in telling which species it actually is. Until I get better pictures I don't know if I can be sure until someone else who knows more tells me. It looks just like this one almost identically except lighter color and black spots.


And yeah I like the plants and that they help water quality but at the same time he doesn't like the light and only comes out really when the lights off so I'm debating about whether to take the plants out or not and just get fake plants for him to hide in and perch on.