C. pyrrhogaster tank size/water depth

slowfoot

slowfoot

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Erin
Hi all,

I'm home visiting with family for the holidays and it's a chance to see all the pets I left behind when I moved out. Among them are two C. pyrrhogaster. They're both at least 18 years old, but still spry and looking good. However, they're living in a pretty crappy little place right now, so I was thinking about going out and buying them a new home.

What water depth/tank size is best for two of these guys? I plan on having a land area, and planting the water section. I probably won't be able to get away with something huge because they'll be living in my sister's house and she doesn't have a lot of space. Right now, they're in a 5 and a 1/2 gallon (I know that's way too small), so anything would be a step up.
 
Erin, i personally think that if you intend to have a land section(which is a personal choice), you should go for a 60L. Anything smaller will probably limit greatly the amount of water available, and i´m sure they´ll be happy to have space to swim :)
 
azhael said:
Erin, i personally think that if you intend to have a land section(which is a personal choice), you should go for a 60L. Anything smaller will probably limit greatly the amount of water available, and i´m sure they´ll be happy to have space to swim :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, azheal!

For the land section, it will probably just be a flat rock breaking the surface, which is what they have now. I'll see if I can pick up a 20 gallon for them.
 
slowfoot said:
For the land section, it will probably just be a flat rock breaking the surface, which is what they have now. I'll see if I can pick up a 20 gallon for them.
Click to expand...

Erin since your so limited on space, that is if you decide to keep the current tank, could you make a floating island out of Great Stuff foam? I did this with my 5 1/2 gallon tank that housed 2 sub-adult Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens. You get the best of both worlds this way, the same volume of water plus the benefits of a very aesthically pleasing land portion. The foam doesn't need to be thick just around and inch works great. I can scrounge up some pictures if you would like. This may be more work than you had planned or even want to do but hey what can I say, I am a fan of Great Stuff and my Dremel tool.
 
I think a 10 or 15-gallon with a floating island would be great. (A 20-gallon is the same length and width as a 15, but has a lot of wasted vertical space.) Justin's suggestion for an island is good, but if you don't have time, a "turtle dock" will also do the job.

Regarding water depth, my pyrrhogaster have about 7-8 inches.
 
Thanks for the replies!

They're now in a 10 gallon, which is probably the biggest size my sister will allow, with lots of plants and a rock breaking the surface. They're not very good swimmers, so I went with a rock rather than a floating dock - it's just easier for them to get on.

They seem much happier already. And, much to my surprise, the female newt laid an egg this morning :eek: I guess she was just waiting for a chance to lay on a plant. I'm sure it's not fertile: I don't even know if the other newt is a male, but if it is, he doesn't look like he's in breeding condition.
 
They´ll be perfectly fine in a 10gallon tank, specially if all the water area wasted is just a surfacing rock. My cynops LOVE the plants, i probably overcrowd their tank with them(really, it´s literally full of them) but they seem to enjoy it a lot.
Who knows, maybe it is fertile!
 
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