T.kweichowensis Build Advice Needed Please

[TylototritonGuy]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum so this is also a hello thread too :happy:
I'm looking into making a big build for my T.kweichowensis and wondered if anyone could perhaps would like to share their setups they have currently or have done in the past to help with some ideas of what I could go for?

I am looking for a planted setup that is as much as their natural habitat in Yunnan Province in China as possible. The main Tank dimensions are: 3ft long x 1ft deep x 1ft 1/2 high. So I'm looking at around about 1ft of it being water (at 10cm deep) and the other 2ft being used for land.

Anyway, thank you for reading this and i look forward to seeing what you post!

Many thanks

 

[TylototritonGuy]

Please any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[Jennewt]

Here is a kweichow setup that was very successful. The owner had kweichows breeding there for several years.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...s-vivaria-etc/38657-future-kweichow-tank.html

T. kweichowensis is a particularly difficult species to house, if you want them to breed. They need a "true" land area, and enough water area for breeding. If breeding is not an objective, then a nice terrarium would do the trick.

Here are some links to additional photos of various newt and sal setups.

Setups articles on CC:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups.shtml
Forum Photo Gallery for setups:
http://www.caudata.org/photoplog/category-aquariums-terrariums-vivariums-85/
Forum section devoted to setup photos:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...ws/f8-photos-pictures-enclosures-vivaria-etc/

 

[Niels D]

Maybe a very simple build, but it works for me:

Used sealent and a platic plate to seperate the terrestrial and the aquatic section. At this moment there's wood in the water and a lot more plants.

 

[TylototritonGuy]

To Jennewt:

Thank you for those links I have found one or two in the photo album link that are very similar to what im looking to build for them!

Well, I will be interested in the breeding side of it in the future, but for the moment its just a case of having a really nice set up that they can have and be comfortable in for the rest of their lives (unless i make one even better in the future).

Out of interest, in the way of live plants what is most commonly used to go in with them? I do really want them to have a set up like their Natural habitat but in the way of plants it seems tricky :/

Thank you again for the help

 

[TylototritonGuy]

To Neil D:

Your set up looks great mate, well done!

I have seen this method lots of times now and am very tempted to do it this way. I was going to go with a false bottom but in all honesty this looks like a far more cleaner way to do the set up! :happy:

How long have you had your T.kweichowensis for out of interest?

Thanks for showing me your set up.

 

[atlatiselliott]

Easy just have some cocco fiber plants (Optional) a hide some moss and a shallow wide water dish, Good luck ;-)

 

[Azhael]

This is T.kweichowensis, not T.shanjing, they are much more aquatic and a a shallow water dish is very insufficient.

 

[Niels D]

The terrestrial area is made out of forest dirt with a little coco peat. In the dirt reside a lot of worms, isopods and other little beasties. The plants came with the dirt, so I've got grass and diffirent kinds of mosses. Added some old wood and cork bark too.

The aquatic area is also changed. I've put flagstones in it so the sals can get out of the water without any problems and they hide in the cracks. There's a big piece of swamp wood in the water, which has coloured the water a little more brown. There are a lot of plants and snails in it as well.

I've got them for 9 months now and they haven't been in the fridge. They were in a cold room (sometimes 10C) so I hope they will breed when the temperatures rise. The male is allready a lot in the water and sometimes the females join him. It has to get a little bit warmer though. It this will not work, I will put them outside next year.

 

[TylototritonGuy]

Easy just have some cocco fiber plants (Optional) a hide some moss and a shallow wide water dish, Good luck ;-)

That....... was some of the worst advice I have ever heard lol
T.kweichowensis are much more aquatic, I have kept all manner of Tylototriton before so I'm not new to "basic" set ups, Plus i dont know if you actually read my thread but I was looking for something much more elaborate with a completely natural setting that they would actually come from in the wild, Not a basic set-up ...

 

[Niels D]

I forgot to mention that I've got T.cf.kweichowenis in there. They tend to get a little bigger and they're using the aquatic area more often than T.kweichowensis does. Doesn't matter much, but I thought it's worth mentioning.

 

[TylototritonGuy]

I forgot to mention that I've got T.cf.kweichowenis in there. They tend to get a little bigger and they're using the aquatic area more often than T.kweichowensis does. Doesn't matter much, but I thought it's worth mentioning.

Thank you for that mate out of interest, how big are your specimens? It's just my female is massive and just wondered if she might be a Regional Variation (something a friend told me he might have!)

 

[sparkyr99]

A friend of mine from Vietnam was over at my house a while back. He noticed my T kweichow's in their tank. He told me that he and his friends used to catch those when he was younger. He was from an area near china. So I picked his brain for info on what the areas he caught them in looked like. His answer was simple. Forested areas with lots of leaf litter. Much like the ozarks. He said they would find the most near streams ,under fallen logs or rocks. But never in the water. I re-did my vivarium from a dry style tank with a water dish to wetter tank with lots of land, and vining plants i clipped from my wifes houseplants,and a small waterfall with a stream area across the front of tank. They never go on the land complety. They just hang out in the margin of land and water and are perfectly happy. I wouldn't worry so much on what type of plants you have in there just as long as they can hide under the leaves and be close to the water.

 

[Jennewt]

I've tried 3 different types of setups for my T. kweichowensis:

1. Fully terrestrial with water dish (starting from when they were juveniles). Works well.
2. Setup with wet land and a water area. Also works well, but they rarely go in the water. Photos: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-advanced-newt-salamander-topics/f6-vivaria-enclosures-product-reviews/f8-photos-pictures-enclosures-vivaria-etc/65698-semi-aquatic-tank-remodeling.html Since those photos, I have changed the setup so it has repti-carpet instead of wood chips, and added more hides.
3. Setup with water and rocks. Mostly aquatic. The two T. kweichows I put there appeared miserable. They huddled under the hides as far out of the water as they could get. They stopped eating. After a week, I moved them back to a terrestrial setup. The two still haven't forgiven me (still won't hand-feed, although they fed this way before).

Based on my experience, I am not convinced that kweichows are very aquatic. Mine do very well terrestrial. Or perhaps there are different localities of kweichows, with some preferring water and some land. Thus I maintain that the safest approach when starting with them is to have a tank with both a real land area and a decent water area.

 

[TylototritonGuy]

A friend of mine from Vietnam was over at my house a while back. He noticed my T kweichow's in their tank. He told me that he and his friends used to catch those when he was younger. He was from an area near china. So I picked his brain for info on what the areas he caught them in looked like. His answer was simple. Forested areas with lots of leaf litter. Much like the ozarks. He said they would find the most near streams ,under fallen logs or rocks. But never in the water. I re-did my vivarium from a dry style tank with a water dish to wetter tank with lots of land, and vining plants i clipped from my wifes houseplants,and a small waterfall with a stream area across the front of tank. They never go on the land complety. They just hang out in the margin of land and water and are perfectly happy. I wouldn't worry so much on what type of plants you have in there just as long as they can hide under the leaves and be close to the water.

Thats great, some of the information i was looking for too thank you for writing this for me! Your Set-up sounds exactly like what I am looking to achieve could it be possible if you could put up a photo of what you have done?

 

[TylototritonGuy]

I've tried 3 different types of setups for my T. kweichowensis:

1. Fully terrestrial with water dish (starting from when they were juveniles). Works well.
2. Setup with wet land and a water area. Also works well, but they rarely go in the water. Photos: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-advanced-newt-salamander-topics/f6-vivaria-enclosures-product-reviews/f8-photos-pictures-enclosures-vivaria-etc/65698-semi-aquatic-tank-remodeling.html Since those photos, I have changed the setup so it has repti-carpet instead of wood chips, and added more hides.
3. Setup with water and rocks. Mostly aquatic. The two T. kweichows I put there appeared miserable. They huddled under the hides as far out of the water as they could get. They stopped eating. After a week, I moved them back to a terrestrial setup. The two still haven't forgiven me (still won't hand-feed, although they fed this way before).

Based on my experience, I am not convinced that kweichows are very aquatic. Mine do very well terrestrial. Or perhaps there are different localities of kweichows, with some preferring water and some land. Thus I maintain that the safest approach when starting with them is to have a tank with both a real land area and a decent water area.

It's good to hear some more information about all types of set ups being used! It's a shame they still haven't forgiven you though lets hope they do soon.

At the moment I am trying to work out if these are a variation or perhaps new subspecies of Tylototriton but from what i have seen of my two, they seem to actually like the water a lot and will hang around the edge of the water bowl I currently have in their temporary set up.

I also would like some information on the possible new species or even Regional Variations that I have seen a bit on here if anyone knows about it? I know it sounds highly unlikely but after being told about it earlier I'm still curious.

 

[kay]

In my personal experience, I have had my 2 for the last year (in separate tanks), and my experience was I wanted to first see how aquatic they really were. I did not want to set-up a very elaborate tank with a larger water area if they did not want to use it. I have a water dish in each that allows them to be fully submerged if they want to.

It is from my observations that mine only enter the water on occasion and not enough for me to assume they are truely a "50/50" species. Since I do not plan to breed these two together, for my example, I feel it is best to leave them as is, and that a larger water area is not required for mine.

Of course, as with most species, this entirely depends on the animals preference, so I would have to agree with Jennewt's method of letting them decide.

 

[Niels D]

Thank you for that mate out of interest, how big are your specimens?

All three females are longer than 20 cm. The male, which is more slender, smaller and less colourful reaches 20 cm in length.

How their tank looks like at this moment (got rid of the grass btw):

 

[TylototritonGuy]

All three females are longer than 20 cm. The male, which is more slender, smaller and less colourful reaches 20 cm in length.

How their tank looks like at this moment (got rid of the grass btw):

Looking good! I'm liking the fact the bog-wood has changed the color of the water a lot too I take it yours like to hang around the waters edge too then?

What you described is exactly the same as what I have. My Male is more slender and smaller in length than the Female and his coloration is less brilliant than hers too. I will measure her but she is pretty long now so I'm guessing she is about 18-20cm at the moment.

 

[Niels D]

I believe this also goes for T.kweichowensis. I would be interested in seeing some pics of your animals.

I haven't bred the T.cf.kweichowenis, but I really hope that I will succeed in having some offspring this year. The brown colouration makes the water look more natural and has no effect on the measured water conditions, except for the fact that the PH is a little lower. At this moment they're staying on the flagstones near the water, but a couple of weeks earlier they swam a lot more. Don't know what consequences this will have.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...chinotriton/82618-theres-something-going.html