Show My Crocodile Newts' tank and seek help

[DrWill]

I'm from Hangzhou China.This is my tank for feed the crocodile newts and plant some plants that can't be destroyed by newts.There are 6 kinds of crocodile newts in it,Tylototriton shanjing(photo 4),T.taliangensis,T.asperrimus(photo 2 R,photo3 ),T.sp "southern Yunnan"(photo 5,6), ,T.sp "MangShan"(photo 2 L) and Echinotriton chinhaiensis.

I use the Akadama(red ball earth) for base,and take a aquatic water condition to keep the temperature about 13 ℃ at night,and I reference the sunrise and sunset time of
southwest China to control the light on or off.I want to make a environment like the place that they come from,and let them breed.

And there is some thing wrong with a T.taliangensis.(the last photo)
At April 5,when I moved a wood,I accidentally hurt it,and it have ate nothing for about one week.Now I clean its wound and take the Polymyxin b ointment on it everyday.Is there have any better way to help it?


My English is very bad,hope all my friends can know my meaning and help me,thx!

 

[stanleyc]

Excellent setup and beautiful newts.

 

[methodik]

How is that set up safe against climbing? I don't guess Tylototriton are the best climbers, but this looks extremely easy to escape from.

 

[Niels D]

That taliangensis looks like it's got a bacterial infection or fungus. I've had a case with one of my T.cf.kweichowensis (possibly the Yunnan form). I had to amputate the hand. This is a spot were this method won't work though. Hope you'll find a way to treat it.

Really like your setup. I've never seen a Tylo climb against glass even when wet, but I do agree with Methodik that it looks easy to escape from.

 

[DrWill]

How is that set up safe against climbing? I don't guess Tylototriton are the best climbers, but this looks extremely easy to escape from.

I'v set a acrylic baffle on the background plate to stop them and I never see them climb the glass.

 

[DrWill]

That taliangensis looks like it's got a bacterial infection or fungus. I've had a case with one of my T.cf.kweichowensis (possibly the Yunnan form). I had to amputate the hand. This is a spot were this method won't work though. Hope you'll find a way to treat it.

Really like your setup. I've never seen a Tylo climb against glass even when wet, but I do agree with Methodik that it looks easy to escape from.

Thanks for your response!hope it can get health...

 

[Azhael]

Mixing species is never a good idea, very specially when they are all wild-caught from different regions. The risks of patogen exchange are high. Parasites are also an important concern.
Also, not all those species have the exact same housing requirements, and there´s always the issue of toxicity. I would very strongly advice you to separate them into species specific tanks, and research the needs of each species better so that you can provide them with what they need.
As for the ill animal, separate it inmediately!! That´s a flesh eating infection, which is a kind that happens very commonly with this genus of newts. It´s devastating and fast.....to be honest, given the location of the sore and the thinness of the animal, its chances of recovery are next to nil.

13ºC is probably too low for most of those species.

I can´t see any open water in your tank so i´m not sure what your plan for breeding them is. I would focus on keeping them healthy, stress free and properly housed (again, start by separating them), rather than in breeding which is very unlikely to happen anyway.

 

[freves]

I am going out of town for the weekend soon and really have no time for a detailed answer. Ahael is correct about mixing species, especially with species as rare as many of the ones that you have. Tylototriton are very poor climbers but if it were me I would not be able to sleep at night knowing that there was no lid on the enclosure. Otherwise that is a beautiful enclosure.
Chip

 

[Niels D]

Didn't realise that all the animals were housed in one enclosure. Thought the T.cf.kweichowensis were in another tank. This species really needs an area with water. I've experienced that they visit the water whole year round, even in winter.

 

[DrWill]

Mixing species is never a good idea, very specially when they are all wild-caught from different regions. The risks of patogen exchange are high. Parasites are also an important concern.
Also, not all those species have the exact same housing requirements, and there´s always the issue of toxicity. I would very strongly advice you to separate them into species specific tanks, and research the needs of each species better so that you can provide them with what they need.
As for the ill animal, separate it inmediately!! That´s a flesh eating infection, which is a kind that happens very commonly with this genus of newts. It´s devastating and fast.....to be honest, given the location of the sore and the thinness of the animal, its chances of recovery are next to nil.

13ºC is probably too low for most of those species.

I can´t see any open water in your tank so i´m not sure what your plan for breeding them is. I would focus on keeping them healthy, stress free and properly housed (again, start by separating them), rather than in breeding which is very unlikely to happen anyway.

Thanks for your advice,this tank that I used for ornamental and observe their behavior mainly, feed a pair or only one for each kinds. Other Crocodile Newts I feed in different boxs.
Their natural distribution places that I have been to almost.In my opinion,the environment is very similar, but climate have differences.Only in this season(breeding season), temperature of their distribution places is close.For example,the temperature of today:墨江13~29℃（Tylototriton shanjing）昭觉9~22℃（T.taliangensis）金秀16~26℃（T.asperrimus）个旧15~22℃（T.sp 'southern Yunnan'）桑植13~28℃(T.sp "MangShan")
So that's why I set the temperature 13℃ at night.
Open water is behind the wood,but very shallow, and the area is also not large.

The injured newts...Parying.....

 

[DrWill]

Didn't realise that all the animals were housed in one enclosure. Thought the T.cf.kweichowensis in another tank. This species really needs an area with water. I've experienced that they visit the water whole year round, even in winter.

In june 2006,I have gone to the place where T.cf.kweichowensis(I called them T.sp T.sp 'southern Yunnan') lives,almost the adult one holed up on the land, under the stones.Many tadpole of T.cf.kweichowensis were in the pool,but could not see any adult.
I don't know why your T.cf.kweichowensis like soaking in water...

 

[Willlis]

Beautiful animals, hope the injury gets better for the one poor guy. I would also make the same comment about multispecies setups from different regions not being the best idea. For one thing if you have any reproduction take place how will you know they won't be hybrids?

 

[Alex Tsukanov]

I can confirm that younger newts T.cf. kw. are semiaquatic ( http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...3-breeding-tylototriton-cf-kweichowensis.html ) but adult enter in water only in breeding.

 

[TylototritonGuy]

I have to agree with Azhael, I don't believe in mixing species from different regions (or infact any mixing of any kind) unless you are experienced in doing so, even then its risky. I don't see this as natural either or even being able to show natural behavior as none of those species would come across each other (perhaps rarely come across each other) in the wild. So I don't know what your trying to observe by keeping so many types from different environments in a tank that size. Plus do you have a actual water bowl or area in there?

Personally, I would separate them as soon as possible and keep them with their own kind. There is really no need to keep them together in all honesty plus you risk the chance of Hybridisation. And as Azhael said, That is a bad case of a flesh eating disease and in all honesty it should of been Quarantined right the second you found it.

 

[browbli]

This is probably to late in the infection, but Silver Sulfadazine does wonders. Itraconazol does the best to treat such infections, but it is much harder to obtain for a private individual.

 

[kay]

Hello everyone, I would just like to throw in my own personal experience to this discussion. I am very fortunate to own 2 T. Kweichowensis and 2 T. Shanjing. In regards to the debate of their climbing abilities, I have personally seen 2 animals from both species climb the glass. There is a picture posted in my Kweichowensis album that shows this.

My other personal observation is that both my Kweichowensis rarely enter their water bowls (which is why I have never upgraded their tanks to a 1/3 water area).

I have started a thread before on this topic, and there still seems to be differing opinions. When I asked if I needed to provide more water area, I received a definite no. Either way, not meaning to hijack this thread, just wanted to share my two observations.

Cheers.

 

[freves]

I have a 5 gallon water container in my kweichow enclosure and although there seems to be some individual preferences, it is used frequently.
Chip

 

[Sean90]

Can i ask what plants are planted in the tank?
Sean