Amazing surprise

R

rodrigo

Guest
Yesterday i was inspecting my cynops tank to see how the three eggs i left in there were doing. I saw that there´s only one egg left. The other two must have hatched or be eaten...so i started looking in case i found a little newly hatched larva. Then suddenly i saw something moving and voila! a nice larvae about twice the size of the ones i´m rearing separately!!!!! I was so shocked. It´s starting to develop the back legs, and is definitely larger than any of my other larvae. Now i just hope it makes it...if it has survived the parents til now...there´s a chance.
(will post a pic later...the comp is not mine)
 
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Thats great!! I hope it makes it!!
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I found another one...even bigger! I had no hope on them surviving with the parents (they are rabid eaters) but it looks like they are doing great.
 
Another? Yay! Congrats! Same as before I hope they make it!!
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These days, I raise all my Cynops (pyrrhogaster and ensicauda) in the same tank with the adults. During the time when the larvae are present, I feed "larva food" to both the adults and the larvae (daphnia, blackworms, whiteworms). When they morph, I remove them from the island and keep them separately. Yours have a very good chance of surviving.
 
I have a week of holidays next week, and i´ve got to go home to see my parents. No one to care for my animals. I was expecting my brother to take me home with his car so i could take my animals with me, but he just found a job and he can´t. So i can´t take any of them with me since i´ve got to go on bus.
The thing is that if i leave the larva on their own with no food and no water changes for a week they´ll most likely die. So...what if i put them back with the parents???? if their younger brothers have survived and are doing even better....then they might survive too...
is that or a 4 hour trip in a bottle, or being left alone.
 
I’ve left larvae for a week without problems. You’ll have to provide them with a good supply of tiny live food and the enclosure should be large enough to maintain sufficient water quality whilst you’re away. How are you feeding them at the moment? Can you get hold of live daphnia?

If you can’t get hold of live food they may be better off in the adult tank, the larvae in there must be surviving on something after all. If you were worried about predation from the adults you could move them into a temporary tank whist you’re away.
 
I´m feeding them on Artemia, but it dies within 1-2 days if it´s not eaten. I can´t get daphnia....i´ve got no car, and the only places i could go walking do not look healthy.
I think i´m going to try putting them with the adults...but first i have to find more java moss and as many coverture things as i can get.
 
I think that´s what they eat in the parent´s tank. Those, and planaria.
I decided to put them all back in the big tank. I don´t know if i´ll lose them but if they grow as the ones that were born there they´ll be huge soon.
 
Thank you! This is so exciting...When i bought my pair i never thought i would be raising little adorable larvae so soon. It amazes me to see them change every day.
 
Hi Rodrigo.

Glad to hear they're doing well! What species of Cynops is this? Please identify the species in the thread title, or at least in your initial post
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On another note, you might consider using photo enhancement software like Photoshop or ACDSee. Here's what your last photo looks like when enhanced:

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<font size="-2">(this photo by Rodrigo Palacios -- I'll delete it later)</font>

(Message edited by TJ on April 23, 2007)
 
Oh sorry, it´s Cynops Orientalis. I mentioned it in another thread and forgot about it, excuse me.
Wow, there is a difference indeed. I know nothing about using photoshop but i´ll ask my house mate about it, he really is good with it. Thank you very much.
btw, i know it has nothing to do with this topic, but is it normal for the larva to spend a lot of time hanging on the plants very close to the surface??? My two thoughts are, lack of oxygen(but the pump is on 24/7), or some kind of strategy to hide(the biggest density of plants is by the surface).
 
Hi Rodrigo. No prob. It's just part of my housekeeping duties to remind people
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As for larvae spending a lot of time hanging on plants close to the surface...hmmm...I would also think it could be a lack of oxygen, especially if the tank were pretty deep and lacking aeration (which it doesn't seem to be from what you say). How big is the tank and how deep is the water and what sort of aeration is it?

C. orientalis larvae -- like larvae of other species as mentioned in Ralf's recent post in a Paramesotriton section thread -- often hang out on/in plants. But just as often (in the case of my C. orientalis larvae at least), they're on the bottom of the tank. So if almost all of them are at the top almost all of the time, then there could be some problem. But if it's just half-and half, I'd guess it's only natural...

It could also depend on how the tank is planted, how densely it is planted, what sort of predators they would need to hide from if not just from each other
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, etc. Are you keeping them together with the adults? Having said that, I haven't noticed cannibalism (not that it doesn't occur), and I have larvae that grow up and morph in the adults' tank.

For photo editing software, you should be able to download for free something easy to use like Portable ACDSee (though I use ACD FotoCanvas V3.0).

(Message edited by TJ on April 23, 2007)
 
The tank is a 38 liter, and it´s about 18-19 cm deep. The aeriation is an undergravel pump that purs over the surface creating some bubbles.
It seems to depend on the hour. At night they seem to be more concentrated in the plants, and during the day it´s more or less 50/50. I do keep them with the parents, but i haven´t seen predation from them. It may be a problem of predation between them though....cause there´s two larvae with partially eaten tails. Anyway it doesn´t look like it affects them and i haven´t lost any larvae as far as i know, so it may be just a behaviour thing.
 
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