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Dobrogicus started laying!

otolith

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Two weeks ago I got a group of 5 T. dobrogicus from Michael Shrom, they arrived in great shape. The two males had already started cresting up and all have been eating well since they were put into their new tank. This morning when feeding them I noticed an egg, and then 4 more eggs. I was not expecting them to start laying until spring. Their temp has not gone below about 62F and one of them is about 4" and still has not morphed. The males are all cresting up but I have not seen any courtship behavior so I am pleased and surprised. All the eggs I found have been removed from the parents' tank just in case and a few seem to already have some embryonic development.

This species is new to me and I was wondering if they are active egg eaters or if it would be relatively safe to leave the eggs in the parents tank. I would much rather raise a few larva up with the parents like many people do with Alpines. Any input and suggestions would be great! Will post pictures if there is anything to update. Fingers crossed!
 

Azhael

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T.dobrogicus can sometimes be very precocious. What surprises me is that they are laying fertile eggs without having been cooled. Breeding in the fall is quite common for all Triturus, sometimes in the wild too.

I would not recommend leaving the eggs or the larvae with the parents. The eggs may not be eaten, but the larvae will. Once they get large enough they will be cannibalized. At least that has always been my experience.
They are very easy to raise but you´ll most likely need to keep them individually as the larvae are extremely aggressive abd they will mutilate or kill others, sometimes even if there is plenty of food around. Other than that they are a joy to raise, they´ll even accept pellets and other non-live foods, from a rather tender age.
Good luck!
 

Niels D

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I would also suggest to separate the eggs from the parents. Dobros can be very ferocious. I've raised them while keeping 10 animals in a tank 60x30 cm without any problems, though they will harass eachother while feedingtime.

At this moment I've got a dobro (CB 2011) with gills and a little developing crest. Just like a 6 year old boy who's starting to get a beard...
 

otolith

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Quick update, up to about 20 eggs. The female seems to lay 5-10 eggs and then take a a break for a few days. I have nott seen any new eggs in a few days but that doesn't mean they aren't there (lots of anacharis for them be hidden in). I removed 4 that fuzzed over but some have obvious development going on. Looks like I will have to start a brine shrimp culture soon...
 

Yansolo

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When my dobrogicus laid eggs I found that if you leave the eggs with the parents, the parents don't bother them and the hatch rate was better. Once they hatch remove the larvae into a separate tank and feed them brine. Just be ready to hatch brine shrimp twice a day.
 

otolith

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The first eggs hatched today, two new very tiny mouths to feed.

I ended up with 12 viable eggs out of about 20 total. The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees (to about 58F) and the female stopped laying. I will not be surprised if she and the other two females lay more eggs when the temperature warms up a bit.

Very excited! Anyone know at what size/age the larva will feed on chopped blackworms? These are readily available here and are so much easier than hatching brine.
 

Niels D

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I've got no experience with blackworms, but if they can't be fed if the larvae just have hatched you could use the brineshrimp hatchery dish, witch makes hatching brineshrimp much easier.
 

Yansolo

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Hey Perry,
I started feeding the larvae chopped blackworms when they were about an inch in length. After feeding them the blackworms the growth really starts to speed up.
 

otolith

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Out of the initial round of eggs I ended up with 10 that were viable, 9 hatched and I still have 8 larvae. Largest is nearly 2cm, smallest is about 1cm. The smallest larvae have been separated to avoid predation. I ended up using the "pond water" method, there is a nice fishless/newtless creek by my house that ended up being loaded with daphnia and copepods. They are all feeding well on chopped blackworms and supplemental daphnia feedings and growth rates are noticeably faster. Many thanks for all of the suggestions and tips on larval care!

We got a bit of a unseasonably warm weather and the water temp in the adults tank crept back up to about 58F. Sure enough she started laying eggs again... we'll see if the other 2 females follow her lead. Not sure if I will attempt to raise that many larva if all 3 females start laying. I will post some pictures of the group when I get a chance!
 

otolith

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A few pictures of the group. The crests on the males are huge compared to when these were taken.
 

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Niels D

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Looking good! The sudden warmth has triggered my dorbros to start laying eggs. I've heared from other keepers that all kinds of species have started too. Strange weather results into strange behaviour, but this result I like!

Good look with your nice looking beasties!
 

otolith

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A few more pictures from today; the proud mother (right in pic), a few larvae pics and the males.
 

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otolith

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Well they've stopped laying for the season. Out of the 40 eggs I chose to raise up I have 10 left. All told I think the three females laid nearly 600 eggs, the bulk were sent to other members.

The first four larva morphed out and are about 3" and growing like crazy. Their bellies are not as red as their parents, do they redden up as they mature or is this coloration fairly constant once they have morphed? The other 6 larva I am raising were fed daphnia for several weeks longer so I would expect them to have a bit more color to them, but we'll see.

I am also curious when it would be safe to put the morphs back in to the adult tank, the adults are about 5-6". I am wary of missing limbs so they are being housed separately for the time being.
 

otolith

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Figured I'd post in this existing thread rather than start a new one. Well its been a little over a year since my Dobro group bred for the first time and here they are starting up again. So far I've counted about 30 eggs and a few look like they are developing. I learned a lot raising up the first round and hope to improve my success this season. It looks like its going to be a busy year; I have Lissotriton larvae and Alpine eggs in addition to these guys. I will most likely have extra eggs available in the next few weeks as well, will post when and if that happens. Wishing the best of luck to everyone else raising larvae this spring as well!
 
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