First tank set-up for T. verrucosus

[dreadful]

http://www.caudata.org/forum/members/dreadful-albums-my-first-newt-tank.html

I'm new to newt ownership and I'd like some advice. I've linked an album of my day-one progress of a tank for my future T. verrucosus. Tank dims are 48" x 13" x 20" tall. The plexiglass insert take up about 40% surface area and is 8" tall, which will be terrain.

I'd like some opinions so far, though I know it's still early. Also I'm trying to think of a way to cover up those large holes on top. The two large ones are 7" x 15" and the smaller is 13" x 1.5".

To help mask the plexiglass and the silicone goobers, could I put grout or clay over it to sort of simulate a rock face? Do either of these have toxic curing chemicals?

 

[froggy]

This looks like an excellent start, although the water could be deeper if you can change the divider. If not, it will be fine, or you can make an underwater platform out of the divided-off area and use floatig corckbark or a pile of stones on top of that for land. Either will work well.

One thing to watch out for with the divided land section is flooding. If you fill that area with soil, it will quickly become anoxic and toxic if it floods. You can use a drainage layer (gravel hydroleca etc) with soil/coir etc on top, or just the hydroleca without soil/coir, but the water at the bottom can become anoxic and nasty still. One option is to drill some holes in the divider towards the bottom, which will allow the pile of hydroleca to become linked to the restof the tank, which will help to avoid anoxia d putrefaction. You can even have the filter output (if you use a filter) trickling through the hydroleca, which will flush out any debris and also turn the hydroleca into an extended biological filter.

I only speak from exprience when I say that divided land areas very often flood, and its a real pain when it happens, or even dangerous to the newts if it goes unnoticed!

You could cover the holes with pieces of meshing. I often use greenhouse shading for this - a plastic mesh with very fine holes. Other types of mesh will be fine, as long as they don't rust. You can glue them in place using aquarium silicone.

To hide the plastic facing, you can smear it with a layer of aquarium silicone (most house-hold silicones contain fungicides that will harm the newts) and then cover it with dry sand. Allow it to cure (following the instructions for your brand of silicone) and shake off excess sand. You can also use silicone to glue pebbles etc to the plastic as long as they are not too big. Using the and effect wil also allow java moss and similar plants to get purchase on the plastic and grow over it.

Anyway, hope that helps. The tank looks great so far and it is brilliant to see so much planning before buying the animals (so many people do it the other way round)!

Good luck

C

 

[dreadful]

Ok, I've updated my photo album for everyone to see! It's still unfinished but it's about 80% complete. I need a better way to make the land "flow" more naturally into the water. Also, Is this enough land area to raise four juvenile T. verrucosus? Will they need more places to hide?