<i>Pachyhynobius</i> egg sacs but why?

[frank]

Finally, after 5 years of sharing nice and extremely bitter moments (see picture of the bitewounds in another thread), my Pachyhynobius pair decided to reproduce this year. The eggs are developing and pictures are underway.

 

[TJ]

Sounds like some human couples I know

Congratulations on this. Looking forward to the photos!

 

[mark]

Great news Frank! Finally someone succeeds in breeding them... Looking forward to photos.

 

[erik]

wow! This is monumental! Great job Frank.

Please keep us posted and please post some pics!

 

[michael]

That's great. I'm anxious to see what the temperment of the larvae will be. I have 1 tank with 3 Pachyhonobius that have settled down. They do keep a close eye on me when I'm in the room.

 

[paris]

...."shh, behave, he's in the room"....who knows what they are up to when you are gone mike...

frank-how are you keeping these guys-any idea on the trigger? are these egg sacs like hynobid ones?

 

[frank]

Hi,

Actually I can only guess what would have been the trigger(s). What I did differently compared to the four previous years:
1) the animals were kept cooler in summer (max 20°C)
2) we had a long and fairly cool winter (for Belgian standards) resulting in temperatures between 2-6°C from November until April
3) the animals were kept separate during fall and winter (because of the severe aggression of the male)
Actually, the newts are only sparsely fed, almost exclusively with worms. The aquarium is ridiculously simple: 90x40x30 cm³; just 15 cm of water, gravel for substrate and two (modest) rock piles (providing two "territories"). No aeration, no circulation. Water quality (nitrite, nitrate, ammonium and pH) are checked once every month.
So, basically nothing spectacular.

 

[william]

wow they look completely different to hynobius sacs! how many eggs are there in each?

 

[mark]

I count, 25ish per sac. That is spectacular

. Frank, assuming they are fertile can you do a development series for us?

 

[paris]

wow!!! those egg sacs are amazing! look very much like seed pods- are they fertile?

 

[kamil]

this is fantastic! congratulations frank!

 

[erik]

Those are strange egg sacs. I can't remember ever seeing a Pachyhynobius egg sac in any books, including Chinese language books.

Not that my opinion matters much, but I would consider this to be the biggest breakthrough in salamander breeding in the last several years.

Congrats Frank! Keep us posted.

 

[frank]

Perhaps to temper the enthusiasm a bit: the eggs are fertile BUT not hatched yet! I sadly had to remove part of one egg sac because of fungal growth (some five eggs did not develop).

 

[TJ]

Sorry Frank but you've simply fueled our enthusiasm now by telling us the eggs <u>are</u> indeed fertile

It's really incredible how those eggs are bundled in there so tightly. Looks like a sack of beads. I haven't seen anything quite like it before. I can only imagine the pressure you're under now (from us) to get them to hatch!

With the eggs in such close proximity to each other, it's no wonder you'd want to remove any duds. Regarding removal of part of the sac. I've done this successfully with a H. boulengeri egg sac after being shown how. Before I'd thought it would cause the egg sac to disintegrate, the contents to spill out, but it didn't. It was easy enough because there was ample space between the individual eggs to cut. But it's hard to see how you managed this with yours! Instead of cutting away part of the sac, do you suppose it's possible to use a needle and hypodermic syringe to suck the bad eggs out?

(Message edited by TJ on June 16, 2006)

 

[paris]

or a straw????

 

[frank]

Well,

It would be quite an original death: choking in Pachyhynobius eggs while trying to suck them out with a straw... Unfortunately, I had to do something: eggs neighbouring the affected ones started to die. I first tried to aspirate the eggs using different sized needles. Didn't work. Moreover, the outer layer of the egg sack also showed fungal hyphae. Hence, I "surgically" amputated the bad part. Not easy since the eggs stick together very well. The remaining, hopefully still viable embryos were not damaged in this process so there is still some hope... I transferred the other egg sac to another container to decrease the risk of contamination.

 

[jennifer]

Wow, this is phenomenal! May I use your photo of the egg sacs on Caudata Culture? I wish you best of luck with them!

 

[frank]

Thanks to the "amputation" it is much easier to make photographs of the developing embryos...

 

[paris]

wow!

how long have you had these adults?

 

[erik]

I'm glad to see they are still developing.

Doesn't the DGHT give out some sort of award for this type of thing?