Information on the care of Taricha torosa

[Swirlysnowflake]

Hello! I have some egg cases of the newt species Taricha torosa, and I was wondering how to best care for them. They are currently in a deli cup filled with water inside my house. I’m planning to 50% water changes every day like newt egg care sheets say. I’m also planning to start culturing daphnia (moina) and microworms (in case of a daphnia crash). Would those two be an appropriately sized feeder for newly hatched Taricha torosa? There is not much information about them on google, so I’m just going by general larval newt care.
Also, I’m going to set up a tank for the larvae right now, so it has time to cycle and stuff. How many larval newts could a 5 gallon hold? Would a 10 gallon be better to use?
I’ve attached pictures of the eggs, would anyone be able to tell me about how long the eggs will take to hatch from now?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions! lol

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

Anyone?

 

[Roughskinned]

I have seen this, and unfortunately there is very little info out there on the Taricha genus. I am by no means an expert, but in several videos I have seen, breeders have fed daphnia, black worms, and baby ghost and amano shrimp, as well as baby pond snails. Seems like a wide diversity is key.

I would always use the 10 gallon over a five as young newts can be very sensitive to water quality and the 10 will provide much more of that than a 5.

 

[Roughskinned]

Hey swirlysnowflake - how are these california newts doing? I thought I had just purchased a group of T. Granulosa, but it seems now that they are torosa. Have you done any breeding/ how are you housing them? Mine are currently in a 40 breeder half water half land

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

I actually do not have any adult newts, as I just purchased these eggs. But the eggs look very close to hatching, with clearly defined eyes, gills, and heads. I’ve got two 5 gallon tanks cycling for the larvae when they hatch (the baby newts are supposedly incredibly tiny!, as well as a culture of microworms and soon a culture of daphnia. Unfortunately, there’s not much information on the care of this species so I’m using the general larval newt care found online.

 

[Roughskinned]

Yeah i hear they area super tiny. Im going to be looking to breed mine in the future, so ive been looking for info on breeding them, but it seems there’s even less info on torosa than other members of taricha

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

While raising the larvae, does there have to be some sort of substrate in the aquatic tank? (Sand, gravel, or just plain?)

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

And is it alright to keep them with mystery snails?

 

[Roughskinned]

I wouldn’t see an issue with keeping larvae with mystery snails, but then again I have never tried it so I wouldn’t know. All larvae I have ever raised were kept alone. Additionally, I don’t think there has to be a substrate, but I would recommend one if you are going with the “dirty tank method”. This is because the substrate provides a nice shelter for small organisms (baby caudate food) to use and thus remain in the tank longer. I have done “clean tank methods” with no substrate with similar success

 

[Swirlysnowflake]

And the eggs are hatching! About half are already hatched, the rest on their way

 

[Roughskinned]

Awesome!!! Im so excited for you! Taricha is really a wonderful genus.