Trickysprite
New member
My fiancé and I adopted three Chinese firebelly newts (cynops orientalis) (2 female, 1 male) about 7 weeks ago, and I fear that at least one of them is getting a bit overweight.
The newts are kept in a 375 liter tank (150x50x50). Water parameters are good (Ammonium 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <15, Ph stays around 6.5). Temperatures are kept steady 18 degrees celcius (64.4 F), we have yet to give them a cooler period They share the tank with around 20 neocaridina shrimp (they procreate and are impossible to count), 9 Celestial Pearl Danios and a few of their fry. All species appear to get along, there are no fights between them, the fish and shrimp don't bother the newts and vice versa. All species are very active in the tank, all procreate and all are eating very well, perhaps too well.
The shrimp graze algae, and we feed the newts and fish every third day. The newts are fed a mixed diet of night crawlers (1 chopped up each) and frozen bloodworms (0.5 cube to share). It's either or, not night crawler and bloodworms. Both females are gravid although only one of them are laying fertilized eggs (we currently have 6 efts and more eggs in development). The other gravid Newt is laying eggs a lot less frequently, yet, she still looks really chubby. Is this something to be worried about? Can newts get heart problems or other issues from being overweight? Should we cut back on feeding?
We have done extensive research before getting these newts and we want them to be as happy as possible. However, we are still novices so all advice is appreciated!
(Featured images: Image 1: The tank pre animals, Image 2: Chubby Female, gravid but laying few eggs, Image 3: Gravid female laying lots of eggs featured to the left and male newt featured to the right. The pictures are taken during different times of the day, the second one during their "sunset" so it looks more yellow).
The newts are kept in a 375 liter tank (150x50x50). Water parameters are good (Ammonium 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <15, Ph stays around 6.5). Temperatures are kept steady 18 degrees celcius (64.4 F), we have yet to give them a cooler period They share the tank with around 20 neocaridina shrimp (they procreate and are impossible to count), 9 Celestial Pearl Danios and a few of their fry. All species appear to get along, there are no fights between them, the fish and shrimp don't bother the newts and vice versa. All species are very active in the tank, all procreate and all are eating very well, perhaps too well.
The shrimp graze algae, and we feed the newts and fish every third day. The newts are fed a mixed diet of night crawlers (1 chopped up each) and frozen bloodworms (0.5 cube to share). It's either or, not night crawler and bloodworms. Both females are gravid although only one of them are laying fertilized eggs (we currently have 6 efts and more eggs in development). The other gravid Newt is laying eggs a lot less frequently, yet, she still looks really chubby. Is this something to be worried about? Can newts get heart problems or other issues from being overweight? Should we cut back on feeding?
We have done extensive research before getting these newts and we want them to be as happy as possible. However, we are still novices so all advice is appreciated!
(Featured images: Image 1: The tank pre animals, Image 2: Chubby Female, gravid but laying few eggs, Image 3: Gravid female laying lots of eggs featured to the left and male newt featured to the right. The pictures are taken during different times of the day, the second one during their "sunset" so it looks more yellow).