My Cynops orientalis group

[Yahilles]

I keep this species for 2 years now and tried to breed them (when i got only one pair) last spring but my first male escapted when they were just starting Now i have 4 females young male and one terrestial juvenile (not bred by myself) and next spring i will try to breed them. I love those newts - they eat from hand or tweezers and when i cut the plants in their tank, they swim to my fingers and bite them :wacko:
Here are some pics of them:

One female have also laid some unfertilized eggs

Enjoy!

 

[Jennewt]

Beautiful, healthy newts. Keep up the good work!

 

[Slimy2]

Those are some nice looking newts and pics. Do you have any pics of the tank they are in?

 

[xMIDNIGHTx]

Great newts! I would also like to see the tank, looks great from the shots!

Mitch

 

[John]

Yahilles, you should enter our Calendar Competition.

 

[Yahilles]

Oh, i think my photos aren't so good as those in Calendar.

Here's a pic of my tank (63 litres, 60x30x35) where i keep them. It's set by way of "Walstad's Natural Planted Tank", with soil under the gravel, lightning is 1x 15 W 6400K Compact and two 8W 3400K T5 tubes. Plants look like they're happy. Sorry for poor quality of pic, second photo shows lawn of Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Echinodorus tenellus, where newts sometime like to rest in.

And the ground in this aquarium:

 

[Slimy2]

That is a beautiful setup! Thanks for sharing

 

[Yahilles]

Thanks for comments everybody! Here are some more pics of orientalis and female juvenile C. e. ensicauda that i also keep:
Ensicauda:

Orientalis:

Egg:

Yaaawn:

I love to feed them with crickets from tweezers:

 

[xMIDNIGHTx]

Thanks for the setup shot, and the yawn shot is priceless!

 

[Littlelotl]

That is a fantastic newt tank does it take a lot of time to trim? What filter are you using as when ever I try to set up something similar I end up with a filter full of leaf mess (and java moss) what temp is it normaly at also as some of those plants prefer slightly warmer water (which I dont think for one second you have got) do they grow slow as a result? I was thinking an undergravel filter and a low powered internal filter just for some extra ummph.

 

[Yahilles]

Actually filter in their tank is gone (it was Unifilter 360 from AquaEl)- it was only fol mechanical filtration, because plants are taking role of bio-filter in this tank. Temp is 23'C (sometimes even warmer!)
Plants are NOT growing slower, when i had Nymphaea lotus in this tank, i had to remove it cause it grown fast with very big leaves that covered other plants. Trimming is no problem - only making "grass" low with scissors and sometime cut Ludwigia (this plant like lower temperatures). Now on a place of not-growing, weak local plant (Potamogeton perfoliatus) i have beautiful, fast growing Limnophila sessiflora - very good for any newt-aquarium if you have some light.
I see that on this forum really planted tanks are not popular (and popular are opinions like "with live plants it's hard to keep tank clean!"), but i also heard that in UK are lots of problems to buy live plants for aquarium. Here in Poland planted aquarium culture is developing nice. (but any other thing don't do so )
I'm not holding tanks as clean as possible (i only want to have clear water, no "ashes" and algae on plants/wood/lava) because mud in the gravel is additional nutrition for plants, not a poison for newts Care of this tank is just trimming, feeding and small water changes with cleaning any "ashes" by small silicon tube.
Plants in the aquarium for newts are very important and it is good to keep them (the plants) in good condition.

Congratulations if somebody understood what i want to say I'm only 15 and my english is not perfect

 

[Littlelotl]

Thanks I understand what you mean so don't worry :wink: your english is probably better than mine! (I am terribly dyslexic which is why when they got strict on poor english and started ratings on this forum I was quite worried)

Have you ever looked at the aquascaping videos on youtube I think making some tanks like this for newts would be wonderful (dreaming...). Though plastic tubs/ bare tanks are popular its just for ease of cleaning I think everyone can appreciate a beutiful aquarium though, keep up the good work.

 

[tomthlee]

Wow, your photos are crystal clear! I wish I had those kinds of photography skills.

That's a nice combination of plants you have growing in your tank. I have a planted tank as well. It is only half filled with water, so I use pothos with roots in water and then the rest is java moss and java fern. I'll post new photos of my tank in a new thread.

I like the idea of soil underneath gravel. It would definitely help the plants grow and it would help manage the wastes and debris in the tank. I've never thought about that idea myself, but the next time I set up a tank I might follow something like that.

 

[Yahilles]

In this tank i have pothos with roots in the water too - it will be more clear to see on new photos that i plan to take (and upload here). Your tank is very nice - beautiful background.

I like the idea of soil underneath gravel. It would definitely help the plants grow and it would help manage the wastes and debris in the tank. I've never thought about that idea myself, but the next time I set up a tank I might follow something like that.

Good choice! Plants are growing very good and sometimes even becoming red.

 

[keithp]

Is one partial leucistic?

 

[Karp]

Look at the roots on that water lettuce! It's so cute to see them resting on it's leaves as well.