My H.orientalis and questions

[Isopod]

Hi

I'd like you guys to meet my newts, Azazel (w/ spot on nose) and Samael, my Chinese fire bellies. They're not mature yet, but I guess I have a pair. I keep them in my planted 10 gallon tank with a Hang-on filter (cleaned weekly) and some tank friends. I feed them freshly dug earthworms from my backyard and woodlice, but I also tried to feed them commercially available pellets for newts, which they like.

My tank specs are as follows:
16x10x12 tank 1/4 thick glass
three t5 lamps
co2 tank set w/ bubbles run at 2bps
Plants:
Hygrophilia sp. ( polysperma "sunset", polysperma "green", u.i.sp. "red")
Red lotus Nymphea lotus
Sagittaria Subulata
Pearl weed Hemianthus micranthemoides
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Star grass Heteranthera zosterifolia
Java moss and Flame moss
Tank buddies:
3 Local snails
6 Ruby Tetra
2 Ottocinclos catfish (known as dwarf suckermouths)

Questions:
- I'm planning to add shrimps, do the newts find them tasty? I hope not.
- My tank is hooded and the only gap is on the hang-filter. The newts are aquatic but should I worry about the feeling they might escape?
- T

 

[evut]

Lovely newts, although I think you could fatten them up a bit more. The tank sounds ok but make sure you escape-proof it as soon as possible. They can get out even through tiny gaps and it usually means death for them. Make sure the filter doesn't produce too much current and give them a small land area (a piece of floating cork bark for example).

Regarding tank mates - the fish shouldn't really live in the same tank. Their presence is stressful for the newts. They inhabit fishless bodies of water in nature. Shrimps on the other hand are considered suitable tank mates for newts. They will try to catch them but they are not the greatest hunters so it should be ok in this respect.

Have a look at the articles here and this caresheet.

 

[Isopod]

Hi evut

The outflow of the water from the filter is calm and the current is not strong. Maybe I should lessen the water for about 1/4 cup so that I could put a floating piece of land. A screen top with electrical tape should be fine I guess? :happy:

The light seems to be pretty bright, do these affect the newts? They look fine but I'm still skeptical.I would lessen the lighting right after the plants grow tall since the moss doesn't like bright light too.

I'm trying to combine the idea of having a planted tank set-up with newts in it but when you said that the fishes might put stress on this little guys, I was kind of sad but I'll listen anyways.

Thank you.

 

[Azhael]

The idea of mixing newts with fish is very attractive to many people but is a very bad idea. Most newt species actively seek and inhabit masses of water that contain no fish. They can chemically detect their pressence and will abandon waters that contain fish. By putting them together with no chance of avoiding each other, it´s likely it´ll cause stress which may result in trouble.
Separate them as soon as you can.

The shrimp will be ok. Non-aggressive species like Neocaridina heteropoda make very good tankmates. They´ll clean and process algae, uneaten foods, feces, dead plants, etc. Although it is very unlikely, the occasional shrimp might get eaten by the newts (which is a good snack for them).

I would recommend getting rid of the filter and introducing large amounts of live plants instead. The newts will apreciate it.

Like Eva, said, try to fatten them up a little. They are too thin and could deteriorate rapidly if a heat-wave or some other source of stress appears.
By the way, they are adults, the reason why you can´t tell their gender is because they are thin and stressed, so their secondary sexual characteristics are completely inhibited. Once they fatten up and adapt to captivity, their genders should become very, very obvious.

 

[Isopod]

Hi Azhael

I did what is necessary, I removed the fishes for the benefit of the newts (but still a bit sad)
and transferred them to my other planted tank. I used a double-sided duct tape beside the filter to close the gap. I couldn't remove the filter for the following reasons:
- surface tension (to diminish the oily build-up)
- water quality (my filter media and nitrifying bacteria contributes water quality)
- fecal detritus and food particles

I made it sure that the outflow remains on the upper level so as to not create a current of some sort in the tank, which defies the tranquility the newts enjoy into in the wild. I added neocardinia sp. wild type in the tank.

I'm also into aquascape, which is a growing hobby here in Cebu. Now I find it hard in coping caudate care with my dutch set-up but I'm optimistic about this so I'll just observe for a while.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

Pics to follow

 

[AeonMapa]

Isopod! You're a fellow pinoy so I was wondering how do you keep your newt tank cool? I'm dreading the summer months because i know it's going to be really difficult too keep my tank from overheating :/

 

[AeonMapa]

By the way if you really must put some fish in with your newts, seek out some White Cloud Mountain minnows. I found some at cartimar, not sure where you can get some in cebu, but i Keep 8 along with my newts, as well as about 10 cherry chrimp and they all seem to be thriving! (getting fat and large)

Also, plants and gravel can support a good bacteria colony