Mystery egg on my elodea plant!

[Essad96]

I recently found what seems to be an amphibians egg in an elodea strand I keep in my juvenile C. Orientalis tank, who have been converted to fully aquatic. I just needed a proffessional's opinion on whether it IS an egg or something else.. and if it was an egg, what species could it belong to (based on size and colour of egg) I will go back to the store where I bought the elodea from and ask where he gets it from, any geographical info could give a clue of what amphibian it is based on where it lives. I took a photo of it when I first saw it, but I lost it when I searched later in the day. Perhaps my newts ate it? I also couldn't find anymore (yet) if there are any. Sorry for the quality of the photo, the egg was really small and I had to zoom in with my phone.

P.S. does it even look fertilized? There was no fungus or any fuzz on it. Also, the reason I want to find out is because I currently keep the tank at 20°C or less. If the animal turns out to be a frog from a warmer climate, I wouldnt want it to die in the cold water suitable for newts.

 

[Niels D]

The picture isn't good enough to be exactly sure, but it seems to have a transparant membrane and a brown round/oval core.If so, than it's probably a newt egg. I don't know what size/age your newts have, but it could be a C.orientalis egg if they're >2 years old. Considering the size of the egg I would say that it's a bit smaller than a regular C.orientalis egg, but the Eleodea could be a larger variety than I have at home.

 

[Essad96]

Thank you for your reply, forget the eggs! I found two tiny tadpoles! It was when I was going to perform a water change in my same tank! I noticed one and at first I thought it was a mayfly's larvae ( I get those alot as elodea hitchhikers) till I zoomed in on it. So I removed all plants in the tank, and all the newts in it to find that there was another tadpole hiding in the debris. I moved both of them to a jar of their own, temporarily. I still have doubts that theyre C. Orientalis tadpoles because I haven't seen any of my adult newts mate or even perform any mating rituals. When I first saw the egg though, I assumed it came with the elodea already and not the newts so I might be wrong. Heres a couple of pics of the babies and their alleged parents, I hope these help you more than the egg picture haha!

 

[stanleyc]

Thank you for your reply, forget the eggs! I found two tiny tadpoles! It was when I was going to perform a water change in my same tank! I noticed one and at first I thought it was a mayfly's larvae ( I get those alot as elodea hitchhikers) till I zoomed in on it. So I removed all plants in the tank, and all the newts in it to find that there was another tadpole hiding in the debris. I moved both of them to a jar of their own, temporarily. I still have doubts that theyre C. Orientalis tadpoles because I haven't seen any of my adult newts mate or even perform any mating rituals. When I first saw the egg though, I assumed it came with the elodea already and not the newts so I might be wrong. Heres a couple of pics of the babies and their alleged parents, I hope these help you more than the egg picture haha!

They look like orientalis larvae to me.

 

[Niels D]

C.orientalis of that size can reproduce for sure. I guess you've got them to breed, because those larvae look like C.orientalis. Check the foto's in this thread for comparison:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...ps-hypselotriton/81578-h-orientalis-eggs.html

 

[Essad96]

Wow, the larvae from the thread really do look like mine. I dont know if you can see it from the pictures, but one has already started growing front and back legs. Are they usually lethargic? They don't seem to be moving much, and I haven't seen them eat yet. I placed a japanese moss ball inside with them because I've always noticed these tiny, almost microscopic critters swimming in and out of them. Hopefully they might work as a source of food for now. It's really amazing that my Orientalis bred, especially since our winters barely reach 12°C and we've just entered summer. I've also never seen my females become gravid. I don't even know how the larvae survived without me providing food.