N. strauchii behavior with fish

[sal]

Hello all, I am considering a large stream tank for my strauchii and was contemplating adding some schooling fish (e.g., zebra danios). My strauchii are currently very bold but I am concerned that adding fish to their tank may cause them to grow shy. I read a paper on this species by Serge and it was noted that at the only location where strauchii occurred with a fish species (Cyprinidae if i recall) the animals were noticeably shyer. any thoughts??
Thanks!

 

[ryan]

Mixing fish with salamanders isn't a good idea check this out http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml. If you wan't to keep these fish keep them in a separate tank.

I don't want to sound like a hypocrite but I have white cloud mountain minnows with a mudpuppy but she is huge compared to the fish.

 

[jennifer]

I do know someone who keeps strauchii with white cloud minnows, and he has not had a problem with the newts becoming shy. However, I'm not advocating putting fish with them.

Another thing that would make white clouds a better companion species than danios is that they tolerate cold better (easily down to 45F). WCM are similar in size to danios and are also schoolers. Do you have any plans to incorporate a chiller into this tank setup?

 

[sal]

I was not going to use this tank for their winter/breeding tank; I realize that zebras can't go much lower that the mid to upper sixties. With this display tank (a 55 gal), I was hoping to get away with not using a chiller at all. I have been pretty successful at keeping the water temps below 70F (even in dead of summer here in LA) with very strong and continuous air (i.e., evaporative) cooling...all made possible thanks to our low relative humidity, of course.

I currently have white clouds in another tank with some marms...with no probs. I just think that zebras are more active and tighter schoolers than white clouds.

 

[craig]

I have four almost adult strauchii with several fish, including white clouds, a Hong Kong Goby, a platy, and a weather loach. It's a very happy busy tank and everyone gets along fine - although the newts definitely rule the tank. One thing, though, I make frequent water changes.

 

[frank]

We found N. strauchii in one mountain stream living together with some cyprinid fish (although I would certainly not recommend accompanying newts with fish in an aquarium).

 

[sal]

Yes, Frank, I believe that was the observation I was thinking of, thank you. Do you recall the average size of that fish species, and do know whether it was a naturally occurring species or an exotic?