Question: New CFBN in 55 gallon tank

[ivonko]

hello there, noob here,

i finally got my hands onto a chinese fire belly newt and it arrived in the mail today, my tank setup for it is a 55 gallon 4 foot long tank with a turtle style basking dock for him to get onto as needed.

well thats where my question is, as soon as i got him (by mail) i began by acclimating him to the water temp. then i opened his bag and let him in, he made an immediate charge for the basking dock and hasnt gotten off of it since then. i decided im not going to attempt to feed him blood worms till tomorrow because he needs a chance to get used to his new home but is this sort of behavior normal considering that the previous owner stated that this particular newt was always in the water in their tank.

thanks

 

[Jennewt]

See:
Caudata Culture - Frequently Asked Questions
The first question under Health&Behavior is "why won't my newt go in the water".

How deep is the water, is it still or agitated, are there plants or other hiding places in the water? Etc. A photo of the setup might be useful.

 

[ivonko]

thank you so much for the link ive been scouring the web for days looking for something like that, ill post a picture of my setup for all to see today, there are fish in the tank but they are small white cloud minnow, possibly even food size for the newt (im ok with him eating them haha)

here is the pic, all the plants in the tank are live

 

[Azhael]

The fish won´t help at all. The newt may choose to abandon the water if it senses the chemical pressence of fish, as they do in the wild. Even if that doesn´t happen, the fish will cause a certain amount of stress.

If you just bought the newt, in all likelihood it is highly stressed. A very common result of the stress and bad conditions these animals endure is that many will go terrestrial.
If this happens, the animal will only return to the water if conditions are optimal. The best way to ensure they are is by providing a fully cycled tank with ridiculous amounts of live plants.

Ok, just saw the pciture. While it is a very nice tank (i wish i had a 55 gallon...) it is not currently suitable for the newt, specially an stressed newt.
It can drown in such a set-up. It takes a lot of effort to access the surface from the bottom and only fully aquatic animals are capable of that. They also dislike open spaces as it makes them vulnerable.
I´d advice you to acquire lots and lots of plants, particularly plants that will reach the surface quickly and form mats of floating vegetation. That´s what your newt likes and that´s what will make it feel safe and allow ir to reach the surface much more effortlessly.

By the way, now that you have found this site you´ve hit the motherload. There is enough information inside the forums and on the CC articles (check my signature) to make your eyes bleed. You can check the Cynops/Hypselotriton section or use the search fucntion to access threads discussing this species (there are hundreds and hundreds of them).

 

[jane1187]

Sorry, not going to be much help here cause I agree with all advise currently given, and the lighting won't help with your newt settling in, but...

That's a great tank for a newt! 4ft all to himself! Lucky newt!

 

[JoshBA]

I would also worry about the water flow produced by your filters. As far as I know newts do not enjoy any water current.

 

[maisy]

Try a submersible filter and put the setting on low. Fire bellies do not like a strong current. Consider a large item that reaches near the top for the newt to rest on. I have a fake bonzai tree that is very aesthetically pleasing, combined with lots of live plants.