New To Eastern Newt Care And terraforming.

[Scarn_Sans]

Hello! I wanted to know what to do to make a decent eastern newt tank! (The newts are 80% living in water, then the last 20% on land)
I wanted to mainly Know...
What Substrate Should I use for plant growth?
What Plants Should I use? I have a pretty dark home, no natural light. Should I get a light for the plants? What should I get if so?
What wood should I use for landscaping? I know a few are very bad But Im not quite sure which ones I should use for newts.
General Population Of the newts should be 5/6 Correct? If not, how many should I have in a colony?
Whats the preferred Water Parameters That I should Have? Should I fish-cycle the tank?

Finally...
I want some other critter to do muck cleanup, but I know Eastern Newts Are Colder Water. Even if they werent. Plecos, Apple Snails, Coryda, And I BELIEVE Shrimp Are not suitable as they can be dangerous to them. And likewise. Is there anything I can put in with them that will do good as muck cleanup, or am I stuck without?

(Edit: One more! Is there a way to adjust them to pallets Over live feeding worms? I know I have to do a balance, but they REFUSE to eat pallets. Even stinkier ones that should bring them in. I also know soft pallets are the way to go! <3)

Any answers would be appreciated and tysm! <3

 

[minorhero]

Hello,

If they are in their green adult form they can (and pretty much should be) kept aquatic. If you want some sticks or rocks jutting through the water's surface that's perfectly fine, but don't waste tank space on an actual land section.

If you lookup YouTube videos on low light or low tech aquascaping you will find quite a few beginner videos on how to make a planted tank. All of those videos are relevant and can be used when planning their tank. Wood sold for aquariums in fish stores will work fine for the newts (typically spider wood, driftwood, or bogwood). If you use wood from the wild, I would remove the bark first as it will degrade and fall apart pretty quickly (within a few months) in an aquarium making a mess as it does so. Generally hardwoods are aquarium safe if its dried (that means years of air drying or weeks/months of kiln drying). If you are unsure of a wood from the wild, then don't use it.

People like to keep them in alkaline waters but they do fine in neutral ph as well. Temperature is the real thing you need to worry about after cycling your tank. They want it cool, 60s F all the time. You can achieve that best by keeping your house in the low 70s and then putting a fan blowing on the water's surface which will reduce the temperature in the water up to 6 degrees below room ambient.

You will need a light for the tank. Aquarium lights are pretty easy to come by. Again referring to aquascaping videos will be helpful.

You will need a top of some kind for the tank as they can climb glass. Not well, but well enough to get out. They can not however go upside down. So a lid that goes around the edge but leaves the middle open is fine. Most people just use mesh lids.

With plants you will need a means of fertilizing the plants to keep them healthy. The easiest is to use an all-in-one aquarium fertilizer like nilocg Thrive or Aquarium co-op easy green. This last is somewhat controversial. I use this method for all of my tanks with great success including but not limited to breeding and raising the larva. But other people refuse to do so. It just depends on whether you want your plants to live and look good. If you do, you will need some amount of nutrients for them. If you don't want to keep them with plants, or don't care how good the tank looks, you can skip the fertilizer. Just make sure to do big weekly water changes either way and it will be fine.

Cleanup crew for them is typically snails. Ramshorn snails and larger sized amano shrimp are my go-to. They usually can't eat the bigger amano shrimp and the snails out breed their casual snacking. Good luck!