New to Newts (Pachytriton labiatus)

[arienette]

Hello everyone.

I just acquired/"rescued"/bought two Pachytriton labiatus specimens from a pet store (certainly wild caught.) I am very familiar with the captive care of frogs, and know all of the "common sense" things for keeping captive amphibians, but am doubting myself when it comes to fully aquatic species.

I have them both in a 10-gallon tank with large (3" diameter) stones, some fake plants and filter (for a 10-gallon tank). I also have some PVC pipe elbows and two halves of a flower pot for hides.

The original plan was to separate them immediately, as they are 1) territorial, and 2) already VERY stressed from the import (and the conditions at the pet store didn't help). However, I had set up the second tank with sand for substrate. I know not to use aquarium gravel in case of ingestion (and impaction)...is the same true with play sand? I think I read on the FAQ it was OK as a substrate, but now I'm thinking it could still pose a risk so i put them in the same aquarium for now (they are 1.1 by the way.) The stones don't cover the entire bottom, though, and I think they are having trouble gripping the glass bottom (understandably). Also, neither of the tanks are cycled, and I had planned to do the cycling with them inside with frequent water changes.

Can anyone recommend a substrate I don't have to worry about impaction with? (Is sand OK for this species?)

Also, food? I'm waiting on a shipment of earthworms (they won't take fruit flies or crickets). Will they take these for certain?

Oh, their tank is hovering around 64 Fahrenheit and drops to ~60 at night (digital temps) when the lights go off on my other tanks (they don't have a light on their tank, though).

I guess I'm looking for general suggestions/tips on keeping this species. Thanks in advance for any replies and thanks for reading!

 

[Jennewt]

It sounds like you are off to a good start (other than the stressed condition of the arrivals). I use fine sand in many of my tanks, and I don't think it would pose a problem for Pachytriton. I use a siphon with a gravel-washing attachment to clean it, and this works reasonably well as long as the siphon flow is kept slow enough to not suck up the sand.

If you haven't seen it yet, CC has a good caresheet (see links in my sig line).

 

[arienette]

Thanks Jennewt!

I'm going to separate them today and add sand to the tank they're in now. I had read the care sheet in CC (it was the only information I could find online for the species.) I was just being overcautious, I guess. Not a bad thing, though.


To add to my original post:

I also had a question about plants: would they root in sand? I've found conflicting information about this. And would the tank need a light? The woman at the fish store I bought the filters from was hesitant about selling the plants to me, saying they needed iron and to check the compatibility of iron and newts, but I know many people have planted tanks, so I don't see this as a problem. Do you fertilizer your tanks? Obviously this all depends on the plant species. Any recommendations (or a link to suitable, lower-temp tolerant aquatic plants?)?

 

[Lasher]

Most plants will, yes. A proper aquaria substrate would be preferential though(I like tetraplant, readily available and gives quite reasonable results)
The tank would need a direct light for the majority of plants(anything other than Javamoss really), how much depends on the plant. Some havee very low light requirements which you could provide with a small tube or one CFL.

Large planted tanks may require supplements like iron, but if your just talking about a few simple undemanding plants I wouldnt worry about it. If you want to go more advanced with heavy planting and the like I can give some advice, and theres a couple of good sites about with lots of articles and usefull forums.

I prefer to avoid chemical ferts or anything dropped into the water, in my experience thats just asking for an explosion of algae! You can get slow release nutrient tabs for burying in the substrate, makes life alot easier and they can go p to a year before they need replacing.

 

[Blackhawk IV]

i have a plant in my tank and it gets on fine. i do not use fertilizer and i dont really think you need to worry too much about iron as my newts are fine. also here is a link to an aquarium plant website
http://www.aquarium-gardening.com/index.php

it should give you a wide range of plants to choose from.

i personally dont use sand but i think they should root perfectly well into it.
also i use a light in my labiatus tank which i keep on a timer to turn off at night but various people have said that they dont need much light and in fact may be better off without.

i feed my newts a mixture of bloodworms and chopped prawns however on CC it says that they would like earthworms a lot so you should be ok!

 

[arienette]

Thanks Blackhawk and Lasher. I will be working on a more permanent tank as soon as the newts seem stable enough. My only concern with the lights (even fluorescents) is raising the temperature. I need to keep a relatively high ambient temperature in the Herp Room for my tropical amphibians and snake and getting the temp below 65 F for the newts is proving challenging (constant monitoring and opening windows, ice packs, etc). I'm looking into a chiller for that, though. Thanks for the advice with the plants and substrate. We appreciate it!