Newbie needs some advice re FBNs

[forrestcook]

I recently put my first paludarium together. Well, I'm very happy with how it looks bu I think I've got some issues. First, it's a 20L with four FBNs. I know I'm overstocked at the moment but I have plans to move them all to a 29 when I get some greatstuff and go crazy in there.

I figure my current setup has 7ish actual gallons of water in it. The land is saturated and I'm currently converting some crypts to their emersed form to provide shade etc. The ambient temp runs between 71ish at 5am and 75ish at 5pm. I know it's warm but not a whole lot I can do at the moment about that. I know fans would bring my temp down but would it dry out my newts? I'd by fans if they'd be ok (I read the article on cooling here).

What would be appropriate to house in this paludarium given the current situation? It's about half land half water. I can't post pics from my phone but I have a Thread already existing on another forum... Am I allowed to post a link to another forum here?

I also have a fogger on order but have since learned that it would heat up my water. What specific ultrasonic do you guys use?

 

[Azhael]

That´s WAY too small. And a 29l tank is not any better if it´s still going to be an aquaterrarium. How can a 20l tank hold 7 gallons? Isn´t that more than 20l?
And if it´s a paludarium, hald water, half land..then the maximum water you could have is 10l which is unaceptable for this species.
The minimum for a pair is a 38l tank(full of water).
For 4 adults i´d recomend a 60l to be on the safer side. Could be housed in something smaller but it would require more work.

This species does not require land. It´s fully aquatic when properly cared for and healthy. All you need is a floating piece of cork bark for them to rest on(and they probably won´t use it anyway).

Lower those temps...I assume you got your newts from a pet-shop which means they are WC and their health is most likely pending from a fine thread...They need cool temps to give their inmune system a chance, otherwise infections and other problems may appear.

 

[forrestcook]

My apologies, I was unclear. It's a 20 gallon long (hence the l) aquarium. 30x12 inch footprint I believe. What is WC? And the 29 will be 2/3rds full if not a little more. So 20+ gallons of water in a heavily planted tank. I'm currently shopping for a chiller for the 29.

 

[Azhael]

Oh ok, that´s a lot better xD
WC means Wild Caught. All pet-shop Cynops orientalis are captured in China and imported around the world.


A 29gallon tank can really be a paradise for 4 Cynops. You still don´t need any terrestrial area, it´s a complete waste of space.

 

[Hardwarehank]

Unless you have the money to burn, I would suggest not buying a chiller especially if your temps are hovering at just around 75f. I had temperature issues in my 55gallon where the temperature was also around 75f. I purchased a fan set off of Ebay for around 50 dollars and it has dropped my temps 5-10 degrees! It usually hovers at around 64-65f, never above 68. The main drawback is the noise of the fans though, but I tolerate that pretty well. And with CFBN they are fully aquatic(under the proper conditions) so there should be no need to worry about drying out. Just my recommendation.

 

[newtamander]

A 20g long is what I have for my 3 Chinese fire bellies and they like it so a 29g for 4 would be awesome!

 

[forrestcook]

Well, I spent the better part of last night moving fish around and prepping to give the newts their new home. Later today I'll find something that floats for an above water rest until my tiger lotus grows to the surface. I have a full size plant in my big tank and the pads get pretty big and could surely support the weight of a newt.

I've got some snails in the tank, but there will be no other fish until my white clouds come in on order. I'm very excited to see them swimming about!

My next question is this: one of my four now spends all his time in the water in the current paludarium. I'm not worried about his transition to nearly all water, but what about the other three? Do I just put them in and expect them to adapt or is there some prep work I need to do?

 

[Azhael]

I assume that means you acquired them recently.
As i said they are wild caught, and therefore have gone through a VERY stressing process. As a consequence a lot of them go terrestrial to avoid the terrible water conditions.
If you are lucky and provide an excelent water quality and housing, they´ll go aquatic soon. You just have to place them on the cork bark or turtle dock or whatever you use as terrestrial surface and they´ll venture in the water eventually. Lots of live plants are good to stimulate the transition.
Some individuals may take a long time to go aquatic again...but if housing is ideal, it´s very uncommon.

If you are worried about the possibility of drowning then you can try the standard method used for morphs. It consists on a contained with very shallow water(barely enough to cover the newts) and lots of plants, and a small terrestrial area. Gradually raise the water level, while monitoring the newts response. Feed aquatic foods, and eventually they´ll spend all of their time in the water. Then you can simply transfer to the new aquarium.


Bare in mind that the new aquairum needs to be cycled in order to be ideal for the newts. The terrestrial ones will most likely refuse to enter the water if water quality is not satisfactory.