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P.waltl and there native fish species?

Roygbiv

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So I got curious and spent more time than I should have trying to find out what fish would make a grate biotope with p.waltl, I'm not going to make one but curiosity needs to be fed. If it were done what would it look like? Any Caudata heads from Spain or Europe have any ideas on fish, plants, snails, shrimp? I'm sure the SRN would eat everything but there is no harm in discussing what a beautiful Spanish biotope would look like. I'm new to the group and for weeks I read all sorts of threads and finally I came up with a good one of my own lol. Please let me know you thoughts, and before anyone says not to cohabit, this is just a discussion of what it would look like to make a biotope. I haven't ready any threads on this topic so please chime in while I go chop some night crawler up for my wolf back :animal::animal::animal::animal: they heard me typing about them lol
 

Chinadog

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Generally speaking newts don't coexist with fish. Most fish would decimate the newt's eggs and larvae as well as out competing any that survive for the available food sources. Unless it dries up completely from time to time, the introduction of fish into a pond that supports newts will usually mean the newts will abandon it and go in search of somewhere more suitable.
There are some pictures of P. waltl habitat in this link.

Caudata Culture Species Entry - Pleurodeles waltl
 

Roygbiv

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Thanks for the reply china dog but I would have to slightly disagree! Just because a body of water dries up from time to time vernal pool type does not mean there won't be fish present! Killi fish for example...... I'm sure streams that make up other pools of water might also carry small fish like stickler backs, Molly's, Guppies, and othe minnow type fish. These streams and pools could for during a rain or flood. FYI my examples of fish are from my area I don't know what fish are in SRN territory. I see temporary pools with small fish all the time.
 

Roygbiv

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Also there is still the question of other fauna plants shrimp etc.... Any one??? I know there are a few spaniards out there lol. I read p.waltl are sometimes found in cow fields watering holes what else could we find beside cow patties of uneatable source lol
 

Roygbiv

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It was a what if deal, what would a possible biotope look like, plus there are other aspects like local aquatic plants shrimp snail that can be considered. Let's not focus on the cohabitation of the fish guy! But If there was a fish like a rainbow of killi fish or Molly or guppie it would be cool to imagine what it would look like. I understand the risk of cohabiting fish this not about.
 

schmiggle

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Small fish would be eaten by newts and would not necessarily eat newt eggs; larger fish are the real issue, and they would be unable to survive a pool drying up. Shrimp are, I think, the same in that regard as fish.
 

JM29

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Keep in mind that even a small pond represents a huge volume compared to the biggest aquariums we can afford.
As a consequence, in our tanks, we can only recreate a very small extract of a biotope, which can hardly harbour more than one species.
 

chaimdov

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I keep small guppies in my waltl tanks. The waltls are full grown, and the guppies leave them alone. However, they do eat leftover food and fly larve. I have not found any lack of eggs. The guppies are a very small breed, (not even an inch) and the SRN do not bother them.

I tried minnows and goldfish, I found they ate too much and was worried they might wipe out the eggs.
 

Richie373

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I assume that their habitat and biotype would be fairly similar to the biotype we have here in england in the Summer?

Our fish that seem to coexist with newts, or at least are found in the same Ponds/Lakes/Rivers are Sticklebacks, small fish such as gudgeon and baby carp/pike/tench/dace/rudd and roach.

However obviously most would grow too large for the hobby, and sticklebacks provide a significant choking risk! :D

I assume therefore it would be highly planted with things such as elodea, frog bit, duckweed on the surface, and aponogeton species, alongside seasonal plants as Starwort, Lotus plants and water lilies.

Usually they have a muddy or silted bottom, generally not too gravelly apart from in gravel or chalk areas.

Overall, a soft muddy nutrient rich bottom, some wood/stones which is generally highly planted and vegetated in summer with some surface plant cover such as duckweed or water lettuce/hyacinth.

However also as these guys have said, best not to mix any fish with newts, better to be safe than sorry. Even though i know it isn't your intention =) hope that helps
 

ChristineB

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I keep my P. waltl with a small group of platys (currently about 7 fish & 3 newts in 50 gallons) and red cherry shrimp. The water is a little cold for shrimp and they mostly died off. They are fast and I haven't observed them being eaten. My wild type did pick every tiny snail off the glass when they got in on plants. The larger platys mostly avoid getting eaten, but only a fraction of their fry survive and I never see bodies. 99.9% of snaps at fish I've observed are unsuccessful, but once I did see one of my girls catch a small platy. She was sitting there trying to decide how to swallow it; eventually she had to open her mouth to try to shift her grip and it swam away, unharmed (no teeth!) and my poor newt was so disappointed. It was like when I took a live bird away from my cat. :-D I quarantined my fish for over a month before introducing them, and have had no problems in about 9 months, but I don't breed the newts.
 

ChristineB

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Oh, and my P. waltl watch the fish to find out where their pellets are; the nice bright fish act as food beacons so the newts don't blunder around as much. They really suck at finding food on their own.
 

otofrog

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I keep gambusia with my newts. I caught them from a canal in Pennsylvania, I also keep some type of Chinese or Japanese trapdoor snail with them that I got from the same canal. I know you're not supposed to mix fish with them but ribbed newts don't seem as fragile as axolotls or the squishy newts like firebellies. The gambusia and the snail mostly just eat the extra food. The newts tried to eat the fish the first day I added them but after I put in some bloodworms the newts stopped focusing on the fish and don't chase them anymore.
 
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