Paramesotriton habitat

The river there looks really fast and shallow with very few 'lowvelocity nearbank situations', so how come mine don't like almost any current?
Also, I read somewhere that hongkongensis starts breeding from october to november. That field trip was in the end of october and the temp was 26C, so would rising tank temps induce breeding?
Chris
 
Chris, I came across that page a few years ago. It seems like just another example of conflicting Paramesotriton info. In China, P. hongkongensis isn't even currently considered a real species, it's a subspecies of chinensis. Other articles on Hong Kong newts from China say that they only occur in Hong Kong and a tiny track of land on the adjacent mainland and that they are very rare and protected. But meanwhile, hong kong newts continue to show up in pet stores across the world in huge numbers. Take what you read online with a grain of salt. Hit the scientific journals or captive care experiences of hobbyists instead.
 
The WWF's office in Hong Kong has this to say about hongkongensis in its factsheet:

"The Hong Kong Newt Paramesotriton hongkongenisis, a species endemic to Hong Kong, is also under threat as it is sold for aquarium pets. This species has been protected under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance since May 1992".

http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/pdf/references/factsheets/factsheet7.PDF

While the University of Hong Kong's Department of Biology and Diversity has this to say in its newsletter:

"...the WAPO...should be revised to provide total protection to the listed animals; the ordinance specifies, for example, that only when a protected animal offered for sale is taken in Hong Kong is it considered an offence. The sale of metamorphosing Hong Kong Newts, as an example, is difficult to regulate because the shop owner can always claim these animals are from outside Hong Kong so long as the species is not CITES-listed and requires no export/import permits."

http://www.hku.hk/ecology/porcupine/por25/25-vert-fwfish.htm
 
Yeah, it's a strange situation. To me, it's pretty clear that hongkongensis is a real species which is clearly different from chinensis, but then look at this from the Chinese Atlas of Amphibians

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/amphib_query?special=maps&genus=Paramesotriton&species=chinensis

And then this page from the American Museum of Natural History

http://research.amnh.org/cgi-bin/herpetology/amphibia?genus=Paramesotriton&species=chinensis

Seems doubtful to me that all the pet store animals could be coming from such a rare animal in such a small area as Hong Kong. There must be larger populations on the mainland somewhere.
 
I have two CAPTIVE BRED Hongkongensis from an aquatic store in Hartfordshire. The guy who ran it was one of the few, rare petsore owners who actually cared about his stock animals. He had the newts in a specially cooled, semiaquatic tank and fed them every other day. If only all pet stores were like that...
Anywho, maybe more animals that come in through the pettrade are captive bred than we assume. There is (inBritain at least) very little or no info about the animals in the store, and very often they are incorrectly named. Possibly the Chinese/or Hong Kong???ese??? suppliers have breeders of their stock. A contact of mine has many links in petstores, and vetually evry hongkongensis that comes into sock are captive bred subadults. Another thing, Chinese newts, in particular warties are becoming hard to come by in my area, so I guess I won't be getting a female for my fuzhongensis then... Any help in this field would be grately appreciated.
Chris
 
Me again,
another contradictory source. In the 'Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians'-It's a big red book that's really expensive, it says that all paramesotriton live in cool moving water except hongkongensis which lives in relatively warm, still or very slow moving water with heavy plant growth. It says to maintain them like cynops ensicauda.
Now I'm confused
crazy.gif
!!!
Chris
 
Haha..yeah. Get used to it. I think we're all just going to have to bide our time until some good, solid research is published.
 
Well, all I can say is that keeping this newt in captivity has lost its appeal for me (sigh...). Considering the wide variety of newts out there, this one's not so stunning as to be worth the trouble. They generally either arrive in stores sickly and weakened and then die, or die within days/weeks/months for whatever other reason (including ignorance of their requirements). While easy to keep in the larvae stage, they are troublesome after morphing. Some may appreciate the "challenge", but not me.

Having disparaged hongkongensis, I'm hasten to add that I'm perfectly content with my caudopunctatus, chinensis, fuzhongensis and guanxiensis, and find these Paramesotritons all to be hardy and easy to care for. I'm still interested in hongkongensis --just not in keeping it captive
lol.gif
 
I know what you mean... The worst I have seen was a female I bougtht. It looked well fed and normal size, but it turned out to be gravid! The poor thing must have not fed for months. There was nothing I could do for it and it died in a few days...
Unfortunately for me, I can't find a female fuzhongensis for my male... any help with this in theUK or those willing to ship would be very wellmet.
Thanks Chris
 
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