Products for new tanks

[fire_newt]

Hello all! I'm in the process of building a new tank for my CFBN and I have a few questions about setting it up. I used Great Stuff to make a space for them to crawl out of the water and carved a little cubby hole that the can hide in, but I'm stuck as of right now. I sprayed the great stuff out side of the tank so that it could be removable (just incase I messed up) but it doesn't fit quite right. There is a large gap on one side of the tank that the foam won't sit in right. Any suggestions for filling the gap? Also, what do I paint the foam with that won't harm my newts? and what is cocoa power that every one talks about, how is it used, glued on, and kept in place? (Sorry i know this is getting long) and is is better to use sand or pebbles? I know that you shouldn't use small rocks because the newts could suck them up while eating, but couldn't they also do the same thing with sand? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, and I'm sure I'll come up with more questions as this progresses (I'm a nuisance like that)

 

[fire_newt]

also, what about moss? I heard of people gluing moss to their great stuff pads, but wouldn't it start to rot after a while? and what kind of plants would be best for my newts? I'd like to get rid of my fake plants and replace them with the real thing.

 

[bichogrilo]

Coir Fibre (Coco Peat) is the product your thinking of, and i am pretty sure you use aquarium silicone to attach it. I am looking at doing something with it myself there are some awesome examples of what people have done with polystyrene, aquarium glue, and the coco fibre in the vivaria, enclosures section of the forum, my favourite one being done by newtboyuk look in the photos and pictures of vivariums section of the forum. I might have managed to make a link.

 

[fire_newt]

I'v been patrolling the vavarium section, but the only info I ever get from them is what they did, not why or how it holds up, but I'll keep looking.

UPDATE: I just went and bought more great stuff to fill in the gap.... I'm not really sure if this is going to work or not, but I'll give it a try. I placed a bag between the glass and the foam, in an attempt to keep the foam from somehow attaching itself to the silicone. (I don't know if this would really happen, but I'm not willing to chance it.) I had a lot of foam left over so sprayed some random shapes in the hopes of carving them into hiding holes.

I also went to the store and was looking for the black aquarium silicon and I couldn't find any. any suggestions on where to look?

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Most Cynops are primarily aquatic. You may want to rethink your build before you go further with it.

 

[fire_newt]

Johnny O. Farnen:

Newton is primarily aquatic, but Izzy likes to bask sporadically of long periods of time. Plus the foam crawlout space will only take up a small corner of the tank and will act as a dry area, under water hiding hole, and plant holder. I'll try and post a picture as soon as the foam is set enough that I can remove the plastic bag.

 

[bichogrilo]

Most Cynops are primarily aquatic. You may want to rethink your build before you go further with it.

If you have cynops breeding then having a part aquatic, part terrestrial setup makes sense as the juveniles will be landbased for around a year, while the adults will be in the water and as they seem to breed so easily there could always be some on land.
having that setup is, in my opinion, a practical and visually interesting way of doing things. :happy:

 

[Azhael]

A small terrestrial part is very unlikely to work for raising Hypselotriton orientalis. The morphs will crawl onto it, but once they do i´d recommend separating them and raising them in their own enclosure. That will make feeding them a lot easier and will prevent drowning. This is not the easiest species to raise...
All that volume would better be used for more water. The larger the volume of water, the better for you and the newts, as it will be more stable, easier to maintain, etc.

If one of your newts regularly leaves the water for long periods of time to "bask", i´d start checking the water parametres. If you´ve acquired them relatively recently, it could be just stress, after all, those poor animals have gone through hell. If you´ve had them for a while, then it´s most likely an issue with water quality, which you should really try to mend as soon as possible. A healthy, well adjusted adult of this species will be 100% aquatic or close. They may make the odd, short incurssion into land, to rest a little or avoid an annoying male, but if it´s for a prolonged time, be wary..


Aquaterrariums are indeed very aesthetically pleasing, but practical, that they are not xD

 

[fire_newt]

Thank you bichogrilo. I'm not really interested in breeding, I just want to give my newts a nice tank to live in, maybe in the future when I'm satisfied, but I don't see how this is such a bad thing. The newts are not stressed, I've owned them for a few years now and they do not show any signs. Let me also corrects myself. Maybe once a month Izzy will crawl out of the water to bask, but her skin never drys out (she'll stay out for no more that a few hours, which i count as a long amount of time, as CFBN's spend almost all their time in the water). Is it really so bad that I want to give them a tank upgrade and improve their home?

 

[Azhael]

Of course not, nobody said it was :S
The newt that leaves the water for hours on end could be just because of individual preference, or could be a sign of fluctuations in water quality. That´s why i suggest that you check the water parametres just to be safe.
Advicing you to provide as big a volume of water as you can is not criticism, it´s good advice. Sacrificing water volume in order to have a land area is not a practical idea with this species as they will almost never (or never, as is the case of most individuals) use it if conditions are good enough. At most, all you need is a piece of floating cork bark for them to haul onto, or plenty of plants reaching the surface which they can use to rest on (this is highly advisable). Of course it´s up to you what you do with the tank, we are just trying to point you in the direction of what´s demonstrably best, which in this case is as much water as you can provide.

 

[fire_newt]

I understand your concern, I guess I'm just getting snappy because I asked a bunch of questions, but none of them are being answered because everyone is telling me that I don't know what I'm doing.... which is true to a point and is why I asked for help. Sorry if I gave everyone the wrong impression. I can only assume that everyone thinks I'm going to be filling half my tank with foam, which I'm not, I'm just using a small corner.