Questions About Newts

[vwilliams]

I am thinking about getting two fire bellied newts and I was wondering if they eat fish fry? If so, what kinds of fish do you recommend for them to eat? I was thinking Gambusia. However, they are really hard to find in my current location because they are not popular in pet shops. Also, I am looking for a fish that mates regularly (a few days apart) and can stand the temperature of the water the newts will be in. I figured I could just feed the excess to my bettas. Do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[Jan]

Feeder fish are a very poor quality food source for newts (thus not recommended) and keeping newts and fish together can result in disasterous outcomes. As someone new to the hobby, please read these articles from our Caudata Culture section - you will find them full of very useful information:

Caudata Culture Articles - Foods

Caudata Culture Articles - Fish with Caudates

Caudata Culture Species Entry - Cynops orientalis - Chinese firebelly

 

[rigsby]

If you get adult fire bellies they will be 99.9% aquatic and will readily eat frozen blood worm as a staple food, you can get this from any tropical fish store or most pet shops will stock them.

 

[JWERNER]

Seeing that you are asking about fry I assume your raising your own?

If that is so as long as you take care of the fry and dont do anything that could introduce disease or parasites they would be fine. The one thing is that most fish can easily get away from a newt. Check around the forum and you will find some discussions on this.

 

[Crysta]

I think with newts most people will just recommend bloodworm - I do, IMO they are one of the best food sources.

My only suggestion is, don't bother with trying to feed them fish, you can give them a nice stable diet with aquatic insects, and worms.
but Jan's just about covered this entire thread.

 

[JWERNER]

DO NOT use blood worms as a staple. They can cause impaction/constipation. They are great food and I used them a few times a week but I would not recommend using them as a staple.

I avoided this advice myself and it was a hard lessen learned. The newt did fine in the end but Im sure it wasn't a comfortable experience for him.

 

[Azhael]

They can cause impaction??

The problem with bloodworms is that they are nutritionally incomplete, and in the long run, if used as an staple, they will cause severe nutritional deficiencies. As part of a varied , healthy diet, with earthworms as an staple, they are great, though.

 

[Crysta]

Mealworms are the only commonly used food I believe are likely to cause impaction.

 

[JWERNER]

They can cause impaction??

Yes as in they become impacted with worms themselves and do not digest fully.

If you research it a bit you will find this out. It also occurs in fish that are feed to many blood worms. Im not saying dont feed blood worms, Im saying dont do it as a every day item. It will cause problems and I regreted that when I found my self soaking my blue tail in a salt bath once a day till he passed a mondo turd.

I agree meal worms can cause impaction but I personally never heard of anyone feeding a newt meal worms.

IMO the best staple diet is a varied routine. Pellets and worms of different types. Keep the diet varied and you will get the best part of each item.

I do believe fish would be fine if you are raising them but the problem I see with that and the reason I would not do it myself is only cause they have a hard time catching them. Otherwise they would be a great source of nutrients. Especially if you are the one feeding the fry and know they are great a good balanced diet as well.

 

[Azhael]

The only cases of bloodworm related impactions i have heard of have been with freeze-dried, which are rubbish anyway and there´s no point in using them...
Could you link to some examples of what you comment?

Fish are ok as an occasional treat, but as a consistent part of the diet they are highly inadequate for the vast majority of caudates. Very few species are specialized fish eaters. Those who are not, digest vertebrate flesh poorly, and it´s too caloric, so if abused, will cause obesity (very dangerous thing, obesity) and nutritional disorders.
Used sparangly, they are not a problem.

 

[Jan]

I would agree with Azhael here regarding fish as food. But we've gone beyond the original poster's question as someone new to keeping newts, perhaps unsure of exactly what to feed a newt (even perhaps how to care for it), and I got the impression that (s)he might want to use fry as a staple and was asking what kind of live fish is recommended for newts to eat.

For the experienced caudate keeper using some types of feeder fish as an occasional supplement to an otherwise balanced diet may be one thing - certain fish have spines, are aggressive, etc and should never be used. Freshwater fish in general tend to have a lot of saturated fats - not healthy. There is also the concern of introducing pathogens. There are just many variables that need to be considered, I think, before saying feeder fish should/can be used as a food source for caudates. I haven't researched this in quite awhile (and didn't find anything when I did) but does anyone know the nutritional breakdown of guppies and minnows...lipids/types, protein, vitamins, minerals, etc.?

 

[Crysta]

A varied diet of Earthworm, bloodworm, wax-worm, daphnia, brine shrimp, and black mosquito larvae is very easy to maintain (as in the supply of them is always readily available from most pet stores) and very easy to feed to amphibians.

this is what I'm suggesting to the Original Poster. Feeder fish should be quarantined ect for quite some time before feeding, and may just not be worth the trouble. Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters
Also I suggest you take a look at this article, particularly about the storeys surrounding spines penetrating newt's skin.

No idea of the nutrients in guppies/minnows ect.

Also never heard of bloodworms causing impaction and as Azhael the freeze dried kind (of anything) are completely pointless anyway. those things are like if we were to eat and apple that's had all of the insides taken out of it, but probably less nutritious.

 

[Abrahm]

As the others have been saying, avoiding fish as a staple diet would probably be best. They are very dense in calories compared to the newts normal invertebrate prey. I would specifically avoid Gambusia as they are a very aggressive fish and might be prone to nip at slow moving newts.

I don't find a source, and I can't find the post, but Ed Kowalski was known to say that of the fish that are available to feed, livebearers are the best nutritionally. Wild type guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are probably your best choice in this category based on temperature preferences, size and aggression.

 

[JWERNER]

The reason why blood worms cause constipation if fed as a staple is the levels of protein. Its really that simple. I dont understand why people are not reading what I type and getting the full effect. Some seem to be reading between the lines Again, they are a good food to add into the routine but should not be fed as a staple item!:happy:


Im trying to find my post on this from a few years ago but I cant dig it up.

I had a bloated newt and someone suggested it was constipation. I had no clue why and someone suggested to much bloodworms. It cleared up and I was ignorant and didnt take the advice. It happened again. I took him off bloodworms and it never happened again. To ironic considering I had similar problem with other aquatics fed bloodworms as a staple. Maybe some other variable needs to be present such as water temps and so forth. I couldnt think of any but why risk it?

 

[Crysta]

I'm certainly not dismissing what you're saying, have just never heard of that happening with bloodworms.
Earthworms as a staple (which I think is best) and a bit of variety should take out the risk of that happening.