Setup kaiserii adults

[emanuele]

HI!! i am Emanuele, from Italy. I will buy neurergus kaiserii next november, i have found it!! but i don't know what kind of setup make, i have heard it is difficult to keep becouse it needs a very clean setup, without bacteriae, virus & co. is it true ? is the strauchii so difficult too ?

bye bye
Ema

 

[reinder]

Hi emanuelle,

i heard about kaiseri coming into the trade and that there is a list where you can put your name on.one thing is that it,s not sure at all whether these are coming this way, i hope not.
they are not cb bred ones and since kaiseri has been bred in the past i would think it,s not wise to buy these animals,also n. kaiseri is not a species wich you can compare with triturus or other more (easier) species, my thoughts , read the forums here about this species and learn from it!!!, don,t buy them because they are special,. just my two cents

greetings reinder

 

[sergé]

Incredible that you will buy animals without knowing how to keep them...but if you want to waste money...they are very sensible creatures, and very shy to light. See on the other issues already written on this subject. I would not recommend them if you are not expericenced with Neurergus in the first place.

 

[emanuele]

i have heard a lot of things. someone told me that there must be sterility in the water, no virus or bacteriae. i only would know if is better an acquarium without anything(only rocks) or is better an aquarium with plants ecc.
i just would know if is possible to keep them in the water or if i need a dry part.

i have read a lot of kaiserii. i do not know where to read...can you tell me ??

bye

 

[sergé]

The problem is that everbody has it's own theories. As you must have read somewhere else John Clare animals died within a few days without any logical cause. There is therefor no fixed recept that works for this species. Especially when the animals are wild caught they can have had stress, infections and all kind of other problems before they end up in your tank. Read the message by frank Pasmans on tylototriton kweichowensis for instance.
Sterile water is of course impossible, the animals themselves always have bacteria with them, and how should you feed the animals then? With sterile food? I think if they are adults you should not keep them fully aquatic all year long, but only in breeding season. We only know very little about their habitat in the wild.
If they rally come on the market I would advise to keep every individual in a easy cleanable set up. Something like a moist kitchen towel, with some pieces of bark or ceramic where they can hide in a well ventilated terrarium. Best put them in a dark place, with very little daylight. As they don't like light. And then hope they start eating....

 

[emanuele]

can you all tell me something more ?? it is interesting, a lot interesting....

bye

 

[sergé]

Well, I can only tell you about the raising of larvae. As I have bought my animals from a german breeder three years ago as larvae (then already for a lot of money).
They were captive bred and in a good condition, so that is a lot different from import animals. A german article by Schmidtler and Schmidtler (Salamandra ,1970) who wrote about the first Neurergus kaiseri they took with them from Iran illustrates that these animals are very sensitive to transport conditions. They transported them indivudally, but still lost animals.
Raising the larvae is not very diificult, altough they are very sensitive to water changes. When I cleaned the tank a bit and filled it with clean water all larvae began to float with swollen bellies due to the biological and chemical changes in the water quality. I raised them in a simple aquarium with plants. No running water. And I fed them with a variety of food items which they all ate well. Still of the 6 larvae I bought, 1 larvae died of this swollen belly and one larvae had problems with metamorfosing and died of gill infections.

 

[juraj]

A call for geneticist: cultivate kaiserii like marked and coloured pleuros

 

[sergé]

They would be much better, nicer and easier to keep. Day active, no problems in breeding. You are right! I once caught a flavistic Pleurodeles poireti and took it home, but the yellowish parts disappeared sadly enough...

 

[emanuele]

some good advice to give me? i will receive strauchii, barani & kaiserii....

pphotos of setups ?

thanks

 

[kaysie]

Why is it people that are totally incapable of keeping exotic newts are the ones who want them the most? Or is it that those who are more educated realize they can't possibly keep these?

Emanuele: you've not taken the advice of the forum. These animals are extremely hard to keep. Even if you've been keeping newts since the day you were born, they're hard to keep. For beginners, they're a NO-NO

 

[frank]

Hi,

I raised N. kaiseri from captive bred juveniles. They have bred past winter and I am raising the larvae at this moment. Contrary to most of the messages posted, until now, I did not find these animals more difficult than a lot of other newts BUT 1) they were captive bred 2) (and already mentioned before) they certainly are not rewarding pets since they are extremely shy and photophobic (even the larger larvae). I wonder why the rarest newts appear to be the most attractive ones for a lot of people... These newts are quite beautiful but even trying to make pictures of the courtship behaviour using flash lights results in panicking newts... Moreover, I think it is just not ethical that these animals are exported from Iran (the known distribution area is really extremely small). Concerning the water quality: a sterile set up is (besides being impossible to realize) highly undesirable, bacteria being necessary for the breakdown of e.g. nitrogen waste products. What is more important (not only for Neurergus) is a stable and high water quality. I test every two weeks for ammonium, nitrate and nitrite.