bhoogerheide
New member
Hello,
New here, I have two eastern red spotted newts. I've had them since October of 2023. I got them as efts, and they are now both showing adult colors. I moved them from a 10 gallon terrestrial tank to a 40 gallon aquatic tank with about 12 inches of water, heavily planted, with many plants at the surface, branches and docking areas. One of them has been fully aquatic for about 3 months, and the other one won't touch the water. The aquatic adult newt eats black worms and the terrestrial adult eats dusted crickets.
Since the one newt went fully aquatic, I've only seen her on land maybe twice, and for very short periods of time. We also have schools of micro fish in the aquarium. About 28 fish total. All docile fish; tetras, dwarf danios, endlers, and some snails and shrimp. The aquatic newt has been co-habiting with the fish very well, up until this week. The endlers we added are a new addition this week, and I'm worried it pushed the newt over the edge, in terms of stress. She went from never being on land, to being curled up next to the other one for the majority of the time under some bark. To the best of my (little) knowledge, they are both female.
I feel I can logically rule out other stressors besides the fish. The tank is unheated, the water parameters and temperatures are very good, as the fish are sensitive to changes. Zero nitrates, the water is de-chlorinated. They get 8 hours of light. There has been no change in diet, he's been eating fine. And every other animal in the tank pays no attention to the newt. I have never seen the other tank mates have any aggression towards the newt. And neither newt shows any physical signs of illness, no flaky skin, change in eating habits, or spots/lesions.
So my question is, should I convert the old 10 gallon terrestrial tank into a "newts only" terrarium? My ultimate goal was to get both newts eating black worms and being fully aquatic. I worry that with one newt already rejecting the water, that they're regressing and I will have to move them back to land. The last thing I want is for stress to get the better of anyone in the tank and lose them.
New here, I have two eastern red spotted newts. I've had them since October of 2023. I got them as efts, and they are now both showing adult colors. I moved them from a 10 gallon terrestrial tank to a 40 gallon aquatic tank with about 12 inches of water, heavily planted, with many plants at the surface, branches and docking areas. One of them has been fully aquatic for about 3 months, and the other one won't touch the water. The aquatic adult newt eats black worms and the terrestrial adult eats dusted crickets.
Since the one newt went fully aquatic, I've only seen her on land maybe twice, and for very short periods of time. We also have schools of micro fish in the aquarium. About 28 fish total. All docile fish; tetras, dwarf danios, endlers, and some snails and shrimp. The aquatic newt has been co-habiting with the fish very well, up until this week. The endlers we added are a new addition this week, and I'm worried it pushed the newt over the edge, in terms of stress. She went from never being on land, to being curled up next to the other one for the majority of the time under some bark. To the best of my (little) knowledge, they are both female.
I feel I can logically rule out other stressors besides the fish. The tank is unheated, the water parameters and temperatures are very good, as the fish are sensitive to changes. Zero nitrates, the water is de-chlorinated. They get 8 hours of light. There has been no change in diet, he's been eating fine. And every other animal in the tank pays no attention to the newt. I have never seen the other tank mates have any aggression towards the newt. And neither newt shows any physical signs of illness, no flaky skin, change in eating habits, or spots/lesions.
So my question is, should I convert the old 10 gallon terrestrial tank into a "newts only" terrarium? My ultimate goal was to get both newts eating black worms and being fully aquatic. I worry that with one newt already rejecting the water, that they're regressing and I will have to move them back to land. The last thing I want is for stress to get the better of anyone in the tank and lose them.