Special Cynops juveniles

[miriam]

Hi, I'll post some pictures of some of my Cynops juveniles. Up to you all to discuss what species it could be.

 

[miriam]

 

[TJ]

Those spots on their cheeks suggest to me that they are Cynops cyanurus

I've only had adults and larvae, so I don't know whether that coloration is normal or not with this species...

It's nice to see that they're being bred successfully!

Word is that you can quite easily get C. cyanurus morphs to go aquatic for you in only weeks or months.

 

[erik]

is it just me or does that gravel look alittle sharp? it must be hard on their bellies

 

[justin]

I have adults that look fairly similar to their coloration (from the same group as I showed pictures of in another thread). As for the switching them aquatic right away-- as I said in another thread as well I have just done so with my six larvae. They floated and hung out on plants for a little while, but then took aquatic right away. With this style (compliments of Ed), I morphed them at 2.5 to 2.75 inches.
j

 

[ian]

Interestly, I have a few morphs of Cynops Orientalis that look a bit like these. Greyish with a bit of Army camaflage.

 

[miriam]

I've bought them as being Cynops chenggongensis, but it's not for sure if they really are chenggongensis. They tend to get even brighter as they grow.
They vary in seize quite a bit so I still keep them terrestial with a bit of water at one site of their tank.

 

[wouter]

Hiya Miriam, we've talked about this on the Dutch forum also, this is definately no C. chenggongensis. For me all those cyanurus animals that have appeared the last year are all C. cyanurus, maybe yunnanensis.

I'm beginning to think that the species "chenggongensis" isn't even valid... someone should come up with the holotype soon.

 

[miriam]

Hey Justin,
How old were your juveniles when you switched them to water? Mine are about 2 inches, so they are not as big as yours when you switched them, however I've noticed that some of them develop a more flattened tail and seek the water more often.

 

[miriam]

Hey Wouter,

How come these animals have such a light coloration compaired to cyanurus? They are developing pretty good. You bought some cyanurus from Harry when he received the animals, right? What coloration do these animals have?

 

[jennifer]

When I raised cyanurus from eggs, only one of them had any terrestrial phase at all. The others morphed and stayed entirely aquatic. I would guess that you could gradually adapt them to water at their current size/age. They are the most easily-aquatic Cynops I've dealt with.

 

[justin]

I did the same as Jen, I never really offered my C. cyanurus a terrestrial phase. All six of them morphed very large and stay aquatic. With the C. e. popei and C. pyrrhogaster though, they were already terrestrial, so I had to switch them back to aquatic. This has taken quite some time in some of them, but very little in the others. I just only feed them in the water, and have a floating cork piece in about 2 inches of water. From that, I figure out which are feeding well or at least when they're hungry in the water-- those stay. If they get a bit thin, then I take them out for a month or two terrestrially and then try them again.

I would try them right away in a setup with an inch or so of water and plenty of plants for them to climb out on. I'm no pro at newts though, but that's what has worked for me with several species now.
justin

 

[wouter]

Miriam, Harry has bred dozens of C. "chenggongensis" past year, and about the half of those animal are dark coloured. These animals could be an undescribed ssp. of C. cyanurus, but also just ordinary, light C. cyanurus cyanurus. We will have to wait until those animals are adults. If the dark animals really remain dark, it could mean that these Cynops aren't as special at all...

I recieved the chuxiongensis group from Harry about one and a half year ago. Those animals were smaller, and had a more pointy nose than the other groups. They are also dark dorsally. The name chuxiongensis is however not valid anymore (synonym for yunnanensis) and we have no proof that these cyanurus are from Chuxiong county.
}
Good luck with raising your Cynops!

 

[miriam]

I didn't know that half of the animals were dark. These were lighter coloured when I received them then they are nowadays, but Harry said they could switch to the lighter colouration when they get older. We'll see, I think they are beautiful animals no matter what even if they prove to be cyanurus after all. I'm not all into that oooh aah I have a special animal, I just like the cynops-family and thought these were interesting animals to have. They're doing great lucky to say

 

[miriam]

Ow Wouter by the way. What do you feed your cynops group?

 

[wouter]

I only have some C. ensicauda popei juveniles at the moment, but I used to feed my other adult Cynops species mainly worms, and (frozen)musquito larvae. I sometimes also use artemia for the C. cyanurus bellys, they tend to lose their deep red colour over time.
I usually give the juveniles artemia and musquito larvae on a wet tissue, and I try to feed them small worms and enchytreen with tweezers.

And you're right, Cynops are wonderful species... If only I had enough time on my hands!