Suggestions for a new Cynops set-up?

H

heather

Guest
Hey guys, I have been wanting to change up my Cynops Orientalis' habitat lately and was wondering what kinds of plants and mosses are okay for them, I dont want to poison them or
anything.
Their set-up is mostly land because one of my two newts preferres the land, and the other seems perfectly happy with the ammount of water I provided for her. I have a bunch of smaller-sized gavel im currently using for them and I think they would like something a but softer.
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I didnt think the sphagnum moss at the hardware store would be okay, i heard that if it is all dried up (as it is)they wont like it.
I did hear that dwarf columnia (cant spell) was okay in newt tanks.
I dont need any aquatic plants,




I also have another question, its about the newt that wont go into the water.
She wont go into the water and she wont eat anything that I offer her on the land. She ate a while ago in the water but since she wont go back in she wont eat!
How long can she go wihtout food before i should start worrying?
 
Hello, how big is your tank? I know that some petstores sell carpet moss and stuff, but I am not sure about your area. About that "land" newt. I know that some newts do this when they are young, or when they have come out a "petstore" stress experiance. I don't know about feeding, but good luck!
 
Hi Heather!

You might want to try Elodea Densa, and Bacopa (moneri). The elodea is aquatic, but it gets very dense. When my newts (c.orientalis) want to go "terrestrial" they hang out on top of these plants. (May just get your terrestrial newt to go aquatic.) The bacopa grows above the water line and quite attractive. My newts also prefer to lay eggs on the bacopa. The leaves must be easier to wrap around their eggs (?). Also you can always use Pothos. Pothos grows exceedingly well when rooted in just water - keep the leaves above water level if you can. Live plants are great in a vivarium - for me, they are a "must have". Good luck
 
Mark B.> I have a ten gallon fish tank, and yes the pet store was keeping them poorly, thats why i rescued three of them, one of which has died.
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but the other two have been doing awesome!
Pamela> the reason i dont go for aquatic plants is because i have a very small water area, with no gravel, its just a large saucer one would use under a flower pot. The more aquatic of the two newts doesnt seem to mind, she has enough room to swim and is completely submerged. i dont think aquatic plants would do very good in this situation, i am going to make it more aquatic for them, once my terrestrial newt decides the water isnt so bad.
 
You shouldn't "rescue" newts or other animals that way the pet store got what they wanted money and now their going to buy more newts and have them in the exact same conditions as the ones you got.
 
I just felt bad for them, didnt think about it much untill after. Im just happy that they are much better off now.
 
Where the heck are you supposed to "rescue" them. The only place I can do that is at a pet store.
 
C.o.s love climbing in plants, mine prefer it to swimming. The picture in my profile shows mine climbing through aquatic plants.
 
As far as feeding the land newt, I just posted a thread asking the same question. I would try to cut up some wax worms and some earth worms. Take a tweezers and dangle the pieces of food infront of the newts face. Be patient as the newt might take a minute or so to get interested. If this does not work, do what i did. Simply pick up the newt and put it in the water. Then give it a second to calm down and offer the food again. You could also try pin head crickets to see if the newt likes those. Good luck.
 
The thread is called suggestions for cynops set up, and I suggest:


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Hope this helps
 
Love the setup of your tank Mark B, and you bring up a great question. In some places one has no choice but to acquire newts from a pet store. I live way up in Edmonton Alberta Canada and there are only pet stores available from what I know. Part of the reason I found this website is to find an alternative way of getting other newts that doesnt involve the pet trade. I hoping someone out there can help me!!
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Mark> arent those just huge rocks that you stacked up in the back of the tank?? they look awful heavy, how is your tank handling the weight? Id also be concerned that the stack of rocks would fall over and crush the newts!! Hmm...after seeing all these bad reasons for having a stack of rocks in the tank those probably arent real....
I would also like to know if your newts eat the gravel, I know axolotls do that in the confusion of feeding time but do these newts? Or maybe you use floating food so as to avoid the gravel problem???
anacharis(i suck at spelling!) right?? and how would cabomba work? how about water lilies or even hyacinths??
Sorry about all the questions, I just want the best for my newts
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eheheh: One more question
just one i promise:
is there any land in your tank?( the pictures make it look like there isnt)
 
Ha Ha, its more than okay to ask question, I love question!(I also like to ask them)
The rocks are real and are completly stable. I have done many "experiments" to see what would make them fall and so on. But like I said before, that would be a newts worst nightmare, "falling rock" My tank handles the weight fine. The newt do not eat the gravel as far as I have seen, if anything they eat the sand, and it goes right through them. No, I feed freezdried bloodworms, and chopped up earthworm on occasion. Yea, those are anacharis, I love them, but always remember to plant them, I found out the hard way when they all died when I had them coming out of the rock, thats why the fake ones "come out of the rock". What are cambobas? I can't find water lilies, and what is hyacinths? Here is pictures of my land portions. My newts are 95% aquatic.

Basking rock with java moss on top.
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Peice of wood with water coming down it (water fall)
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You mean you didn't glue the rocks to each other?
I once made an incredibly stable pile of rocks and it looked great... untill it did collaps...
Luckely the one newt harmed healed perfectly, but still...

You should use aquarium silicone to glue the rocks to each other. You can separate the rocks afterwards again if you really want to.
 
Is that java moss on your land portion mark? and where would you get the equipment for a water fall, i like the idea of having one! do you have any filtration in the tank?
joeri, you seem to know alot about the whole aquarium silicone issue: do you think one could glue the rocks to the side of the tank?? just to make sure they dont fall as one huge rock after you have glued them together...
 
No, the rocks aren't glued together, and like I said, I have done many tests, and they are very sturdy. It has been up for nearly 7 months now.
Heather> Yes, that is java moss, I water it down everyday to keep it alive. I don't have any fitration in the tank except for the internal filter, which only gets like larger particles. I do about a 20%water change every week. I know quite a bit about silicone also, and don't think it would be possible to silicon a rock to the side of the tank, unless it was supported underneath, or if it was very light, aquarium selant is not that strong. Good luck! The waterfall was difficult for me, I always saw these awesome waterfalls online, and never could create one just right. I would say that it is all about finding the right peice of wood, I had to look forever for one that had a "stream" in it, if you know what I mean. Under the rocks is an internal filter, sort of like this one (LINK AT BOTTOM). Then I found the right sized tube and had it come up out of the water and pointed it onto the wood. It wasn't easy, and takes some work. If you still have questions, just let me know!
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} Once again Good luck!!!
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441777717&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030113&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1102705701296
 
Oh yeah, I also wanted to show this, maybe it will help.

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P.s. You could also try having the river flow down some rocks or whatever.
 
Heather:
you can glue anything to anything with aquarium silicone if 1) your tank can hold the weight and 2) you use the silicone as a stabeliser rather than an actual glue

Small weights and (big) flat surfaces are easier to 'glue'.
e.g. a stone wall like Mark has could only be secured with small dots as it are round stones. But if you have flat stones (lime or so) you can secure them firmer.

It really depends on the material you are using. You could try to fake backgrounds with lighter materials as well, but than you'd have to be handy and creative. If you are, I'd recommend that. Several ideas have been posted before in the vivarium section - go take a look I'd say
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Joeri
 
Thanx so much! you guys are awesome, Im going to try and get a water fall into my set up, and maybe i will figure out how to get a stable rock platform... going ot check out the vivarium section....
laters!
 
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