Suprise Baby, please advise me!

[ali]

Hi there everybody,
This is my first post on the site as until now my fire-bellied newts have been living quite happily, I have had 3 of them for just over a year now.
However, I was most suprised this morning to discover a small addition to my newt family swimming around in the tank, they seem to have had a baby!
I've taken him out the tank and put him in a pint glass with some tank water in, and given him some daphnia which he seems to be eating merrily.
I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for me please? What should I expect to happen next? Are there likely to be more babies on their way? And what am I going to need to do for him so he grows up healthy?
This has taken me totally by suprise as I didn't think they often bred without encouragement, so any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Many Thanks.

 

[andrew]

Im curious as to why you took him out?? Is it dangerous for him to be with the adults??

(Message edited by tindomul1of9 on August 23, 2005)

 

[ali]

Because it says to in the section on this site about raising baby newts. Unless I misunderstood that?

Here's a photo of him, can anone tell how old he is roughly from this please?

 

[jennifer]

He could probably continue to live OK with the adults. If you are concerned about absolute safety from being eaten, though, he needs to be separated. The risk in separating him is that he may be more stressed in the small container (add plants!), and you have to be very careful about water quality in small containers.

If the food is good and the temperatures are right, newts will breed without encouragement, believe me! It's hard to say if there may be more. Just keep looking.

I'd guess that he is about mid-stage, i.e., a month or two old, about half way from hatching to metamorphosis.

 

[ali]

Hi there,
Cheers for the advice, I've moved him into an old fish tank and put some plants in so he seems pretty happy. I'm keeping him well stocked on daphnia, should I just make sure he has a constant supply of food or feed him occasionally?
I'll keep you all updated on his progress, and thanks again for your help.

 

[jennifer]

A constant supply of food is best. I don't know what country you are in, but if you can get live blackworms, they are also an excellent food source.

 

[ali]

Hi there,
Just thought I'd update you on baby newt's progress.
He's definately growing steadily, and has the cutest little face, and is starting to get orange on his belly.
Still no sign of brothers and sisters but I'm keeping an eye out! We're all very excited to see what happens next, I'm looking forward to him becoming a land dweller.
Thanks for all your help,
Ali

 

[ali]

Hi again everybody!
Ok 2nd update of the day, baby newt now has FIVE little brothers and sisters! I spotted one when I was watching them earlier, and I've been fishing them out and into my creche for the last half hour.
They're all much smaller than original baby newt, so assume this is a second 'Batch'? My newts have clearly been very busy!
Hope this is of interest to everybody, and any further advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm totally out of my depth with this.
Many Thanks,
Ali

 

[jennifer]

If he's getting an orange belly, be sure he has a solid island available, and a secure lid. Contratulations on the second batch!

 

[joeri]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Jennifer Macke wrote on Tuesday, 23 August, 2005 - 15:38 :</font>

"He could probably continue to live OK with the adults"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

When one has cynops orientalis like you; one MUST seperate larvae from the adults. They are very likely to be eaten. (ofcourse when you don't want to raise larves or not to many just let them be, only the strongest will survive)

The other advise is accurate though.

Good luck with the babies; you can find some additional information in the cynops species section.

Joeri

 

[benjamin]

You should check all the plants for eggs, as fire bellies do not give live birth.

 

[ali]

Hi there,
All 6 are still alive which is good, the first one has got quite an orange belly now but still seems to be living quite happily in the water. i've given him an area of land to live on incase he changes his mind.
I've been checking the plants and statues etc for eggs but not found any so far, but one of my females was looking fat one day and then not the next which makes me think she's probably laid somewhere? I'm worried about prodding around in the tank because I don't want to disturb them or damage the eggs.
Cheers everyone, I'll let you know what happens!
Oh and here's a picture of the first baby and one of the 2nd litter.
Ali

 

[benjamin]

The eggs are surprizingly tough, they can take a good amount of battering, looking through the leaves of your plants won't do them any damage, infact leaving them in the plants will leave you with far fewer young, because the adults will eat the eggs. Also Cynops orientalis, from my somewhat limited experience (two breedings) seems to lay its eggs over several days, weeks, even months rather then in just one event.

 

[joeri]

When your larves grow at different speed and size you'd better separate them; cynops larves are in my experience not likely to eat each other, however the bigger once will eat all the food. And so you'll create a circle in which the smaller once will stay smaller or in worst case even die.
There might be a stress issue as well to consider.

Joeri

 

[ali]

Cheers, that hadn't even occurred to me. Problem is I'm running out of tanks!
I guess I might be able to split the tank in two, but at the moment there seems to be loads of food in the tank at all times, I'm keeping them well stocked with daphnia and doing a 50% water change every couple of days to get get of all the dead food.
I'll keep an eye on the situation though.
Cheers,
Ali

 

[ali]

Hi there everybody,

Sad news today I'm afraid, just been doing a water change of the babies tank and I realised that two of them had died.
They were kind of in between the pebbles and the side of the tank, so I was just wondering, is there any chance that they got stuck between pebbles and this is what killed them? Are pebbles a really bad idea in a nursery tank?

Many Thanks,
Ali

 

[william]

well it would keep them on a bare bottomed tank. it's easier to clean and it is easier to find them etc.

but don't blame yourself, your just starting out, and you didn't even know you were getting them in the first place.

 

[jennifer]

I doubt that the pebbles killed them (except perhaps by creating places that were uncleanable). Do you really mean "loads of food" in the tank? If so, this is more likely to be the cause of death. Even with 50% changes, any dead food in the tank can get nasty quickly.

 

[ali]

By "Loads of food" I've been giving them a bag of Daphnia once a week and fishing out any dead ones and debris when I do a water change. I guess there could still have been dead food caught up in the pebbles.
I am going to transfer the remaining babies to another tank with no pebbles in which hopefully will make it easier to keep an eye on them and also to keep the tank clean.
Many Thanks,
Ali

 

[benjamin]

I've lost frog tadpoles to pebbles before, but for completely unrelated reasons. Because the frog tadpoles ate algae, they would go into the gravel to eat the stuff which was growing on the glass of the aquarium. Eventually some got trapped and died and I had to dispose of the gravel. Newtlets, on the other hand, have no real incentive to go into gravel and so it's unlikely that they could get trapped.