Triturus larvae

[greg]

wow! I have my first batch of T. alpestris larvae!!

now... what?

Do I remove them from the tank and rear them as I would Ambystoma? Will the adults eat them (I assume they will.. they eat everything else).

tips? advise? warnings?

greg

 

[sergé]

Adults probably won't eat the young, but I would remove the larvae (normally it is easier to take out the plants with the eggs, or to take out the adults). Then just feed them with small Daphnia. The larvae are not aggressive towards each other. But still if lenghts change you better separate the bigger ones from the small (they eat tails points if hungry enough). Good luck.

 

[david]

Congrats Greg, are they at the egg stage now or have they actually hatched? If you need daphnia, I get mine through Dallas Discus.I also sometimes start out my larvae with baby brine shrimp, although the larger larvae take to daphnia very well. You may even want to try moina

 

[greg]

They are barely out of the egg. Not quite really good at the free-swimming thing yet. Getting there though.

hmm... sounds easier to move the adults. I'll also remove the power filter so that they are less likely to be sucked up. sponge filter time.

greg

 

[david]

With the babies, I don't use any filter at all. Just a bunch of plants to help keep water quality up. This way there's no current to effect the babies or the live food. And about once or twice a week, I carefully siphon any major debris from the bottom of the tank. The reason for careful is the babies sometimes hide in it. Before I dump the water I siphoned out down the drain, I check for babies (and often find some).

 

[david]

What type of headcount did you get?

 

[david]

Some of my marmortus are getting ready to morph. Here's some pics.

The color is starting to show

 

[david]

The first of the marmortus are morphing. Hopefully soon, more to come

 

[anthony]

nice pictures dave they look really good how many have you got.
tony.

 

[david]

Hi Tony,
I've given some eggs to some people, some larvae to others, and I've got about 60 larvae in various stages for myself.

 

[david]

A quick update. Seven have morphed and a lot of the larvae are showing good color. Anyone else with any baby triturus pics yet?