Weird behavior.

[jesse]

I keep a tank with fire belly newts.A couple of weeks ago i noticed that they were chasing the white cloud minnows that i keep in there with them. the tank has five newts in it. They were all chasing the minnows. Just yesterday i found a dead minnow. They were all biting at it and i assume attempting to eat it. I feed them regularly (black worms)Can some one please tell me is this is normal for them to do? I don not whant to lose more fish to them. should i get them guppies, despite the fact thast i have heard on this forum that they are not a good food source.
thanks in advance-
Jesse Horne

 

[mitch]

say goodbye to the fish. whiteclouds are cheap and breed prolifically, if there ever was a fish to allow your newts to hunt, thats one of them...
plus you have no choice, they will eat them. theyve already got a taste

 

[jennifer]

If they are hungry enough to chase down a fish, I'm wondering if they are getting enough blackworms. The problem with blackworms is that they disappear into gravel or under rocks where the newts can't get them. I'd suggest supplementing with occasional earthworms or frozen bloodworms, for example, to make sure they are getting enough to eat.

 

[jesse]

they usually always get enough black worms. the way that i know this is that i place the black worms right next to them in the tank and they eat bunches of the worms(since the worms bunch together)Plus they are not thin, but are a little on the chubby side.

 

[paris]

you dont say which kind of 'firebelly' newt you have, but if they are orientalis i have seen those eat carrion in pet shops before.....MORE specifically i have seen them consuming another dead orientalis, so wanting a fish is not uncommon, especially if its just sitting there as a buffet item. i wonder if they actually caught that fish or just stressed it to death.

 

[jesse]

well i dont know i know that for a while they were hounding the fish. they would followit every were nipping at it and biting the fins.

 

[i.]

I bought my pleuros with 15 feeder goldfish (yes , had to learn to feed them something else). Over the 3 first weeks, they ate 13 of them. The last 2 survivors are too big now for them to eat although they do snap at them once in a while. I think it's normal, they are predators even if small creatures and even if worms are better for them, I don't think they know that. Hell, I like McDonalds, right?