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Panic in the Otter household! I'm on the phone with Grumpet and feeding my newts. Suddenly I see eggs in E&E's tank! "Oh my God! They've finally laid eggs! I've got to go!" I said.
"Who laid eggs?" In my panic, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the species (Tylo. verr.).
"Eddie and Elektra! ... You know, the chinese ones..." After a bit I finally stammer, "The crocodile newts!" And what does Grumpet say? You will never believe this. (Remember, he's a marine biologist, and introduced me to newts.) "Newts lay EGGS??"
Either he feels my panic, or he NEVER LISTENS TO a thing I say. I mean, I never shut up about my newts. How many times have I mentioned getting eggs in the mail, raising eggs, waiting for eggs, laying eggs, and hatching eggs? I hope he was joking. He'll never live this one down.
Anyway on to the miracle. For those who don't know, I raised one from a larva, and the other I got very young (both from M. Shrom). Luckily they turned out to be a male and female. Eddie is a year younger than Elektra. Lately I've been thinking that Elektra looks as big as a house, and chalked it up to the extremely large slugs I've been feeding her lately.
I've raised other eggs, but never this species. The eggs look as big as A. maculatum eggs, which I've also raised. I'm sure they're fertile, and I've collected about 25 so far. I immediately (after the panic left and I could remember what to do) set up an egg tank and started collecting them and removing them from E&E's tank.
She laid on silk plants, some java moss I have growing in there, and on tank decorations. Some of the silk leaves she laid on were not actually in the water (maybe 1/2 -1 inch above the water), which I found interesting. Since I've cut many of the silk leaves to shreds removing the eggs just now, I put some egg laying strips I'd make earlier for other species in the tank; I think she may still have many eggs left and she can use them.
I'm hoping that when they hatch they will be large enough to eat chopped blackworms. I don't want to use pond water, since I don't want to introduce any wild "stuff" into them, but I will use a sort of "dirty water" method (I'm hoping by the time they hatch, the water will be a bit cycled; I started with one gallon of water from the parents' tank, and two gallons of treated water.)
If anyone wants to offer any tips, since I've never raised this species, please do.
I've posted on these two favorites of mine before, and often. If anyone is interested, start here:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52345
"Who laid eggs?" In my panic, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the species (Tylo. verr.).
"Eddie and Elektra! ... You know, the chinese ones..." After a bit I finally stammer, "The crocodile newts!" And what does Grumpet say? You will never believe this. (Remember, he's a marine biologist, and introduced me to newts.) "Newts lay EGGS??"
Either he feels my panic, or he NEVER LISTENS TO a thing I say. I mean, I never shut up about my newts. How many times have I mentioned getting eggs in the mail, raising eggs, waiting for eggs, laying eggs, and hatching eggs? I hope he was joking. He'll never live this one down.
Anyway on to the miracle. For those who don't know, I raised one from a larva, and the other I got very young (both from M. Shrom). Luckily they turned out to be a male and female. Eddie is a year younger than Elektra. Lately I've been thinking that Elektra looks as big as a house, and chalked it up to the extremely large slugs I've been feeding her lately.
I've raised other eggs, but never this species. The eggs look as big as A. maculatum eggs, which I've also raised. I'm sure they're fertile, and I've collected about 25 so far. I immediately (after the panic left and I could remember what to do) set up an egg tank and started collecting them and removing them from E&E's tank.
She laid on silk plants, some java moss I have growing in there, and on tank decorations. Some of the silk leaves she laid on were not actually in the water (maybe 1/2 -1 inch above the water), which I found interesting. Since I've cut many of the silk leaves to shreds removing the eggs just now, I put some egg laying strips I'd make earlier for other species in the tank; I think she may still have many eggs left and she can use them.
I'm hoping that when they hatch they will be large enough to eat chopped blackworms. I don't want to use pond water, since I don't want to introduce any wild "stuff" into them, but I will use a sort of "dirty water" method (I'm hoping by the time they hatch, the water will be a bit cycled; I started with one gallon of water from the parents' tank, and two gallons of treated water.)
If anyone wants to offer any tips, since I've never raised this species, please do.
I've posted on these two favorites of mine before, and often. If anyone is interested, start here:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52345
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Raising them will be lots of fun. A good starter for the larvae (after yolk sac resorption) are Artemia nauplii, like Daniel already wrote. Small freshwater plancton like tiny Daphnia or Moina will also be okay initially. They're hogs and show cannibalistic tendencies later on, so be prepared to provide lots of food like bloodworms or white worms. You should also regularly sort them according to size or some will miraculously vanish. 
