Broken-Striped Newt egg

[TJ]

Here's the current state of a Notophthalmus viridescens dorsalis egg I received recently from a successful (anonymous?) breeder. Thanks again!

It's the smallest sal egg I've yet come across!

 

[TJ]

I'm hoping my own female (don't know what kind of Notophthalmus she is...) will lay as she's really plump

 

[TJ]

She shares a tank with 3 of the red-spotted variety, which were acquired separately from her. I've heard that they should be able to produce viable offspring despite their genetic differences. Hopefully there's at least one male among the 3.

(Message edited by TJ on September 22, 2003)

(Message edited by TJ on September 22, 2003)

 

[jennifer]

Nice close-up of the egg! She's fat all right, but the one in the last picture won't help much, as it also looks female.

 

[TJ]

Thanks Jen. What a surprise though, as it's already hatched! Shot yesterday's egg pic just in time

Seems there's one more viable egg that might bear fruit...I mean bear newt

Anyway, here's the larvae:

Cute little bugger. Fast swimmer too. How long is the yolk sac good for? I have a batch of brine shrimp all ready to go, just in case.

 

[russ]

Nice pics.

 

[claire]

Hi Tim

Great pics!

Can you tell me what that rather lovely pink cushion is that your female is resting on?

Claire

 

[TJ]

Thanks Russ & Claire.
Claire, that there's a cushion of not-so-lovely Tubifex worms

I do have to say, I sometimes question the intelligence of Notophthalmus viridescens. On one hand, they seem relatively inquisitive and responsive to stimuli outside the tank. But they're pretty clumsy when it comes to finding food that's been added to the tank...

 

[claire]

Thanks for that Tim

Don't see much in the way of live tubifex worms in the UK and the frozen ones are just a dirty off white. These look gorgeous

Claire

 

[TJ]

Yes Claire, they're even prettier when fully extended. If one approaches suddenly, however, the worm ball rapidly shrinks. Sure wish I knew how to maintain them for long periods and culture them -- which I've heard is quite difficult.

I've never come across blackworms, whiteworms and such here in Japan, but tubifex is carried regularly by local tropical fish shops. Yes, the frozen ones sure are nasty. They foul up the tank so I never use them.

I usually only feed tubifex to larvae and to newts that require live food to stimulate their appetites (out of concern about introducing parasites). The 3 red-spotted Easterns have always seemed too skinny to me.

I use mainly frozen bloodworm with my newts, but occasionally vary the diet with mysis shrimp and Hikari catfish pellets. Having said that, I think I'll treat my axoltls to a feast of tubifex this evening as they really love it!

 

[jennifer]

Tim, that hatchling will not need food for several days. It appears to have hatched a bit prematurely, but will almost certainly be OK anyway (they're quite hardy). When they sit upright and the black stripes down the back begin to fade, they are ready to start eating.

 

[TJ]

Thanks for those observations Jen. It's sitting upright now. Haven't observed it eating yet but I've been adding brine just in case. Are these the black stripes you mentioned?:

 

[TJ]

By the way, does anybody know what species & subspecies of Notophthalmus mine is, namely the plump female pictured above with no red spots? Jennewt? anybody?

 

[TJ]

Now I see what Jennewt meant about the stripes disappearing! This is the same larvae:

 

[TJ]

Side view of same as of Oct. 6:

 

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

Since I only had one hatchling from the first batch of eggs, my donor was kind enough to send me some reinforcements. This time the condition of the eggs is good and it looks like I'll end up with at least 10. Two hatchlings already!

Two pics here of the same egg, taken within seconds of each other from the same angle. As you can see, the larvae suddenly shifted itself in the egg. How exciting!

 

[elisabeth]

Tim, that picture of her on top of the bloodworms is great! It's like she's saying "I claim this pile of delicious food in the name of me!"

Also, I notice you have sand as a substrate. How is that working out? And would you recommend it for all newt keepers?

 

[kaysie]

Tim, i would say its a spotless N. viridescens, but dont quote me...

gorgeous, has she burst yet?

 

[TJ]

Kaysie, nah, doesn't look like she's going to cooperate

Fingers remain crossed though. Riccilily, the sand is working out well. Adding sand and planting the tanks has really made a difference, insofar as things look at least. Haven't noticed any ill effects...yet.

Funny how these larvae seem to get more and more pale as time goes on, and then will gain back some color later, I guess, though I don't know at what stage. Here's a new pic of the first one that I started out with:

I have another 21 new hatchlings, 10 more than I earlier detected, from the eggs that were recently shipped over. Wonder how other people's are doing...

(Message edited by TJ on October 17, 2003)