C. Orientalis Egg Care

[alex]

Hey All, I'm new to these forums, been reading them for a while but new to posting and I'm also new to the hobby. About a month and a half ago I researched a lot about care for newts, C. Orientalis more than others, and so I purchased 3 (2 males 1 female). Upon placing the 3 healthy newts in their new setup I noticed that the female looked rather plump and was hoping she was gravid but didn't want to get to excited. Well this evening I came home, checked the tank as I usually do only to notice several single eggs laid on the fake plants I have in the aquarium. I have not removed them yet because I need to get a container that has had no contact with any detergents of any sort. Now I have some questions for the care of the eggs. Once I remove them from the tank and place them in a new container, what kind of filter/aeration would I need for the new container? Would an oxygen stone be sufficient or would a fluval filter be better? I'm thinking the fluval would be too much of a current but I'm hoping I can get some answers and also how often will I need to do partial water changes for the eggs? Any help would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to this forum and all of you that post here!

Thanks in advance!
-Alex

 

[morg]

An airstone would do fine, as would a small world, or simular filter.
I wouldn't use a fluval, as there is a good chance of the eggs, and then the small larvae being sucked into the filter.

Once the eggs are hatched and the larvae are feeding, I would advise partial water changes, between every other day, and twice a week, depending on the amount of larvae,size of container.


MORG

 

[jennifer]

Alex, check out this article:
http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/MACKE1.html

If you use a shallow open container, you do not need any airation at all. I raise all my eggs and small larvae in cut-off plastic jug bottoms with about 1 inch (3 cm) of water. For eggs, I change about half the water daily, for larvae all the water daily. And I transfer to a totally clean container at least once per week. When the larvae get big (about 2 months old) I move them to tanks with airation and filtration.

 

[alex]

Thanks a lot guys, Jen you were a big help, I've got 11 eggs so far, I just placed 2-3 eggs in a plastic cup with about 1 inch of water and they are doing great so far! I can already see the lil larvae forming inside the eggs. I just looked in the tank this morning and saw that she laid another 5-10 eggs so I'll have to remove them too. Once the larvae hatch should I keep them in the cups for a while or move them to a tank? I've got an extra 10g tank standing by when they are ready to move. Thanks again everybody for all your help!

 

[morg]

Alex
Opinions will differ on how best to keep the larvae once hatched.
Some people including Jen have great results keeping the larvae in the small containers.
Others, myself included have much more success transfering to a tank.

MORG

 

[nate]

I think both a tank (with bare glass bottom) and small containers work equally effective, I just use small containers because they are more convenient.