CFB newt larvae/ efts/ plants

[ciara]

AW: CFB newt larvae/ efts/ plants

That's good, a couple are like that. So I've got another morphing one. Currently stuck held up by a plant against the glass out of he water. He's gills haven't fully reabsorbed yet... well from what I saw this morning. Should I take him out to the terrestrial tank or leave him there?

 

[CatSpit]

Hi Ciara, how are your efts doing? I'm assuming your little ones are past the aquatic stage by now. Unless you've got another batch. My adult newts still seem pretty active with a lot of tail fanning and such going on.

My little guy is doing really well, has a good appetite for worms and bloodworms and is very curious about what's going on around his enclosure.







Hope all is well with yours!

 

[ciara]

Looks healthy and happy- good to see.

I have 7 efts at the moment. Still trying to find the right food for them... got some bean weevils and some tiny crickets, aswell as fruit flies, blood worms, white worms and chopped earthworms. The older ones are interested in food and I've seen them eat a few times, but if I try to feed them with a cocktail stick it just scares them, mine are quite timid, a few like to roam about. I'm at work during the day, so cant really tell. I am concerned about their eating though.
One morphed last night and I think I've another today.

The one today though still has huge gills, but it's doing the gasping thing and trying to reach the top. I couldn't really tell if he/she was morphed yet in the tank, so I put the moss it was in and some tank water and gravel in a bowl to see. Still has really big gills, but is doing the gasping thing. I might just leave it in the bowl until later when I think it will morph, water temp is currently 16/17 oc, should be ok right? If I put it back in I might not catch it again..... now I've stressed it so much :s

Most of them seem to really freak when they are morphing (which I can understand), but they tend to go to the opposite side of the tank where there are no plants, that's no where near the ramp to get up to land area, then they really seem to start panicking- so I have been staying up late( when I notice) to wait until I can catch them. Then I put them in a sterile glass ashtray with some tank water and a gravel slope, put it in the terrestrial tank and wait for them to emerge.

Some bad news from my adults tank where there are new newt larvae developing/ eggs- have found Damsel Fly larvae- the first I found by chance, no idea how because it was so small, but so glad I did- removed it and released it in a pond far far away from my house. Since then I have found another 2, which I ended up having to kill as one kept burrowing deeper under my gravel and I had to grab it, and then one that had developed a bit more was bigger, more gross and white. I killed it because I tried catching it and being nice, but it swam into plants where some newt larvae were chilling and I spent like an hour or so trying to find it after because it was so well hidden, once I did I just grabbed it with tweezers. Not good. There is bound to be more now- worried- not only because these things are awful and will eat the newt larvae, but they've also eaten all the little bugs that were sustaining the newts.

By the way I didn't want to kill them- I would've tried to put them in the pond like the first one, but they were being difficult and I had to choose.

 

[Chinadog]

Glad to hear you're getting the hang of them now, it does start to get easier from here on in.
It's always good to see people successfully breeding and raising Cynops/Hypselotriton here in the UK instead of the much easier to deal with species like Crested or Crocodile newts with their fully aquatic morphs.
I'd have to say, although it sounds cruel, it would probably be better to humanely kill any invertebrates you want rid of rather than releasing them in the wild. Aquatic creatures that have lived in captivity or the water they're in could potentially spread foreign disease or viruses to our native amphibians with disastrous results.

 

[CatSpit]

Love the pictures, they are looking good. Sounds like you're giving them a lot of options for food, I wouldn't worry - they just need to get the hang of it I think, then they become pretty good 'hunters'. That's what i've noticed with my 'newtlet' anyways.

Wow, you still have more morphing. They're keeping you busy!

That's too bad that you've got damselfly larvae competing for food in your tank, they must have hitchhiked in on a plant or something. Good that you're taking them out when you find them. I hate killing any live critters as well, but Chinadog makes a good point about not releasing them.

Keep us updated on how your efts are doing, it's great to see your pictures and hear about their development.

 

[CatSpit]

Another pic, he's just too cute!

 

[ciara]

Cute.

A little update-

The 8th did morph, the biggest morph so far, and likes to climb everything- its the one in the ashtray pictures. There's another 2 that seem to be ready to morph soon (today or tomorrow maybe) and then I think there's just 2 more left in my larvae tank. I didn't count, (stupid me) I did mean to, but got a bit caught up in everything.
I've noticed the morphs eating more, so not so worried about that and they're becoming less timid.

All is well with the new tank for the older larvae and the eft tank.

More bad news for my adults/ established tank. We have 3 white cloud minnows in the adult tank (I know mixing is not advised, but they've been together for over a year now with no problems) so in a rush the other morning I asked my partner to feed them, he accidentally tipped more food in than intended, but assumed the fish would eat it anyway I had a bit of a shock coming home from work that day as he didn't mention it. The entire bottom of the tank was covered in fish flake- I have large gravel substrate so cleaning this was horrible (can't get rid of it all) especially with lots of newly hatched larvae in the tank. I did a water test- ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels were the highest on the API test. Possibly the worst feeling.... the stuff of nightmares.

I've been through this before :nono: with a crab tank I had a few years back when my filter broke while I was at work. Took forever to get the cycling passed the nitrite stage- awful, but didn't loose any of them thankfully.

Here I am again- aswell as that I found another 2 Damselfly larvae that I managed to catch and kill. Not entirely sure what to do. Apart from daily water changes.... The ammonia was fine by the next morning, but nitrite is still the top of the scale. I don't see this improving fast unless I can get all the rotting food out, and I cant get all the food out without removing all the fish, newts and gravel- where the new babies are hiding. Any advice??

 

[Chinadog]

I know how you feel, My mum once crashed the filter on my Koi pool while we were away. I don't know how much food went in, but the ammonia and nitrite levels were way up there like your's, there'd have been deaths for sure if we hadn't got back when we did.
When I need to clean the bottom of tanks with larvae in them I let the water run through a fine net. That way if any babies get accidentally siphoned you can just retrieve them from the net.

 

[CatSpit]

Wow, sorry that you're having to deal with crazy levels in your tank, sounds like Chinadog has a great solution to save the larvae though.

Your little guys are totally adorable, love the pics!

 

[CatSpit]

Spending some time around his water dish these days...definitely getting longer and has a bit of a belly now.

 

[Chinadog]

He looks great, well done.
If you want to get him to take to the water as soon as possible you could try feeding him in the water dish,. I find with my C. pyrrhogaster that as soon as they start eating underwater they will adapt quickly to living in a shallow, weedy, semi aquatic set up again

 

[CatSpit]

Thanks Chinadog. I have been keeping the water in his dish to a minimum - i didn't want him to drown... but he has been doing well in there, so i'll start by raising the level and like you suggested, try to get him to eat in his dish while he's in there.

 

[ciara]

Another update, my adults tank conditions were back to normal the day after my post thankfully. All of the larvae I had developing have morphed, last one was a couple of weeks ago.There are 12 efts, and they all seem to be doing well, one has molted. It's hard to find all of them most of the time, they're good at hiding in the cork bark.
I have a couple more larvae growing (quickly) that I've transferred into the tank for the older larvae, and I've spotted a few more tiny larvae about the adults tank.

 

[ciara]

More photos!

 

[Chinadog]

You've got the hang of it now, they look great!
Is that a light brown one in your fourth picture in the first post? The brown coloured ones, as well as mottled or grayish are very occasionally imported amongst the usual black/red ones, It will be interesting to see if it stays like that as an adult, especially as both parents are black.

 

[Methos5K]

This is great! Well done! Have you tried feeding them live blackworms? Even though they are usually fed in the water, I've fed them to small land dwelling newts,they go after them when they are fresh and extra squirmy.

 

[CatSpit]

Wow, you've got quite the crew there! Great pictures. They're looking awesome :happy:

 

[ciara]

Yes, one is a light brown colour, I'm interested to see what will happen too. Thought it would've turned black by now. Lots of them have inherited their dads orange shoulder markings which I think is cool, also one has a line of orange spots down its back, sort of like s stripe, I'm interested to see how they'll turn out. I take it molting is normal at this stage as they're growing?

 

[CatSpit]

I was wondering how your "squad" is doing Ciara? My newts did not produce any more offspring, but my wee guy is slowly growing and doing well. I've attached some current pictures. Would be great to see more pics of yours!

 

[CatSpit]

The latest pic of "newtlet" as I call him/her. Still in a terrestrial set up, but I am thinking of moving him to a bigger tank with shallow water and lots of plants, with some cork bark.