CFB Setup + Question

[menwa]

I just bought myself a CFB on a whim walking around in a pet store. I had never seen them before and figured they'd be easy to care for. I had him in a small bowl for a few days with rocks and plants for him climb on and rest and about 3 inches of water. He seemed content and would swim around and enjoy himself, he's been eating good too. I came across this site in means to learn about newts and when i saw all the beautiful setups some of you have (and after reading enough to know a fish bowl was not gonna do it for my firebelly)i went out and got some stuff for a setup. I didnt find enough of what i really was looking for but i made a pretty decent one for under 40 bucks total.

Now here's my question(s). When he was in the small fish bowl he seemed to never want to come out of the water, only when he appeared to be sleeping would he be laying up on the floating plants. As Soon as I put him in the new tank in the open water it looked like he was freaking out. He was zipping back and forth pretty fast and kept rushing to the surface- I put my finger on the glass and it seemed to follow it to the land area he calmed down. Now he's resting underwater again, in the far corner behind the plants and not really taking advantage of any of the space.

Does he just need to get used to it? Could it be that the air conditioner is on high and blowing at that side of the tank? The water on the opposite side is reading 72F (22C) so i dont see why he wouldnt like the other side if it was a temperature issue.

My last question is how long does it take for a CFB to mature to full size? Right now he appears to be a baby , not larval but still smaller than a quarter (USD, or a small coin for that matter)..

Thanx! Comments/questions welcomed!

(Message edited by mildgold on September 11, 2005)

 

[ian]

I guess maybe the sudden change of water gave it a shock. Or maybe it was due you the moving that caused it stress. I think all you can do now is to let it settle down. I might take a while. I have an adult and became too stressed to eat nor stay in water for a month. And then now she is doing very fine and breeding.

Smaller than a quarter?? Even my larvae is bigger than a quarter but not yet metamorph... I guess if that is so small. Maybe you need to feed more. to let it grow fast.

 

[menwa]

it took a few hours but he's starting to explore the land area more, hopefully he'll venture off into the other side some more (i like watching it swim lol)...

As for its size, i dunno what i was thinking, he's actually just a little bigger than a quarter (not including tail)

Still i wonder how long til i start seeing a significant change in size?

 

[ian]

so what are you feeding it by now? Just curious.

 

[benjamin]

If he's really just barely longer than a quarter from, mouth to cloaca, then you should make sure that your aquarium is hazard free. Basically make sure there are no places where he could get trapped under water, nothing that can crush him, no powerful filters which could harm him, and no places on land where he could easily dry out or escape.

 

[menwa]

Yep i think i got that covered, he's eating freeze dried bloodworms, i would have liked to get him frozen bloodworms but the pet store was all out. Im gonna go huntin in my back yard for earth worms tho and cut em up for him if i find any.. think thats a good idea?

 

[ian]

I think that might be too big and too hard to cut into small enough size for that newt to eat though. why not try to star a culture of your own of some other food?

 

[menwa]

What do you recomend?

(Message edited by mildgold on September 11, 2005)

 

[jennifer]

Digging worms outdoors is great. You can also buy them at bait shops. Frozen bloodworms are convenient. Culturing food is fun if you are "into" it, but not everyone is.

Your setup looks OK, except for two things. First, I'm worried about the foil lid. If it's not crimped on tightly, the newt WILL get out. You can buy a screen lid at a pet shop for around $7-8. Second, you may find it hard to keep dirt cleaned out of the gravel, and if you want to make the water level deeper (not a bad idea eventually), you'll need something other than the gravel slope to make an island.

 

[menwa]

Haha you got me on the foil lid, I read over a hundred times on these forums how everyone keeps stressing the need of a lid and whats the one thing i forget to buy at the pet shop? A LID.. lol the foil was an over night thing and i taped it on with electrical tape- by the time i set up the tank it was too late to run out and get a lid so i ran to the closest thing i had.

As for the gravel, Im not too fond of it myself and will be replacing them with larger stones this week. I mentioned above this was a quick fix to keepin him in a bowl. I also want to get some live plants and will raise the water level when he starts swimming more, maybe even get a female in there too

 

[jennifer]

Sounds good! Your newt is lucky to have such an attentive dad.

 

[joan]

About the larger stones, I've found them rather hard to keep clean. Think about sand. Sand is where it's at!

As far as live plants, try anubias, java fern, java moss, and pothos ivy.

 

[jeffrey]

I go along with Joan on the large stones, though I use the bare bottom method.
I have 13 advanced juvies in a 36" by 12" tank, I have planted up with heaps of anubias both anchored and floating, for an island they have a piece of floating bark. There is also heaps of free floating elodea and java fern. I have two pieces of well soaked and rinsed bog wood I drilled and planted one with anubias but have since let them float free. The other piece has small clumps of java moss on it that are slowly spreading.