Cynops cyanurus breeding

Hi Terry. I was thinking exactly the same thing earlier today while looking at your Triturus larvae pics
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The tank crud subsistence diet is over, by the way, and they're now feeding on brine shrimp hatchlings.
 
How coincidental!

Perhaps Triturus andCynops look somewhat similar morphologically till a certain point when they begin to gain their true form and colours according to their species. Just an observation! Congratulation on the eggs BTW. Sorry about not congratulating you earlier! every spawning is a welcome one in this Salamander and Newt crazy world!.

Oh and as for silt/ tank crud? Mine are feeding on Paramecium and baby waterfleas which were present as the water I placed them in was water from their parent's tank and also some rainwater to top it up. Only a few are slowly turning into mid-water feeders though as they are still young. I do not use baby brine shrimp however as I always believe in a natural selection of foods but this does not mean that they are not good for them at one point! I just wish to raise them the way they would have grown up in the wild
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. There is enough talk that brine shrimp and daphnia will give them rich colours but I'm happy with the fact that they can survive and grow up, with or without rich colours.

I'll update my thread when I have made sufficient photographs!
 
Beautiful Tim! So these females are eating frozen bloodworms mainly? They are far fatter than any of my orientalis.

I have also noticed that they mainly lay eggs at night.
 
Hi Joseph. Yes, they getting frozen bloodworm almost exclusively, though they do get some frozen mysis shrimp from time to time.

You know, I never did fare well with C. orientalis. C. cyanurus seems to me to be a hardier species that settles into captivity easier (though I do have a plump, laid back C. orientalis around here somewhere that's an exception). C. orientalis are often so sick to begin with that they sometimes lack an appetite. Yours certainly look in good shape though.

Terry, did you know that Cynops pyrrhogaster used to be known as Triturus pyrrhogaster?
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Anyway, here is a male C. cyanurus hunting eggs:

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And here are the same eggs after being saved in the nick of time:

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There's a pair of them there, the embryo of one more developed than the other. The eggs are laid on one of my favorite plants for the newt aquarium: Ceratophyllum demersum
 
Very cool! I may try upping the amount of bloodworms they get and hoping that they will appreciate it.

On the delicateness part, is it likely that orientalis are abused more than cyanurus when imported due to cheapness? Haven't kept cyanurus but I did lose several WC orientalis before finally getting one to settle in and eventually adding in several LTC to the group.

I agree with Terry, Cynops cyanurus larvae patternwise look more like Triturus larvae than Cynops.
 
Hello Tim,
what is this? Triturus pyrrhogaster
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. Well, they sure made all kind of taxonomic errors those days. Heck the species names of several species are still being sorted out today!

As to predation, I noticed the newts of both my Triturus species sniffing freshly laid eggs in the past and also snapping and attempting to eat them. Doubtless I removed the eggs before any could be eaten.
 
Witness an actual egg-laying:

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And the action doesn't stop there folks. Here's a male tail-fanning a female as part of the courtship ritual:

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Beautiful photos as always Tim. These cyanurus have really incredible courtship colors.
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Thanks Joseph. But what it really deserved was video camera treatment because the tail is in motion and the fanning is so impressive. Wish I had more time to observe them but I had already missed my first train on their account. I do have a video camera but don't possess the skills to transfer, edit and post the video images on the Net -- and am basically too lazy to bother learning how unless I could have somebody stand over my shoulder helping me.

In the pictures of the egg-laying female, you can really see from her contorted body how she's heaving and straining to produce the egg. It was a rare opportunity for me to find an egg-layer with her rear end facing toward the front glass
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Hello Tim,
You know, when I made photos of the spermatophore transfer of theT.dobrogicus I set my camera to "" action"which is a function that snaps photos repeatedly and the result were photos which I selected to be the best and in sequence. As for egg laying, I also use the same function and as you know the results are in my threads. There were several photos that I did not used as they seemed to be a repeat of a previous photo however slightly.

Tail fanning: Again Tim, That motion was captured albeit in sequence, but it does successfully display how the tail fanning goes instead of a static picture depicting a partial tail-fan. It is not as good as a video or an animated GIF file but it DOES show how the tail fanning as it is done!

Nevertheless Tim, your stills still amaze me and the clarity of the photos are to die for! Good luck with your C.cyanurus! may they "live long! and prosper!"
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(Message edited by terryschild on November 17, 2005)
 
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<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Terry Schild wrote on Wednesday, 16 November, 2005 - 09:07 :</font>

"what is this? Triturus pyrrhogaster. Well, they sure made all kind of taxonomic errors those days. Heck the species names of several species are still being sorted out today!"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

that's nothing, Ambystoma used to be Salamandra
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Thanks Terry. The action function is nice but pictures tend to be blurry in a dark environment unless a tripod is used. I should dig my tripod out of the attic and put it to use...

I started up a new thread to show the development of the larvae, though they're at different stages.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/48261.html?1132379240

(Message edited by TJ on November 19, 2005)
 
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Congrats Tim!

The photo of the female laying sideways is my favorite photo.
 
The courtship dance continues
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:

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That's Cabomba caroliniana planted there on the right in that last pic, and eggs have been laid on it as well.

(Message edited by TJ on November 26, 2005)
 
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