Cynops Cyanurus rearing journal

[Dannie88]

Hardwarehank, I'm sorry to hear about your losses. It happens to the best of us. They do look like they're at a good stable stage of their growth. Just continue to monitor ammonia levels and clean up waste.

My larvae that hatched in January/February are just now starting to morph. Usually it takes about 4-5 months so I wouldn't expect them to go on land until August or September. When I see the bright orange/red bellies and adult dorsal patterns I know they are close. I would still leave out the foam island in case you have some early morphers.

 

[Hardwarehank]

Thanks for the information and assurance Dannie. The java moss on the island is finally starting to send out new growth so by the time they're ready to haul out on the water they should have a nice place to sit.

I lost another one yesterday so we're down to 10. I don't think it had to do with water quality issues due to the bubble filter in the corner along with weekly water changes(water was changed the day before about 80%). This looks more like a failure to thrive/bullying situation. I don't know if the damage to the tail was from attacks or some sort of fungal infection maybe? The picture was taken the day before it died. You can see from the pictures the disparate sizes it and some of the other ones. No other larvae are showing any signs of distress or lack of appetite.

Speaking of appetite I'm sort of amazed at how gluttonous these little things can be. I decided to try a small red wriggler out on some of them yesterday and they were all greedily sucked up. Some had bellies so full you could actually see the worm writhing inside. Is it possible for them to eat too much?

 

[Hardwarehank]

Thanks for the information and assurance Dannie. The java moss on the island is finally starting to send out new growth so by the time they're ready to haul out on the water they should have a nice place to sit.

I lost another one yesterday so we're down to 10. I don't think it had to do with water quality issues due to the bubble filter in the corner along with weekly water changes(water was changed the day before about 80%). This looks more like a failure to thrive/bullying situation. I don't know if the damage to the tail was from attacks or some sort of fungal infection maybe? The picture was taken the day before it died. You can see from the pictures the disparate sizes it and some of the other ones. No other larvae are showing any signs of distress or lack of appetite.

Speaking of appetite I'm sort of amazed at how gluttonous these little things can be. I decided to try a small red wriggler out on some of them yesterday and they were all greedily sucked up. Some had bellies so full you could actually see the worm writhing inside. Is it possible for them to eat too much?

 

[Chinadog]

I tried some different methods and the Cynops pyrrhogaster larvae I raise always seem to do better in a mature filtered tank with smaller water changes. I don't know why, but the large water change method seems to result in higher losses, even when using aged, seemingly perfect water. I think the change in general chemistry might be what upsets them, rather than anything actually harmful in the new water, but I'm only guessing.
I haven't had any issues with baby newts over eating, but I have seen them choke on pray that's too large, I don't know if that's a problem while ever they have gills though.

 

[Hardwarehank]

So far no one's belly has burst. Not much to report other than I was able to get some decent photos of the beginning of some of their markings. Some misc shots that I thought were interesting. One of the self-cloning crayfish has "berried" since the last update, hopefully they make it to hatch out. Attached are some weird shots of the water in the 40 gallon I'm getting ready for the larvae when they've morphed and I feel they're ready for their adult home. Upon closer inspection the "columns" were masses of tiny life gyrating and swimming around. Real neat and something I've not seen before. It was only like that for a day so I guess I'm lucky to have caught it.