Egg Laying Strips for I. alpestris apuanus

[jewett]

I have made plastic egg laying strips for my Alpines in years past, but the strips are never used - the females have a very strong preference for live plants. Has anyone used any other material to make strips that the alpestris do use? I always want to share their eggs, but I lose patience picking through the hornwort and java moss. I bought some tulle fabric with the idea of using it for this purpose, but didn't know if the cloth would leach anything into my water, or if the newts would even use it. I have even thought about removing all live plants while egg laying is underway, but I rely so much on plants for water quality.

Darn Alpines! My orientalis prefer plastic way more than live plants - I have told this to the Alpines, but they don't seem to care...brats...

Thanks for any ideas,
Heather

 

[philwhit]

i always make spawning mops out of the cheap blue nylon rope they sell at diy shops..cut the rope into 8 inch lengths and tie a knot in one end...then seperate all the strands at the other .it floats so its necesary to weight the knotted end down

 

[jewett]

Thanks! My alpestris are pretty much done for this season, but I will try this next year!

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

I just remove all plants and do water changes more frequently. I do have a air filter running also. Nothing like 100 eggs all in a cluster on plastic sandwich bag strips. Its so much easier and you won't have to pick through plants. Just remove the plastic strips and let the eggs hatch else where. Just put the plants back later when egg laying is over with.

I always hated picking through plants for the duds. Can't leave dud eggs to foul up water quality. Especially towards the end of the season newts will lay a lot of duds. Plastic strips help me avoid a big mess.

 

[GussieFinknottl]

Cool thread--I was just about to look into this for my apuanus. They're going now, so I'll give the blue-nylon-rope mop a try!

 

[andrizay]

A friend of mine uses live plants for his apuanus . he puts one string of elodea densa in the tank with no other plants! So they have no choice to use that one string of Elodea densa! And when the plant is full of eggs he takes it out and puts in another string of elodea...It works every year for him.