Fire belly newt questions

[rivkah]

Hi,
I have again the same basic questions about my silly firebelly newts.

About 8 or more months ago I got 2 firebelly newts... during the first week they hung out in the water section, eating forzen blood worms... just like the fire bellies I had keep for years, years ago. After that first week they moved onto the land section where they have been every since. (I had added a third that was missing a couple of limbs - and has since regrown those limbs) All are alive and feeding well on flightless fruit flies, rarely seen, instead continueouldy hiding except when I add flies to their houseing, a 35 hex tank divided into 1/2 water (7-8 inches deep) - 1/2 planted land.

I asked this question (why aren;t they going into the water area?), received various responses, and have since (a couple of months ago) moved the original 3 newts into a new tank/set up. The conventional wisdon appeared to say that there was not enough water volume (around 7 gallons) and too much water movement.

They are now housed in a 25 bowl (yes, bowl - big, 24" totally round bowl, not a biorb ), with a large piece of drift wood used to supend an "island" that is approximately 6"x6", planted with hiding places (little caves) and lots and lots of floating plants. There is no filtration, instead I do 50% water changes every third day and do use decloration/water conditioner with each change. The total water volume is now approximately 17 gallons around 12 inches deep. The temps range 68-73degrees. About a month ago, I added 3 more fire belly that were puchased from a different souce.

Guess what? the originaly fire bellies still inhabit only the land area eating fruit flies, whereas the new newts mostly stay in the water area eating mostly bloodworms. All are overall healthy and eating, only the aquatic newts are active.

They are the same speices... I confuse the chinese firebelly with the japanese sitting here trying to remember which is which. These are the ones with the pointier tails, more warty skin. But mostly, by looking at each... I know they are the same speicies.

So, here we go again.... I feel badly for the original 3 fire bellies, now that I have drasticly reduced the land area - they appear have no where to go, whereas the "new" newts appear to be having the time of their lives with all the space and plants to hang in/on.

I have set up another houseing for my red efts since some appear to be ready to morph into easter spotted adults. A 30 gallon tank that now has a large water volume (approxiately 1/3 of the tank and 5 inches deep), well planted with many hiding places (clay caved purchased from Evan Rosenthal). I am debating that since the originaly 3 fire belly newts are activing very much like red efts, houseing them with the red efts. Because of the new setup it would still allow the fire bellies to venture into the water at their own time... slowly... if they even did enter the water. Each species also appear to have the same agression when feeding, so it appears that one would not out-compete the other for food stuffs.

Suggestions.... comments..... what is up with those first 3 fire bellies? Would there be problems houseing the fire bellies with the red efts?

Thank you again for any and all comments. Even though I have keep firebellies in the past, even breeding them, it is so frustrating watching these do what I had not seen fire bellies do before.

Rikah

 

[Azhael]

Well, let´s see. The 50% water changes are very likely part of the problem. It´s generally recommended that water changes should be no larger than 20% of the total volume, and a change every 3 days is waaaaay too much if the volume is large.
By doing frequent and large water changes you are preventing the water conditions from becoming stable and quite possibly the entire cycling process from taking place. Stability and proper cycling are absolutely key if you want the animals to be aquatic. They´ll most likely refuse to enter the water unless conditions are optimal, and they are never going to be if you don´t mature the tank.
Another issue is the diet. Fruitflies alone are very insufficient for the terrestrial animals, even if dusted with adequate vitamin/calcium complements (which are definitely required). A diet like that, over a large period of time will eventually cause very serious problems. The same goes for the aquatic one´s diet of bloodworms. Bloodworms are very handy and eaten with gusto, but they are simply inadequate as a staple. Again, very serious problems will eventually appear with such a diet, and they are the kind of problem that will either end in death or a loooooong suffering ending in....death.
The ideal staple for both terrestrial and aquatic animals are earthworms. They have an excellent calciumhosphorus ratio, and they are very nutritious. It´s possibly the only food that can be fed exclusively without impending doom.
Because variety is always best, you should complete a diet based on earthworms with the bloodworms and fruitflies, but also things like waxworms, small crickets, Daphnia and other crustaceans (these are very good), blackworms, whiteworms, small slugs, etc.

Finally, i strongly recommend not mixing species. Each species has different toxins, N.viridescens being much more toxic than either H.orientalis or C.pyrrhogaster (try to upload a picture and we´ll identify them for you). Also, your firebellies, whatever species they are, are WC imports from China or Japan, which means there is a very significant possibility of introducing patogens to the notos, and viceversa.

 

[AngieD]

The ones with more bumpy skin and the pointier tails tend to be pyrrogaster, but a picture would be a better way of us IDing it for you