Floating newtlets

[harleyquine]

And no.. they're not dead. Are they dying or are they gulping at air and ending up floating? They seem to be hanging around on the slope that leads up to the land, hope they're about to morph I've been lucky this far and only two deaths and that was during the first few days. Will the floating harm them? They're about a month and a half old and the bigger ones are definately a bit podgy looking. Once again I end up posting a novel about my little black buggers Thanks for any advice.

 

[harleyquine]

Just checked my calendar and they're a few days shy of two months old, not one and a half. Time flies when you're hatching brine shrimp constantly :uhoh:

 

[Azhael]

Floating is not exactly a sign of nearing metamorphosis. To tell if they are reching that stage, you need to look at the bellies. When they develop the belly pattern , other changes apper and the animal morphs soon after.
The floating could be that they have swallowed a bubbled, which they usually end up spitting, or could be something more serious like bad water quality or bloat. Does it look like there is bubble in their stomachs?

 

[harleyquine]

Bit hard to say I'll have to try and pick it out of there and have a quick look. I'll change out some of the water as well just to be on the safe side. I did try them with some blood worms today, could they just have gas? Most of them do have the little red bellies already. Some of them even changed colour a few weeks ago and are a kind of a transparent colour.

 

[Jennewt]

At 2 months old, they could probably eat something larger than brine shrimp nauplia. They are likely to grow faster if you can get them some larger food.

Some newts do tend to float before them morph. Try adding some floating plants. Gas in the digestive tract is also possible.

 

[harleyquine]

Hiya,

I'm having some real trouble getting food for them over here in Finland. Am on my last batch of brine shrimp eggs and the pet shop is sold out. They're supposed to phone me when they get some more in but so far nothing. As for small live food, the only stuff I can get here is frozen which is no use. I raided my friends pond a while back but now it's all frozen over so I'm guessing all of the beasties will be at the bottom by now? Was thinking that this weekend I should go dig up some earthworms and chop em up, do you think they'd eat it? Also with no alternative will they eat frozen daphnia? Ack so hard just now.