Land areas for CFB

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After a little bit of searching, I managed to find a bacopa plant that I have added to the tank. Still searching for others.

 

[Chinadog]

The plants don't have to be anything fancy, If you can find some regular water weed like Elodia or Hornwort at the pet store he'll be quite happy with that. Just remove the lead weight, toss it in and leave it to float. It won't be long before it's grown into a mat just below the surface that he'll really like hanging out in.

 

[OZIRIS]

Anyway if you are interested in "land areas",I can show you a way to create small islands for your newts. You only need some pieces of cork and java moss, let it grow and this is the result. The newts will use them for resting underwater mostly, sometimes they climb but after few minutes they go to water again.( that should be normal, not being outside all the time).

 

[Chinadog]

Beautiful tank. How long has it been set up?

 

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The water has cleared up considerably after a few days. You can also see the bacopa I've added there in the front right corner.

He's mostly been chilling in the plants since being put back in with the very occasional trip up onto the floating cork. My only concern is that I've not seen him eat much of anything lately.

I know it's the stress of the change and that it's really my own fault, so I suppose I'm really asking how long they can go without food before it's too late?

 

[Chinadog]

Its good that he's staying in the water, it will take a while before he settles down enough to start eating though. I would offer tempting food like live blackworms once a day, but try to keep other disturbances to a minimum. Keep working on getting more plants and make sure that any uneaten food is removed before it rots. Remember to check the water quality for ammonia and nitrite daily. you might need to do small water changes daily until the tank cycles.
He does look healthier than most petstore Firebellies I've seen, he'll be fine for a few days without eating, just try to give him the best conditions possible and hopefully he'll soon start feeding again.

 

[OZIRIS]

Beautiful tank. How long has it been set up?

Thanks, one year ago.

 

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I had a stroke of luck today and found a pond nursery that had a huge stock of anacharis. I dipped the plants to kill the snails, rinsed them, and then planted what I could and floated the rest.

I was hoping there was more than there actually ended up being. Some of the plants are really, really long. Hopefully they are successful and propagate.

 

[Chinadog]

That's better! It won't be long before it starts growing and bushing out. How's the newt doing, did he start feeding again?

 

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Not that I've noticed. I've alternated between offering earthworms and bloodworms, but he doesn't seem interested. He was in his feed dish last night so I thought he was hungry, but when i added the food he just moved away.

I wish live blackworms were more readily available in the US. I've also considered trying to raise brine shrimp to see if live does any better.

 

[Asevernnnn]

There should be a sticky in the FS: USA section where you can buy and have blackworms shipped to you.

 

[Azhael]

Blooodworms are not that good anyway. Keep offering small pieces of earthworm, but don't insist too much and too often, that will only stress the newt further and make it reject food for longer. Try once a day, be gentle, and if there's no interest, stop and try the next day.

 

[Chinadog]

I know I probably said it already, but be extra paranoid about water quality until the tank cycles, especially if he's not eating all the food you put in.
I wouldn't bother with brine shrimp, they are a healthy food, but they die quite quickly in fresh water and soon start to decompose if not eaten.
I wish we could get blackworms at a reasonable price here in the UK, they only seem to be available from laboratory suppliers and are hideously expensive.

 

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Finally, some success. After initially snubbing the earthworm pieces, my guy ate the bloodworms I offered this morning. I'll check to see if he goes back to the earthworms in a little bit.

On a side note, I've added five ghost shrimp in hope of Vetter maintaining the tank as well. So far, the newt doesn't seem bothered by them, but even if he decides to eat one I'm not bothered. At least he would be eating something.

 

[Chinadog]

Glad to hear he's eating again, try to keep disturbances to a minimum now until he's fully settled in and back on the earthworms.
Ghost shrimp are a good choice for scavengers, most newts either ignore them or eat them and don't seem to mind sharing a tank with them at all. Shrimp are also a good indicator of water quality, if the shrimp start to die, its an early warning that water quality is deteriorating.

 

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As I can only find two shrimp for the last couple of days I would say that he has eaten them, haha.

 

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Well, the shrimp are all gone. I've only found and removed one dead one, and while I'm still on the look out, I think its safe to assume that my guy has eaten the rest. He still refuses earthworms, but he's taking bloodworms.

The anacharis/elodea is sort of in weird state. Most of it is still green, but there is one piece or so that has melted (I think that's the term). The newt loves hiding in the anacharis, but I'm concerned about this dead(ish) piece. Will it come back or should I trim it? Will plant supplements like CO2 help or will they hurt the newt?

Incidentally, the anacharis I have in my tadpole tank is as green as anything and I very often forget its even there. It's a little frustrating to be honest, because I don't understand why that's so much more successful, haha.

 

[Chinadog]

Eeek! No, don't use any plant growing products or gas, I've heard of all kinds of horror stories involving amphibians and CO2!
I would just trim off the dead bits and see what happens, if any parts of the plant were damaged when you set the tank up they will naturally die off. If the plants keep dying it would most likely be the lighting tat's not quite right.

 

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I had a feeling that they wouldn't be a good idea. Thanks.

Here's a picture of my tank. I've added a background to make it look more full while I try to actually find plants to fill it up. I'm still trying to find some java moss. I want the anacharis to grow some more, but we'll have to see.

I also want to find him a buddy soon.

 

[Chinadog]

It would be a good idea to place a wanted add on here if you're looking for another newt. Please don't be tempted to buy any more petstore newts, Sooner or later, someone on here will have some nice, healthy captive bred ones available.