Laotriton laoensis eggs

[Niels D]

Got a 2.2 group of L.laoensis CB 2018 or 2019 in October. They had been kept terrestrial until then, so I had to let them adjust to an aquatic lifestyle. I had them in a simple setup in which I raised the waterlevel inch by inch, which turned out to be a success. At first I kept them in couples, but after I've finished setting up a meter long aquarium (filled with Cryptocoryne balansae, Vallisneria gigantea, Vallisneria natans, Sagittaria subulata and Cryptocoryne usteriana) I'm keeping them together.

The previous owner who bred them advised me to prepare for courtship after the warm period of the summer instead of after the cold period of winter. He suggested to let the water cool down, but not any lower than 19C, so I installed an aquarium heater. When the temps hit 19C courtship began. At the end of November I found the first eggs deposited in the Vallisneria gigantea, which turned out to be the only plant species they would deposit their eggs in.

Most eggs are fertilized. I think only one female is laying, but I'm not entirely sure. Every other day I find some eggs. I will try to raise the offspring like I raise P.deloustali as I've posted on this forum a couple of years ago. Since 2022 I also use an aquatic method with deloustali. I will try this method with a couple of laoensis. This is a simple method. An inch of water filled with Java moss. No rock or cork bark and feeding tubifex worms. I've got a short vid, in which I've raised the water level a bit, because the animal is one year old.

Hopefully I will succeed in raising them into adults.

 

[Niels D]

First couple of eggs hatched, exactly one month after I found the first batch. They seem a little "premature", but I've been a little rough with the container in which these eggs were kept in when I moved them to another room (almost let them drop). I've been told that a lot of movement can result in larvae hatching a little early, once they are in a certain fase of development. They are holding on though, and I've raised larvae in a similar stage in the past.

 

[Niels D]

This time I'm using to the method of using tap water (safe to use in The Netherlands) with a little pond water again. I know a lot of keepers succeed in raising them in more sterile/cleaner manners, but I've got the best results while using a more "dirty" method. The rest is a well proven cocktail of Elodea and ramshorn/pond snails. This way Daphnia doesn't die off within a few days. The saprolegnia mold you get on dead Daphnia can be very deadly to your larvae. In a dirty setup, the large amount of other micro organisms prevent this mold to develop massively.