Male or female CFBNs?

[cah]

I'm planning on getting two CFBNs. For now at least, I'd probably just keep the two of them in my other 10 gallon tank, with possibly a snail or some freshwater shrimp. (Speaking of freshwater shrimp, I hadn't even heard of them till I saw them mentioned on one of Caudata's pages. Are they easy to care for? Do they stay fairly small? Can any of you tell me anything else about them? Would they hurt the newts, or vice versa?)Anyway..I don't really want to breed newts, at least now. Sould I aim for getting two females or two males, or do they not breed that readily anyway? Would two males fight or have any other territorial issues? What should I do? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[nate]

It wont matter if you get both males or females, they are not territorial. It really wont even matter if you get a male and a female, because if they mate you don't have to raise the eggs. The adults usually eat the eggs and small larvae. And if you have snails or freshwater shrimp in the tank, they'll help eat the eggs.

The most common freshwater shrimp is the Glass/Ghost shrimp. It has several names and yes, it stays small enough to face being eaten by your cfbs. Here's a page with some basic info on them:

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/spring2001/glassshrimp.html

 

[cah]

Thanks, Nate. Whew. What a relief. I was imagining having to try to tell the girls from the boys in the store, and maybe making a mistake and either ending up with tons of babies or two grumpy males. =P
I think I'll stay away from the shrimp, then. One of the pages on Caudata also recommended some type of snail. What kind? Do they do a decent job of keeping the algae from taking over the tank? Would the newts hurt the snails, or vice versa? Oh..and one more question. I was going to have a few plants on the land portion. Can anyone suggest any good ones that don't require much light, grow slowly, etc?

 

[nate]

The snails most people use are just common ramshorn snails. They don't tend to reproduce as fast as some other species and take over a tank. They do a decent job on the algae, but not all forms of algae. Some small snails may get eaten by the newts but this has never been a problem for me. The large snails are simply spit back out. I don't have any plant suggestions, I just use native plants and I don't know their names.

 

[cah]

Where can I get ramshorn snails? The only kind I've seen here are apple snails. About how quickly -do- they reproduce? Anybody else have plant suggestions (besides Jennifer's java moss, which I've been reading about). =P

 

[nate]

Usually a pet shop has them around, just not for sale. Check the aquatic plants and a few of the fish tanks as they tend to come in wild with the plants. My local shop will gladly give them away. I can't give you any kind of exact number on how fast they reproduce, but it's fast. Let's just say if you start with 4 or 5, you can expect to see a tank full of small snails within a month or two.

 

[cah]

Wow. I don't know about snails..what about a small pleco? Maybe one a little larger than the newt? Most plecos really aren't aggressive at all..however I'd be concerned if the newt tried to eat it. That isn't very likely, is it?