My Cynops orientalis eggs

[firefly]

I have 4 Cynops orientalis eggs ready to hatch, & one larva which is a week old. I've put some tiny daphnia in with it but it shows no sign of trying to eat any. Its swimming around now and again. When can I expect it to eat please?? I'm new to keeping newts.

 

[Azhael]

Re: My Cynops Orientalis 'Project'

Hi,
You can expect the newly hatched larva to start eating anywhere from 2-3 days after hatching to 10 days or so.
Newly hatched larvae have the remains of the yolk sack inside them and that can last them for a number of days, so don´t worry, you have still have some time.
It´s a good idea to prepare the foods you are going to offer as soon as possible because as soon as the yolk sack runs out, the larva will need eating.

 

[firefly]

Re: My Cynops Orientalis 'Project'

I still have some tiny daphnia in another container, & now that the shops are open again tomorrow I will try to buy some bloodworms for them. Will the larvae be ok with them ??

 

[Azhael]

Newly hatched larvae can´t eat bloodworms, they are waaaaay to big.
They will be a good food for when they reach 2cm or so.
Until then you can use the daphnia, and also newly hatched brine shrimp.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

For the most part larva just sit there so I think the larva you see swimming may actually be eating. It will look like it's making short hops when it eats. As Azhael said, daphnia and baby brine shrimp are the only thing small enough for your little guy to eat right now. Of the two I prefer to use daphnia. They can live in the tank with the larva therefore always being available for when the larva are hungry and they don't foul up the water like brine shrimp will.

 

[firefly]

I've heard that from somewhere else too about daphnia being less messy. I have used a turkey baster to put a few teeny tiny daph into the container, so I hope the little guy will eat soon. It's difficult when I want to change the water as I have to catch the little critters again.

When the larvae swims it wriggles, I've not seen the hopping motion yet. I can just make out the external gills when I look thro a magnifying glass - wonderful.

Could I ask, do I need to buy plants yet such as elodea?

 

[firefly]

Well, 'Little Guy' still isn't eating. If I move the container he swims really well, so he seems ok. I'm just worried now cos it's nearly two weeks. It's siblings still haven't hatched but appear to be moving inside their sacs.

I received a microworm culture 4 days ago, and I was hoping that I would be harvesting worms by now but there's nothing appearing on the sides at all.

Should I get more Daphnia and put quite a few in ?? There's only 3-4 tiny Daph with it at the mo??

Oh the worry

 

[Kerry1968]

I have raised axolotl larvae and with these I would literally flood the tub with daphnia. They will live a long time in the water and the theory being, the more food around the larvae, the more they eat!

 

[KJ_29]

I raised my C.Orientalis primarily on microworm for the first couple of weeks after hatching; they're a very convenient size. I didn't have much luck using daphnia early on, they seemed to be far too big for my larvae. Microworm quickly become too small as the larvae grow, and they're not particularly nutritious; I do believe them to be particularly useful for feeding the newly hatched however.
Incidentally, I started off feeding the larvae with microworm, then moved onto tubifex, and then live bloodworm and daphnia. I think it worked well, considering the few losses I had.
Hope some of that helps.

 

[firefly]

Thanks for the replies, thats great