My Newts Had Babies - some help please

[greg]

Hi everybody, My newts just laid 15 eggs 5 days ago. 11 of them survived. Right now I have the eggs in a seperate tank. I was wondering what do I feed them? I went to the pet store and they told me to buy this stuff called "Brine Shrimp", but it was in a container. Is this what I buy for them? As well, due to unfortunate timing, I predict the eggs will hatch around the time when I leave for my trip, and I will not be back for 17 days. I have a friend who said he would come over and feed them. Are they hard to take care of? What size of container should I put them in if there are 11 of them? Right now they are in a large container that I don't really want to keep them in? Any additional information would be appreciated!

Thanks alot, Greg

 

[ian]

Most of your questions canbe answered from here.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml

Actually, I have only raised newt from egg one time and I am having trouble taking caring the morph right now. But I can still share some of my experience.

I dont think the feeding is that difficult. the difficult is how you have to first hatch the Brine Shrimp from eggs (those in the container) and collect them and then put them in the container that the babies newts are.

Cleaning is difficult as well. Cause you have to clean every day. And you must avoid sucking out the babies while sucking out all the waste in the container.
For more details maybe you can first read the article from that url provided that you may ask us more questions.

 

[jennifer]

In all honesty... if I were leaving for 17 days at the time the eggs were about to hatch, I would throw away the eggs (or take the alternative described below). This is not the kind of job you can leave to a friend, unless this person knows how to hatch the brine shrimp eggs and is really experienced with water quality.

The product you bought.. is it brine shrimp eggs? Or some other product?

Your best bet might be to leave the eggs in the tank with the adults and stock it with a ton of aquatic plants. In the adult tank, there are micro-organisms that live there naturally that might sustain the larvae until you return.

By the way, what kind of newts are they?

 

[al]

I agree with Jen. If they are the cynops variety, and you typically feed live black worms, there will in all probability be enough live microfood in the tank. I would leave them alone and see what happens when you get back. All of my cynops sp. need very little help in rearing eggs and larva. I have not separated the eggs or larva from these species in 2 years and make sure there are live black worms available to them. I have found separating the eggs to a new tank does take a lot of consideration and planning. Pleurodele waltl will predate eggs and larva. Some Triturus sp. (karelini) have been okay in the adult tank (a couple of years ago when I did not have the space or time to rear a few eggs). Notopthalmus sp. will also do fine (I have seen less predation and a few eggs make it to eft stage remaining in an adult tank). Your chances may be better to leave them alone.

 

[greg]

I have no idea exactly what kind they are. The pet store says they are fire-bellied newts. I feed them frozen blood worms. Could I keep them in the tank with the other newts and just ask my friend to put smaller bits of blood worms around them?

 

[ian]

They will require tiny live food, such as Daphia and Brimp Shrimp, for the early stage. So, just dumping in blood worm will not work. Will very likely cloud the water.

 

[jennifer]

Just feed the adult newts as usual. The bloodworms will all be too big for the hatchlings. In any "newtsitting" situation, be very careful that the sitter does not overfeed (or underclean). If the water goes foul, you could risk the adults too. Good luck!