N.v.v. eggs and larvae

[liam]

Hi there,

On the 9th of January I noticed a few eggs in my newt tank. From them on, I've been finding more and more. The first 2 hatched yesterday (27th), so I thought I'd post a few photo's from their development. All the photo's apart from the first one are of the same egg.

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Hope you all enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed watching the process!

Liam.

 

[pin-pin]

That was beautiful Liam! Congrats and hope you'll take more photos of their upcoming development.

 

[meghan]

My n.v.v have been frolicking quite a bit lately....haven't seen any signs of eggs though.

 

[pamela]

Nice pictures of the developing newts. Thanks Liam!

 

[nate]

Very cool, Liam, thanks for sharing.

 

[karl]

yeah cool pics,thanx

 

[ralf]

Great pictures!

 

[liam]

Thanks for all the kind words, 3 more hatched out today - very exciting!

I'll try and get some more photo's every few days as they get older.

Liam.

 

[leanne]

Liam, is it a digital camera you're using? What is your optical zoom and the amount of megapixels, because those are awesome closeups!

 

[liam]

Hi there,

Sorry I didn't get around to posting a reply sooner. It is a digital camera with 2.1 megapixels. I think the optical zoom is 8x.

I've now got 26 hatched larvae in tubs out of the tank, and at least 4 that I let hatch inside. Since then I've not managed to see any of the ones in the tank until today, when I finally spotted one of them. Managed to get a couple of pictures:

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Liam.

 

[meghan]

Great pictures Liam!! What kind of setting do you have your Nvv's in? ie. water temp, filter etc? My male is very receptive to the female (who's VERY fat now) but she's not interested. I'm wondering if I need to tweak something in the tank in some way.

 

[liam]

Thanks Meghan,

I'll try and get a decent picture or 2 of their setup when i get a chance. The tank is 36" x 12" x 18", and it has a Fluval 1 filter, deflected via some tubing to disperse the outflow. Temperature fluctuates a little, around 15-18 C. I think in this case a picture would show the rest a lot better, but briefly, the substrate consists of a layer of gravel on the bottom, covered in pebbles from a river with a few larger smooth rocks. There is a fair amount of elodea (or a related species - i'm not entirely sure) in the tank, which the newts seem to love sitting on, another plant that they seem to like (no idea what it is) and a piece of wood that juts out of the water with moss on top. I've only seen a newt on the island a couple of times though, but I think it's always good to give them the option of leaving the water if they want to. There are of course some wee nooks and crannies where they can hide. They also seem to really enjoy sitting on top of the filter - most of the time at least one of the newts will be doing so.

Liam.

Edit: Not sure if it would make any difference but the deflected filter outflow makes a gentle splashing in the water when it hits. I think I remember readng somewhere that that can promote mating behaviour, but I honestly cant remember where - I might be making it up

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(Message edited by liam on February 12, 2005)

 

[meghan]

Thanks Liam, I'd love to see pictures when you get the time. I don't have gravel on the bottom and have java moss as the only aquatic plant. I plan on purchasing a variety of aquatic plants today. I took one of my husband's beer mugs and filled it with gravel to deflect the filter flow as well. I've noticed they seem to enjoy sitting on the outflow lip of the filter as well and the edge of the beer mug! They also seem to like to climb the plants I have growing through the cork bark. I have to be sure the lid is always securely on. Water temp is the same as yours. I'm stumped.

 

[colin]

Hi Liam
thats mine just started spawning in the last week or so too

 

[leanne]

WOW---so it is the optical zoom that helps you get that clarity, excellent!!!

 

[liam]

Hi again,

Sorry, I keep on forgetting to take some setup photos, but today I did get a couple of photos of the largest larva in the tank. This is the same individual I photographed a while back, shown above in this thread. He has recently grown back legs, though you can only just see one of them.

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Liam.