Need help with species ID so i can get tank setup!

[adamL]

Hi,
i just posted in the introduce yourself thread. i have had an account here for a couple months but i should have posted in here much much earlier. my sister brought this newt home from school one day in an awful tiny tank with no water, no adequate food, and soil with fertilizer in it. i think i did the right thing in getting a 10gallon tank, gravel, and bloodworms. i set up the tank with about 5 inches depth water and a little island.
after setting up a fish tank for my cousins i realized how important temperature, filtration, and environment matter for aquatic animals so i decided to come back on this site.

i'd like to get a proper filter and some real plants but i'm not even sure what species it is. the markings seemed to be opposite (brown where there's orange and vice versa) from all the pictures here and on google images.
any and all help is MUCH appreciated. thank you! i look forward to making this a much better setup cause i love my newt!

i was looking through the list of species and i think it might be this one? http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Paramesotriton/P_hongkongensis.shtml

actually i think it's this one: paramesotriton chinensis

 

[Jennewt]

I believe you are right, the species is P. chinensis. It will thrive under standard "newt conditions". See
Caudata Culture - Frequently Asked Questions

 

[jane1187]

Jennewt is right, they're a very hardy species and relatively easy to keep. I have one myself.

One tip is that mine has NEVER left the water so I wouldn't worry too much about providing any great land area. Maybe a floating piece of cork bark or similar just in case.

As well as bloodworm mine loves earthworms.

A lovely looking newt.

 

[Niels D]

Congradulations. You've got yourself a beautiful newt!

 

[Azhael]

Get rid of the gravel. Use fine sand or no substrate. Increase the volume up to the full capacity (make sure you have a scape proof lid). Provide a current and hiding areas. Keep it cool and feed it earthworms.
That´s basically all.

 

[adamL]

thank you for all the tips! i'm glad this newt likes a current because i just bought an internal waterfall filter which produces some flow. i'll fill the tank up higher and swap the gravel for some sand. thank you!

one other question...i bought a calcium supplement which is a powder. do i simply sprinkle some on some thawed bloodworms and then feed them to him?

 

[Azhael]

The use of supplement powders for aquatic animals is complicated. Adding powder to the bloodworms, or dusting prey is unlikely to work at all, because the powder washes away.
A good way of introducing the supplements into the diet is by gut loading the prey items with foods enriched with the powders.
Some brands claim that the powder can be dissolved and added to the water in specific ratios, resulting in skin absortion, for example....i´m not convinced this works for much else other than calcium. I would expect most compounds to decay or be metabolized by bacteria before they can be any good.
Anyway, earthworms are nutritionally complete. If you base the diet on them and occasionally add other foods like fresh-water crustaceans, bloodworms, crickets, pellets, blackworms, whiteworms, isopods, etc, the animal will probably need no supplementation.

 

[adamL]

okay so i got rid of the gravel, got some fine soft sand, added more water, and voila. here are some pictures (mid-shed)

 

[adamL]

some more pics after full shed.

 

[Azhael]

It´s having some issues shedding, so make sure that water quality is as optimal as possible. Read the cycling and water quality articles in CC.
You should add some hiding places, like a terracotta pot, or rocks, and some live plants would help too, not just with water quality and shelter, but also to facilitate the access to the surface as newts like to climb the plants or rest on them near the surface.

 

[adamL]

i just took out much of the old water and added new water and a new dose of bacteria. i don't have a place for the newt while the tank establishes so i'm going to get some plants to speed up the process.

 

[Azhael]

Don´t do water changes in excess of 20% of the volume. The bacteria you mentioned are one of those commercial kick starter things? Not much use, really....The cycling process will happen by itself but until it is completed and and equilibrium in compound processing is achieved, there can be spikes. Plants will help, not speeding up the process but rather absorbing nitrogen compounds themselves. The more you have, the safer you can sleep xD
Do the partial water changes daily until the cycling process is finished. You should get a decent brand of testing gear to keep a record of how things are going.