alpenglow
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- Jun 8, 2018
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- Location
- Washington
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- alpenglw
If you look back through my post history, you'll see I've had this newt for awhile. He's now twelve years old, literally half my age! This isn't the first time he's gotten entered breeding condition--I've found that this will most commonly occur shortly after a thorough tank cleaning and a 50% cold water change, keeping temperatures at or below 62 F, and as far as I can recall, only in LED-lighted setups with day/night cycles running.
In any case, I moved across two states at the end of last year (Newton's seventh move since I've had him... he is a very hardy guy!). For this I had to really simplify the layout of his tank, as I could only pack my car and had to drive as many boxes as I could fit plus myself, my two cats, and Newton's 10 gallon tank the whole way in one shot, taking about twelve hours. This was his second ever car ride of this length (the first was a bit longer, around 14 hours). For the first drive in 2019, I kept him in a medium kritter keeper with a faux rock hide superglued to the middle of its floor, filled with ~4 inches of cold water, kept in a plastic cooler with an ice bag and a towel. We had to stay in a hotel for a night before properly moving in, so he stayed in the kritter keeper for over 24 hours. For the second drive last year, I kept him in a small kritter keeper (big enough for him to stretch out and turn around in) with ~1.5 inches of cold water and nothing else in it, kept in a fabric cooler with a few cold packs and a towel. I recommend the first drive's cooling/insulation method and the second drive's housing method.
ANYWAY, I finally made the 2-hour round trip from my new town to Petco and bought some more driftwood and plants for his setup. He loves the new driftwood: it gives him better access to walk up onto that bigger piece of wood, and creates more caves/tunnels for him to crawl around in and stick his face out of. In both pictures, in the back left corner of the tank, a round plastic "cave"- the kind marketed for desert reptile enclosures- is hidden and shaded beneath the big piece of wood, with its entrance pointing outwards towards that gap behind the log. (This cave is where he usually sleeps.) One interesting thing I've noticed: he needs to have enough room along the bottoms of the tank walls to walk all around the perimeter of the tank on the substrate. This means no wood wedged in bottom corners.
The first picture is the before, about 6 weeks ago. He lost two pieces of driftwood, a plastic cave, a couple of plants, and a marimo moss ball in the move, leaving him with just one piece of driftwood, a plastic cave, and his feeding bowl. The second picture was taken a few hours ago, showing the new plants, driftwood, and botanicals! These additions to the setup, plus the water change and tank cleaning I describe above, resulted in Newton entering breeding condition and displaying his papillae. He was also fed his regular meal of frozen bloodworms immediately prior to his excitement-- I bet he's dreaming of dinner for two :]
Ideally, with this setup, I'm trying to emulate a backeddy in a mountain stream. I'm using an Aqueon QuietFlow Internal Power Filter with the spout above the water to have a "fountain" effect and agitate the surface. A 10-inch bubbler strip is suction-cupped to the back wall to further oxygenate the water. The plants are an unknown Anubias, A. nana, and Lagenandra "bleeding heart." I'll soon be adding some slate to the tank setup. I might add a 6W pump with a 132 gph flow rate to create a more powerful underwater current, but its introduction will be careful so as not to overly stress him with such a strong and sudden change.
In any case, I moved across two states at the end of last year (Newton's seventh move since I've had him... he is a very hardy guy!). For this I had to really simplify the layout of his tank, as I could only pack my car and had to drive as many boxes as I could fit plus myself, my two cats, and Newton's 10 gallon tank the whole way in one shot, taking about twelve hours. This was his second ever car ride of this length (the first was a bit longer, around 14 hours). For the first drive in 2019, I kept him in a medium kritter keeper with a faux rock hide superglued to the middle of its floor, filled with ~4 inches of cold water, kept in a plastic cooler with an ice bag and a towel. We had to stay in a hotel for a night before properly moving in, so he stayed in the kritter keeper for over 24 hours. For the second drive last year, I kept him in a small kritter keeper (big enough for him to stretch out and turn around in) with ~1.5 inches of cold water and nothing else in it, kept in a fabric cooler with a few cold packs and a towel. I recommend the first drive's cooling/insulation method and the second drive's housing method.
ANYWAY, I finally made the 2-hour round trip from my new town to Petco and bought some more driftwood and plants for his setup. He loves the new driftwood: it gives him better access to walk up onto that bigger piece of wood, and creates more caves/tunnels for him to crawl around in and stick his face out of. In both pictures, in the back left corner of the tank, a round plastic "cave"- the kind marketed for desert reptile enclosures- is hidden and shaded beneath the big piece of wood, with its entrance pointing outwards towards that gap behind the log. (This cave is where he usually sleeps.) One interesting thing I've noticed: he needs to have enough room along the bottoms of the tank walls to walk all around the perimeter of the tank on the substrate. This means no wood wedged in bottom corners.
The first picture is the before, about 6 weeks ago. He lost two pieces of driftwood, a plastic cave, a couple of plants, and a marimo moss ball in the move, leaving him with just one piece of driftwood, a plastic cave, and his feeding bowl. The second picture was taken a few hours ago, showing the new plants, driftwood, and botanicals! These additions to the setup, plus the water change and tank cleaning I describe above, resulted in Newton entering breeding condition and displaying his papillae. He was also fed his regular meal of frozen bloodworms immediately prior to his excitement-- I bet he's dreaming of dinner for two :]
Ideally, with this setup, I'm trying to emulate a backeddy in a mountain stream. I'm using an Aqueon QuietFlow Internal Power Filter with the spout above the water to have a "fountain" effect and agitate the surface. A 10-inch bubbler strip is suction-cupped to the back wall to further oxygenate the water. The plants are an unknown Anubias, A. nana, and Lagenandra "bleeding heart." I'll soon be adding some slate to the tank setup. I might add a 6W pump with a 132 gph flow rate to create a more powerful underwater current, but its introduction will be careful so as not to overly stress him with such a strong and sudden change.
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