Orientalis coming out of the water

[froggy]

Hi all

I have a group of H. orientalis, which I have had for around a year. 3 are rescued WC animals (they were treated for sores etc and recovered well). The other two are CB from Morg. Recently, some of the animals (mainly a C male and female) have been coming out of the water. I have provided a cork island with moss so they don't get too stressed clinging to the glass, but am concerned as to why they have done this. Water quality is fine, there is no current and loads of plants. Although we had a some hot weather a while ago and a few more days of heat now, this has not coincided with the animals leaving the water - they have been glass climbing in cool weather, too. Water is usually at or below 20c in the hottest weather.

Any ideas as to why this is happening? Is it a seasonal thing?

C

 

[l0uiswh0]

I have one Orientalis that likes to sit on a rock just clear of the water. I get the impression, from what I've read, that you occasionally get individuals who like to do this. I hope this is the case... otherwise I'm worried too

 

[froggy]

I seem to have fixed the problem with a complete tank reboot and a change of location where there is brighter light (indirect, of course). I'm now keeping them bare-bottom rather than with sand, too. Whatever was wrong before (Ammonia etc all 0 or low in the case of Nitrates), they seem fine now.

C

 

[Jesper]

Hey Chris
Are you sure something was wrong at all, I mean the environmental cues are complicated. Maybe you just had the right cues for them to go terrestrial. Although its somewhat more tricky to keep them terrestrial ime, it is quite natural(if not more so}. I somehow doubt that these animals are very sensitive to water quality, and I cannot imagine you having that bad water anyway.. I have had my WC female(rescue as well} for 7 or so years now and she doesnt seem to mind the dirtiest of dirty waters, what she does mind is sudden environmental changes.... like me changing water or someone else feeding her(Mark!!} hehe.

perhaps humidity, light amount, intensity and heat was just right for terrestrial transition. I just have a small island and yesterday all of them were piled on top of each other on the island, I bet if I would have offered a land area they would have gone fully terrestrial as they do.

Ofc if you reset the cues, like changing water or light.heat source, thereby changing temp and humidity etc you can always get them where you want em with a bit of cajoling. Sorry about the keyboard I took it apart the other day hehe

 

[Mark]

what she does mind is sudden environmental changes.... like me changing water or someone else feeding her(Mark!!} hehe.

Hah, I think she was pining for you and took a real dislike for me. I still have your pyrrhogaster if you ever want them back. There's quite a few now. They keep multiplying...

 

[Jesper]

Haha, yeah Ive heard... They are worse than rabbits. How many do you have now, you could have hundreds by now hehe.

 

[froggy]

Perhaps that's it. They are now housed in a climate controlled growth cabinet at work, with water temperature of 15C, down to about 13C at night. They seem a lot happier now, although the WC male continues to be 'restless' and comes out the water a lot. They seem to be eating ok, and particularly 2 of the females have put on a lot of weight snce the move. I think that one issue before was the light level. They were in an East facing room with only indirect window light, which, in Manchester, isn't very much! Now they are more brihgtly lit, which seems to help, too.

I will hibernate them in a fridge for 6 weeks or so soon, which will hopefully get them into breeding mode again. I am hoping to rear a large number of offspring when they do so.

C