Paramesotriton (deloustali?!) eggs!

[TJ]

What a surprise and a great way to start off the New Year!

I've been having some probs with my new extra-large Paramesotriton of unknown origin, the ones that had been sold as P.hainanensis (no such thing) and as P. asperrimus (no such thing either) but that some keepers had suggested might be deloustali.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/1823.html?1039629238

For whatever reason, I'd lost three out of the eight I bought (6 "hainanensis and 2 "asperrimus")and they hadn't been eating well since I brought them home. So the last thing I expected from them was...eggs! I've counted around 10 so far, laid on both plants and on plastic strips.

These eggs seem considerably larger than my P. hongkongensis eggs from a few weeks ago. I still need to find out whether the eggs are from the "hainanensis" or the "asperrimus" -- both of which larger and otherwise different from the 4-5 other kinds of Paramesotriton I keep. Will definitely keep ya'll posted!

 

[ralf]

Congratulations! They are obviously fertilized.

Ralf

 

[TJ]

That's good news Ralf but how can you tell? Some are dark and some are whitish -- does this show whether they've been fertilized or not? Seems I was a bit overambitious and counted some eggs twice as there are actually only seven. But I've just added an enormous amount of Egeria in case she's only just started. There is one female that is very, very plump.!

 

[nate]

Great news Tim. It's going to be fantastic to finally have some photos of eggs, larvae, and juveniles (hint!) for this species of Paramesotriton, whatever it finally turns out to be.

 

[ralf]

Hi Tim,
the egg in the second picture looks like its already segmented.

Ralf

 

[TJ]

Eggs, larvae...AND juveniles?! Sounds like an uphill battle!

Well, I do feel somewhat obligated to shepherd at least four of them to adulthood in light of my tragic adult losses to date.

Hopefully I'll get a large batch of eggs from having introduced all those plants last night! I do think the Paramesotriton eggs are big enough to distinguish from any C.e eggs that may have hitchhiked on over with the plants. "Renegade" C.e larvae are turning up in the darndest places these days!

Of the seven eggs laid so far, two were laid on plastic strips and remaining five on some strands of Egeria (which was in pretty poor condition, probably due to light deprivation).

In contrast, my P. hongkongensis have totally shunned the plastic strips, while my Cynops ensicauda (both C.e.e and C.e.p) regularly use plastic strips almost exclusively (when they're available as an alternative).

Unlike those of this unknown species of Paramesotriton, the P. hongkongensis eggs were laid tightly-spaced in neat rows. The eggs shown above were laid more randomly, as is generally the case with Cynops, so far as I know anyway.

Now, if I can only get my eight caudos and other Parmesotriton to breed. They so seem geared up for it!

 

[TJ]

Bad news on the egg front. Gave 2 away that had a dark nucleus, and maybe they'll be OK as they've gone to people who're more experienced than me. The remaining 5 pretty much had a whitish-colored nucleus (whatever this means...). Now they've become foggy!

Hopefully the adults will lay more though!

 

[jennifer]

From the three pictures you just posted, the one in the center appears to have a developing embryo inside. I wouldn't worry to much about the cloudiness, I've seen eggs get that way and turn out fine. As long as they don't get fuzzy, that's another story. Maybe the color change in the nucleus is normal for this species, you're in uncharted territory!

 

[TJ]

I'm hoping this plump female (?) will lay more!

 

[TJ]

Either she's eaten a truck or she's ready to flood the world with eggs!

 

[jennifer]

Tim, what happened with the milky-looking eggs? Have they gone fuzzy since you posted the picture, or are they still looking the same? Are all the eggs of that batch this way? Any sign that they are developing, or dead?

 

[TJ]

Well, Jennewt, I 'm sorry to have to report I'm in s state of total confusion here with these eggs. 3-4 of them went fuzzy and were removed into a tiny container with anti-fuzz medication. About four more were milky but without fuzz. Then I noticed a live larvae in with the eggs that I had removed several days ago. Found two more like it in the Paramesotriton tank. But the Egeria I moved in probably had C.ensicauda eggs on it so the larvae could be C.e, and actually seem too small to be Paramesotriton. One of the milky egg sacs in the main tank seems to have opened as if a larvae had broken out. The other day, I found a couple of eggs in the tank that are in a relatively advanced stage of development. The larvae inside them looks bigger and browner than C.e larvae.

In short, chaos!I can post some pics here but I can't identify whether they are of Paramesotriton or C.e!

 

[TJ]

Here are the 3 hatchlings I was talking about:

 

[TJ]

This doesn't seem to be C.e. (???) and I'm hoping it's Paramesotriton...
Sorry all for the confusion