Sinking paddletail foods?

[pinkspore]

My previous paddletail newt was somewhat difficult to feed, and my new newt appears to have the same issue. The tank is a 20L filled to within a couple of inches of the top, so the water is fairly deep. The previous newt spent most of her time on the bottom of the tank and never ate anything floating or offered on forceps. She ate frozen bloodworms and sinking frog pellets.

I've only had the current paddletail for a few days, but he also appears to be very interested in anything on the bottom of the tank and oblivious to any kind of floating food or food on forceps. This takes everything from live crickets and waxworms to reptomin off the menu. What other options are there for fully aquatic newts?

 

[obicat]

My paddletail is an out and out eating machine, but he wont touch anything on the surface. He does go up there, but just to hang out on the plants, or sit on top of the filter etc. Mine is a very poor swimmer, in fact I dont think I have ever seen him swim. He prefers to walk and/or climb. Hes adept at using his tail to hang upside down from things, and he uses the plants like ladders.

I'm in the UK, so things are different here. I feed mine live foods mainly. Daphnia, blood worm, and occasionally brine shrimp. He is a ferocious hunter, but again, only on the ground, he will even ignore daphina etc swimming a few inches off the floor. Anything on the floor is done for though

He happily eats frozen blood worm, but wont touch newt pellets at all. I tend to avoid the frozen stuff as I prefer him to have to work a bit for his food, and I love watching him hunt!

Can you source live food at all? Or different types of frozen food? I've got some that was a mix of daphnia, brine shrimp, blood worms and something else that I forget.

 

[obicat]

just remembered I give mine chopped earth worms too and he loves them!

 

[AngieD]

I think this 'bottom feeding' habit is common among paddletails, because mine are just the same. I tried putting mine in the feeding bowl with glassworms, which they ignored, then with daphnia, which they also ignored, and then when I tipped some bloodworms in, they snapped them up immediately.

 

[Zach42]

I used to have a paddletail that would sometimes eat pellets, but he loved worms and never turned them down so that is what I fed him most of the time.

 

[frumiousfrog]

Hi there! My paddletail absolutely loves earthworms. I don't feed him more than a couple of times a week, which is probably not ideal, but I search my yard by lifting plant pots, rocks, etc. to find small worms for him. He has learned that when I tap on the glass of his tank, a worm is on the way, so he swims to the front and stares me down until I drop the worm in (he really has a lot of personality!). If the worms I find are large, I cut them into smaller pieces, but he seems to enjoy (or be stimulated by) the movement of the worms, so I try to leave them big enough to wiggle.

I have also fed him black worms, purchased at an aquarium store, and he will eat them, although not as eagerly as the earthworms. He also seems less excited about the red worms I occasionally purchase, perhaps because they are less wriggly than the worms I find in the yard.

I have had this newt for about 2 years now, and he appears to be perfectly healthy. (I DO think he'd eat more often if given the chance, but I just don't have time to hunt for worms on a daily basis.)

By the way, I'm in southern California, and this is great earthworm hunting weather!