T. karelenii Larvae

[patrick]

I just got my first hatch from a batch of eggs I got from Jazz Baker. I'm really excited and very nervous. They're so small! I have infusoria for when they are ready to feed and ordered brine shrimp eggs for when they get a little bigger. I have them in a bare-bottom ten gallon tank with a nice little clump of java moss, and maybe an inch and a half of water. I have also read several times the raising newts from eggs caresheet at Caudata Culture. I also throughoghly read a lot of the posts about them on the forums. But I still have questions because I've never actually raised newts before, just tadpoles (which I now realize are completely different).

The first question is, What do you guys think of my setup?

Two, I have heard some variation as to the frequency of water changes, there is the one post in this forum which says no water changes, and the caresheet says every couple days. What would be the best for T. karelenii?

Three, my guys are just sitting there and not moving, when I saw them this morning, I thought they had already died (they aren't they did swim away when I tried to move them into the ten gallon tank). Is it normal for them to just sit there? When do they move?

I guess thats it, except for my favourite question. Have I forgotten anything?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[jennifer]

The setup is OK, though I'd recommend more water. If you decide to use the brine shrimp, you will need to do some VERY careful cleaning of the tank on a daily basis, as the dead bbs go bad and stick to the bottom . An alternative would be to keep the larvae in smaller containers during that time, and transfer them to a clean container frequently. Infusoria are less of a problem, as they stay alive, but may be too small.

Another piece of advice is to try to find a local source of live blackworms. As soon as they are big enough, this is the absolute best food.

Not moving sounds normal. It's also normal if they lay on their sides for the first day or two. The sedentary lifestyle means their yolk reserves are being used for growth, not for movement. They don't move until they are several weeks old and begin to hunt down their food; until then, they will wait for the food to swim by. Even older larvae don't move around much, though.

 

[patrick]

Thanks, I will work on the blackworm source, and maybe get some more plastic containers to keep them in.

 

[jazz]

I'm so happy they hatched for you Patrick! YAY!

 

[patrick]

I fed them my first batch of brine shrimp today. I was worried they weren't eating, but occasionally I will see a very slight movement out of them, Jennifer was right when she says they wait for food to swim by. sometimes they don't eat even when there are several shrimp right by their mouth.

for about how many weeks can I feed them on these until they grow into feeding on bigger items?

 

[jennifer]

At about 2-3 weeks, they can switch over to chopped blackworms. They can still eat brine shrimp too, but the worms will make the larvae grow faster, so I recommend introducing worms as soon as possible. What foods do you have available?