Tylototriton kweichowensis Tug-o-War

[isaiah]

My tank

I know it is to much to wish for, but I did observe tail fanning when two were in the water. Currently I am keeping six. Two in poor health with visible head sores and four that are eating and appear fine.

Wish me luck.....

 

[kaysie]

Very pretty! I get tug-o-war all the time. Good luck with the breeding!

 

[paris]

ive always called it 'tug-o-worm' -ive even seen my new hynobids do that with a cricket.(its good to know they are now such hearty eaters they will fight over food - they get fed every 2nd or 3rd day up to 3 small crickets each). i like the set up you have for them-remember johns suggestion about frequent water changes for tylos -that may be able to trigger it if they are 'in the mood'. all of my big ones are males-so that gets me nowhere....and the few females that look ok in weight look as if they have already given what eggs they could for the year-so im going to have to wait. it may be interesting to find out what sort of egg layers they are -i think it goes something like this....species like triturus will lay eggs proportional to the size of the female and how well her health was last fall whereas species like cynops (at least my popei) will lay eggs proportional to the amount of available food during breeding season, i dont know what tylos fall into - someone like henk or ed could clear this up. one food item though that you may overlook because it is so small is frozen bloodworms-alot of my picky newts love them-these include land lubbers like red belly newts and my kweis that go into the water -or stay in there after i boot them in (i am teaching them that being thrown in = food)- love the cubes of bloodworms -even if they already ate a cricket or wax worm. its a pity that its so much harder to get the shanjings into the water-cause i know from experience that they also love this food item -the added plus is its easy to digest.

 

[michael]

That water looks deep to me. Aren't you afraid they might drown?

 

[isaiah]

I was thinking to shallow. Its only about 5 1/2 inches. From what I have seen of these they are very comfortable in the water, staying there for hours foraging for food and some tail fanning.

 

[paris]

mike-
they have bigger than expected caudal fins -indicating they are quite comfortable in the water. i have mine in about the same level. ideally id want water about 4-5" with a gradual slope to the land area but currently they are in a set up that has a shelf that takes up 1/2 the tank (they can actually swim under their land area) and they seem comfortable when they go in-they dont panic -so i believe its an ok level.

 

[jesse]

that is a totally knarly set up man, did you place somekind of divider? or did you jsut pile up the rocks so that they are above water level then put the earth over them?

 

[mark]

Nice set-up Isaiah, what substrate are you using in the water?

 

[david]

I asked Philipp Grundter about a good set up to attempt breeding and he says use a half and half setup and he keeps a water level of up to 8 inches. They do spend alot of time in the water. not quite verucossus like, but far from shanjing.

 

[john]

Re: tail fins, just in case you thought they did, the tail fins don't vary.

Tylototriton kweichowensis is quite fine with water than shanjing but as Dave says they don't spend all of their time in the water like shanjing.

I must say that I'm quite glad to see that many of you in the US have acquired some of these animals and that they're doing well. I expect you to populate your continent in the next two years!

 

[clarence]

that's just too cute.