Red Spotted Newts

[Learner]

Any body raising or breeding RSN?? I have 5 that I am building a palud for. They have exhibited courtship behavior with the wafting of phermones and then the other day I saw two in the breeding grip. I wanna do this right.

29 gal tank
DIY background and land areas
Drylok method and Titebond III
2 X 24 watt T5 fixture
Fluval 150 and Duetto 50 filters.
Anubias hastifolia
Anubias nana
Anubias lancelota
Hygro coryombosa

I've never had a decent planted substrate with a herp vive or palud.........theyre just so dirty. Thinking about ecocomplete capped with river rock. The newts forage so much and create the suction while feeding. I dont want them taking too much substrata down the tube! I really want playsand, but fear the newts will swallow too much???????? Maybe just part of the bottom, whaddya think

Has anyone ever rigged the outflow of an eheim as a unidirectional flow instead of a spray bar? I would like to use an extra canister filter I have for filtration.

I wish I could find a hard tube (like the intake pipe of the eheim) that would go all the way down to towards the bottom of the tank and then bend 90 degrees toward the front of the tank. This way it could be hidden along the back corner and then push water off the front glass and in turn, deflected towards the intake on the other side. Does that make sense?? Appropriate heat should bend the tube good enough for a custom fit.........I just dont know where to get an extra long, hard tube like that...and have it fit the eheim properly.

Anyways.......more to come.....thinking about starting a build thread if ur interested.

[Learner]

heres 2 of the 5

[Rob in Puyallup]

Oh, so cool!

I had some of these newts when I was a kid! I had somehow thought they'd fallin off the face of the Earth!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2

[slowfoot]

I breed these newts, so maybe I can help out.

Originally Posted by Learner

Any body raising or breeding RSN?? I have 5 that I am building a palud for. They have exhibited courtship behavior with the wafting of phermones and then the other day I saw two in the breeding grip. I wanna do this right.

29 gal tank
DIY background and land areas
Drylok method and Titebond III
2 X 24 watt T5 fixture
Fluval 150 and Duetto 50 filters.
Anubias hastifolia
Anubias nana
Anubias lancelota
Hygro coryombosa

I've never had a decent planted substrate with a herp vive or palud.........theyre just so dirty. Thinking about ecocomplete capped with river rock. The newts forage so much and create the suction while feeding. I dont want them taking too much substrata down the tube! I really want playsand, but fear the newts will swallow too much???????? Maybe just part of the bottom, whaddya think

Sand is perfect for newts - the small grains will pass right through them. I only use sand in my tanks (with root tabs for rooted plants). Eco Complete is probably not okay because the grains are large enough to cause impaction.

Has anyone ever rigged the outflow of an eheim as a unidirectional flow instead of a spray bar? I would like to use an extra canister filter I have for filtration.

I wish I could find a hard tube (like the intake pipe of the eheim) that would go all the way down to towards the bottom of the tank and then bend 90 degrees toward the front of the tank. This way it could be hidden along the back corner and then push water off the front glass and in turn, deflected towards the intake on the other side. Does that make sense?? Appropriate heat should bend the tube good enough for a custom fit.........I just dont know where to get an extra long, hard tube like that...and have it fit the eheim properly.

Anyways.......more to come.....thinking about starting a build thread if ur interested.

Don't really know much about installing filters. These newts really prefer still water. I use a very teeny filter (rated for 15 gallons or less) on my larger tanks or no filter at all.

Just some tips:

These guys really don't need a land area at all. If conditions are right (colder water, no strong currents, deep enough water, no fish, lots of plants) they will never leave the water. Just give them some plants that touch the surface, so they can rest at the top.

A secure lid is a must! They are very agile climbers and can squeeze through the smallest crack.

To encourage breeding you'll need to drop the temps (but if you're already seeing breeding behavior, maybe they've dipped enough). Females will lay on any 'floppy' leafed plant they can find. They fold each egg over in a leaf and glue it shut. This might ruin delicate plants like crypts. I keep some cheap plants in the tank during laying season: elodea, pennywort, water wisteria. They will eat the eggs, so you might also have to cut the leaves off to get them out of the tank.

From your pic it looks like the water level is really low - try to raise it to at least 6-7 inches deep. I keep mine in fully planted aquaria filled to about an inch or so below the top.

If you have any luck with egg laying, I can help with larva care too but that's a lot to write at this point.

[GMYukonon24s]

That's nice

[Soothing Shrimp]

YAY! Great to have an expert like you slowfoot!

Learner, I'd love to follow your build!

[Fishies_in_Philly]

why go through the trouble of heating and bending tubing when you can make it out of pvc pipe just as easily and cheaply. a couple lengths of 1/2"pipe, a 90 deg. elbow, a cap on the outlet (drill holes for outflow) and a threaded fitting at the top with w/a screw in barbed hose fitting. should cost you all of about $15 @ the big box hardware stores. oh, don't forget the hose clamp

[Learner]

Slowfoot: thank you so much for the info. I will make the necessary changes to my build. So glad you chimed in with such great knowledge, hope you follow the build.

I have several areas where the newts can crawl out onto some swampy moss. There are a couple of them who really like to hang out under a smooth flat rock that shades the moss. Right now they have about 5 inches of water........ill make more.

I'll post some pics of the build thus far.........

[Learner]

Originally Posted by Fishies_in_Philly

why go through the trouble of heating and bending tubing when you can make it out of pvc pipe just as easily and cheaply. a couple lengths of 1/2"pipe, a 90 deg. elbow, a cap on the outlet (drill holes for outflow) and a threaded fitting at the top with w/a screw in barbed hose fitting. should cost you all of about $15 @ the big box hardware stores. oh, don't forget the hose clamp

good call! I got it done in no time. going with pex piping.........perfect!

[Lia]

Originally Posted by slowfoot

I breed these newts, so maybe I can help out.



Sand is perfect for newts - the small grains will pass right through them. I only use sand in my tanks (with root tabs for rooted plants). Eco Complete is probably not okay because the grains are large enough to cause impaction.



Don't really know much about installing filters. These newts really prefer still water. I use a very teeny filter (rated for 15 gallons or less) on my larger tanks or no filter at all.

Just some tips:

These guys really don't need a land area at all. If conditions are right (colder water, no strong currents, deep enough water, no fish, lots of plants) they will never leave the water. Just give them some plants that touch the surface, so they can rest at the top.

A secure lid is a must! They are very agile climbers and can squeeze through the smallest crack.

To encourage breeding you'll need to drop the temps (but if you're already seeing breeding behavior, maybe they've dipped enough). Females will lay on any 'floppy' leafed plant they can find. They fold each egg over in a leaf and glue it shut. This might ruin delicate plants like crypts. I keep some cheap plants in the tank during laying season: elodea, pennywort, water wisteria. They will eat the eggs, so you might also have to cut the leaves off to get them out of the tank.

From your pic it looks like the water level is really low - try to raise it to at least 6-7 inches deep. I keep mine in fully planted aquaria filled to about an inch or so below the top.

If you have any luck with egg laying, I can help with larva care too but that's a lot to write at this point.

Don't they need land when they become red efts?

[slowfoot]

Originally Posted by Lia

Don't they need land when they become red efts?

Yes, but the OP's newts are all adults well past the eft stage.

[Lia]

Originally Posted by slowfoot

Yes, but the OP's newts are all adults well past the eft stage.

Oh I see, thanks.


The red efts are gorgeous. I saw some few yrs ago in PA and thought a different type of salamander till later saw them on site and realized red efts.

Do you find it difficult keeping them cool in Florida or reg A/C does the trick?


I looked into 3 lined salamanders for a 20 gallon long terrarium with water area but day temps here hit 76 as A/C is set for that, night temps are 71 to 72, so that was fine but the day seemed to warm.

[slowfoot]

I haven't had a problem with keeping them cool, but the guys I have came from North Carolina originally. So I think they do get a little heat in the summer. I think some of the Northern populations do worse in the heat.

There are a few newt species out there that do well at normal home temps. Maybe I'll make my own thread someday...

[Soothing Shrimp]

Well go ahead. We're waiting.

[Lia]

Originally Posted by slowfoot

I haven't had a problem with keeping them cool, but the guys I have came from North Carolina originally. So I think they do get a little heat in the summer. I think some of the Northern populations do worse in the heat.

There are a few newt species out there that do well at normal home temps. Maybe I'll make my own thread someday...

Thank you.


"There are a few newt species out there that do well at normal home temps. Maybe I'll make my own thread someday:

That would be great.