Anyone with Newts?

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ScorpioMoon

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
18
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
I thought I'd go ahead and ask if anyone has newts. I haven't even got my frog tank up and running yet and I'm already getting the itch for another tank... :rolleyes:
I really think having some aquatic newts would be awesome. I've been reading up on them, but there isn't as much information/forums out there talking about them as much as their are fish. So, I thought I might get lucky and get some personal advice from someone here. I went to a pet shop that I frequent to see what newts they might have and saw that they did carry fire bellies. I'm already trying to rack my brain for a nice little set up for them. They need approx. 1/3 land to 2/3 water ratio from what I've read. I'm thinking about a 29gal that I saw at Petland recently. I got the whole set up (heater, filter, light/hood) for around $90. Gravel would be...say $15-20. Nice rocks- I don't know $30. Driftwood- $15 Plants- $20 Newt food- $10.00 Newts- 6x $6.00- $36.00

Sorry, I wanted to write it all out and see what I'm looking at and see if you all can think of anything else that would be needed that I'd have to think about before I get into this...

Advice if you have it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
 
Not since my childhood (and that 33 years ago) did I care for newts - I remember them being easy to care for, but other than that I don't remember much more (I did a lot of partying in my day and I think I have about 5 functional brain cells left). I do remember those buggers lived quite a while - had to give them away when we moved - Sorry I wasn't much help, but lets see who else chimes in
 
I had newts about 20 years ago. one thing to keep in mind. They can climb the glass. They will find any hole in the top and climb out. At the time I had not done any research at all and only did what the LFS owner said to do. They were in a 10 gallon aquarium with a portion land and the rest water. I used an air stone to keep the water from getting stagnant. I don't even think I had a heater in there. I think we fed them tubifex (sp) worms. They are pretty easy to care for and don't require any specific type of lighting.

That's what I can remember.
 
I have three fire-bellied newts in a 10 gallon tank that has a piece of acrylic in the center separating the land area from the water are. They have a crappy little corner filter which I think I'm going to remove and just replace it with an airstone and change the water often. I dont think they even need an airstone but who knows. They prefer still water and they dont need a heater in the tank. My tank is always at room temperature which is around 72-76 and they're doing fine.
 
Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and got the tank and it's all set up, except for a a turtle ramp and a floating log that I ordered. I also got an air pump and two small air stones that I'm going to put in the back corners. I think it's going to turn out really nice. I can't wait to get it finished cycling, so I can add the newts!
I went ahead and took the filter pads out of the filter and put them in my established 75gal cannister filter. I figure this way they will have a good amount of good bacteria on them once I put them in the tank(s). I'm still cycling my frog tank too.

I'll probably update with pictures soon. :D
 
I had a pair of Fire Bellied Newts 20 years ago in a 20 gallon tank fully planted with lots of floating plants and duckweed , guppies, mollies, platys etc and they did great.
 
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