dooms
New member
Long boring post ahead. I've lurked here for several years and finally decided to take the plunge.
I bought my first newts back in 1997 or 98. I had this thing called a river-tank by finn-strong or somebody that was half water with a waterfall and a background that held plants. The instructions said you could put tropical fish and newts in it. I knew of a pet store in Virginia (I lived in DC at the time) that had newts, so I made the journey and bought a black one with an orange belly and an olive-green one. I filled the tank, added some fish, set the heater on 76, and put the newts into the tank.
I couldn't figure out why the newts wouldn't stay in the water. Eventually the olive green one died and the black one disappeared. I found the black one a few years later by the front door of the apartment, dried stiff, behind a bookshelf.
In the interim I decided to go online and do a little research. There was this webpage that talked about newts and care that I'd stumbled upon and I realized that they don't like warm water. So I bought a new tank and went back to Virginia. This time they only had the olive ones and this bigger, rough one with an orange belly. So I bought an olive one and a bigger rough orange-bellied one. Just as you guessed, the paddletail died a few weeks after killing the olive one. I gave up.
A few years ago I bought a 27 gallon cube aquarium on sale at the local petsmart. I tried to figure out what to do with the thing and inspiration hit me. I made my own background with a waterfall and some plants and ordered a central newt and a couple of eastern newts from e-bay. I bought (saved) a couple of Chinese firebellies from a shop past Baltimore as well. They all shared the tank with three white cloud minnows. The tank is in my basement and never goes above 72 degrees, and has a barrier around the top to keep them from escaping. It has a homemade filtration system with a foam filter followed by a chamber with some purigen that then flows into a pump and from there up and back out at the top of the ledge. I have a fan going at the top which may or may not help keep the temperature down. The light is a Finnex planted 24/7.
All was well until the eastern decided to stop eating altogether a year or so ago. He's left us. One of the Chinese newts appeared to be going the same route but he suddenly rebounded and is a robust eater. They all appear to be very comfortable and happy. Amazingly they don't hide that often despite the abundance of hiding spots. As the plants that cover the water have proliferated I have increased the amount of water in the tank.
Had only known way back then how to care for the ones I had before...
Here's a few pics of my setup (I think)...
I bought my first newts back in 1997 or 98. I had this thing called a river-tank by finn-strong or somebody that was half water with a waterfall and a background that held plants. The instructions said you could put tropical fish and newts in it. I knew of a pet store in Virginia (I lived in DC at the time) that had newts, so I made the journey and bought a black one with an orange belly and an olive-green one. I filled the tank, added some fish, set the heater on 76, and put the newts into the tank.
I couldn't figure out why the newts wouldn't stay in the water. Eventually the olive green one died and the black one disappeared. I found the black one a few years later by the front door of the apartment, dried stiff, behind a bookshelf.
In the interim I decided to go online and do a little research. There was this webpage that talked about newts and care that I'd stumbled upon and I realized that they don't like warm water. So I bought a new tank and went back to Virginia. This time they only had the olive ones and this bigger, rough one with an orange belly. So I bought an olive one and a bigger rough orange-bellied one. Just as you guessed, the paddletail died a few weeks after killing the olive one. I gave up.
A few years ago I bought a 27 gallon cube aquarium on sale at the local petsmart. I tried to figure out what to do with the thing and inspiration hit me. I made my own background with a waterfall and some plants and ordered a central newt and a couple of eastern newts from e-bay. I bought (saved) a couple of Chinese firebellies from a shop past Baltimore as well. They all shared the tank with three white cloud minnows. The tank is in my basement and never goes above 72 degrees, and has a barrier around the top to keep them from escaping. It has a homemade filtration system with a foam filter followed by a chamber with some purigen that then flows into a pump and from there up and back out at the top of the ledge. I have a fan going at the top which may or may not help keep the temperature down. The light is a Finnex planted 24/7.
All was well until the eastern decided to stop eating altogether a year or so ago. He's left us. One of the Chinese newts appeared to be going the same route but he suddenly rebounded and is a robust eater. They all appear to be very comfortable and happy. Amazingly they don't hide that often despite the abundance of hiding spots. As the plants that cover the water have proliferated I have increased the amount of water in the tank.
Had only known way back then how to care for the ones I had before...
Here's a few pics of my setup (I think)...
