Tritons in your aquarium
Guests from the most remote corners of Eurasia - newts - can permanently decorate your aquarium. After all, with good care, these animals live neither much nor little - up to 30 years! True water newts, which are relatives of Newts, are protected and their content in the home is limited. But ordinary, acicular and comb-like newts - for aquarists is not a novelty.
An ordinary newt grows up to 8-11 cm in length. Usually has an olive-brown back and yellowish withsmall yellow spots of the abdomen. On the head are longitudinal dark strips. In the mating period, a comb appears from the head to the tail, and the color of the females becomes brighter and more saturated.
Crested newt slightly larger in size and grows to 18 cm. This amphibian can be brown-black or black on the back and orange with specks on the abdomen. With a comb-newt one needs to be more careful, because the glands on his skin produce a poisonous substance.
Sparkling Triton is named because of sticking out through the skin on the sidesbodies of fin ends that are hidden in tubercles. If suddenly grab the animal and he does not like it, then they go outside and prick the offender like needles. This newt is a dark green color, on the abdomen - closer to the yellow, throughout the body - black specks. It reaches 30 cm in length along with the tail.
It is very interesting to observe these amphibians. They move slowly, never hurrying, often hang, leaning on the leaves of plants or the walls of the aquarium, and keep on two or three points of support. Sometimes they hang at the surface for a long time.
Tritonov can be called unpretentious to the conditions of detention. The temperature they normally tolerate,varies from 15 to 27C. But the optimal temperature is 18-21C. Additional heating in the aquarium is not needed, newts are cold-water animals, so overheating for them can be fatal.
Some newts can live only in water, and some sometimes need to go out on land. To do this, place a floating raft or pourA small island on which newts can get out. Soil is used the most common - gravel or sand. You can do without soil at all, and plant the plants in pots. As a rule, newts do not eat up plants, but sometimes they are eaten by snails.
You can keep these amphibians both alone and in groups. For complete comfort one triton is enough 10-15 liters of water. It is desirable to use a filter in the aquarium. Tritons regularly shed. First, the veil breaks on the head, and then the newt crawls out of its skin, leaving a transparent shell. As a rule, he immediately eats this skin.
In nature Tritons feed mainly on invertebrates, can eat small fishes, tadpoles and larvae of tailed amphibians. At home, your pet canto offer live food - earthworms, bloodworms, tubule, slugs, insect larvae, shrimp, tadpoles. The amphibian also refuses from frozen fodder, pieces of fish, low-fat meat, liver, kidneys. It is recommended to cut such food into small pieces so that the animal can swallow them safely. Bloodworms and tubulars preferably in front of feeding to withstand in frequently changed water for cleaning the intestines.
You can feed adult newts every other day, young ones - every day. Once a month, arrange unloading days (3-5). It is not recommended to contain newts withfish. After all, most of them are tropical and require a high water temperature, which is contraindicated in newts. In addition, newts are susceptible to many diseases of fish. And large fish can seriously injure amphibians. For the same reason, newts do not get along with crabs and cancers.
