# fire belly newts



## geckoguy2000 (Feb 5, 2012)

*hey all :whistling2:,
soon im thinking of getting a Chinese fire bellied newt and have a couple of questions to ask:2thumb:.........
1. can you mix fire bellies with fish and other things that are aquatic. 
2.can they eat fish food.

and finally is a 18"x12"x12" cage size ok for one newt

cheers:cheers:,cameron*


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

They will eat the fish, and shouldn't eat fish food really. They can take catfish pellets but why would you feed these ? Mine won't eat any form of fish food. Just give them frozen bloodworm (they also love live earthworms).


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## ianxxx (Apr 25, 2011)

They will also eat daphnia.


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

Some of my newts will eat specific newt pellets, but I tend to use them as a back up. They get blood worm, daphnia, once in a blue moon brine shrimp, all live. I occasionally feed frozen, but again, its as a back up. 

That size of tank should be ok for one, but the bigger the better really, then you can get more than one :2thumb:


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## geckoguy2000 (Feb 5, 2012)

*thanks for all the replies :jump:
im going to get one in a couple of weeks and you've all helped,thanks again:roll2::roll2:*


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

It might be also worth mentioning that they prefer lower temperatures than most hobby fish like.


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

Yeah, the hardest thing about newts is keeping the temps low enough. Mine thrive as I dont have the heating on over winter so they tend to stay very cold and then naturally warm up in the spring.


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## geckoguy2000 (Feb 5, 2012)

can you keep some types of shrimps with CFBN and i heard they are: ghost shrimp, red cherry shrimp and can you keep red platys with them? thanks: victory:: victory:


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## Marclogan89 (Mar 24, 2012)

Hey, I'm currently looking into this as well, does anyone know if you can keep more than one species of newt together? Eg. Fire bellies and alpine. Or would they attack each other?
Also my tank is 3ftx1ftx15" and was told that's too big as you wouldn't really see them. 
I was thinking of getting three anyway. But would happily get two of two diff species if they'd co-habitate...you know...without eating each other


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

Its NEVER a good idea to mix species :gasp: It wont end well!

I had some zebra danios in with my paddletail but took them out. They were messy and competed with the newt for food. i wouldn't do it again. I only had 4 in there and 2 myesteriously disappeared as well....

Shrimps might be ok, but they might just end up as an expensive snack :lol2:


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## bash_on_recce (Jul 31, 2011)

Best not to put different species together, check out this of Caudata: Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters

As for having more of the same species together, should be ok for Salamanders or newts with no fighting, but depends on species I guess. I have Axolots togther in two seperate tanks (two males in one, two females in other), Two fire salamanders togther and soon to have 3 Tiger Salamanders together. The Axys certainly seem to do better togther than on their own. As with all Exotics, if you are going to have a grop in a tank, make sure you give them as much room as possible to move away from each other, dont cram them in. In the case of Axys, this can lead to canniblism.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

bash_on_recce said:


> Best not to put different species together, check out this of Caudata: Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters
> 
> As for having more of the same species together, should be ok for Salamanders or newts with no fighting, but depends on species I guess. I have Axolots togther in two seperate tanks (two males in one, two females in other), Two fire salamanders togther and soon to have 3 Tiger Salamanders together. The Axys certainly seem to do better togther than on their own. As with all Exotics, if you are going to have a grop in a tank, make sure you give them as much room as possible to move away from each other, dont cram them in. In the case of Axys, this can lead to canniblism.


 That is _such_ a good piece!


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## Marclogan89 (Mar 24, 2012)

Wow. Some of stories on that link just make me sad! What a bunch of fools!


Well thanks for the tips guys I'll be sticking to one species.

Think two females and one make should be okay? Seems like it would be an easier less aggressive environment then two males one female or three males.

And I'd like the option to breed one day lol.


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

I've never had a problem with groups of newts of the same species generally. Just make sure you dont end up with paddletails. Paddletails do NOT like other paddletails!


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## ryzzzza (Apr 4, 2012)

I've had several fire bellied newts and although i wouldn't do it permanently, they mixed well with my other species when the situation arose.

I will warn that mine were all happy enough to eat a dead tankmate! :gasp:


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

dead tank mates, live tank mates, makes no odds to a newt! If they can fit it in their mouth, they will eat it :gasp:


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## ryzzzza (Apr 4, 2012)

obicat said:


> dead tank mates, live tank mates, makes no odds to a newt! If they can fit it in their mouth, they will eat it :gasp:


I housed a japanese and an african albino frog for about 7 years without a problem, they were best of friends! :gasp:


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

You were lucky then! Dont they need totally different set ups? :-|


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## ryzzzza (Apr 4, 2012)

obicat said:


> You were lucky then! Dont they need totally different set ups? :-|


I had a homemade tank which was massive, i split it into two sides which accommodated their needs but they were very sociable with each other! If i still have pics ill try put them up to show you but i think they're gone!


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## obicat (Oct 11, 2011)

they need different water temperatures though! And are you sure the newt wasnt trying to eat the frog? I have 5 tanks here with newts in and NONE are sociable with each other...


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## ryzzzza (Apr 4, 2012)

It's difficult to describe without pictures, unfortunately i think they're on my old computer! They did live together for a long time but i moved them into seperate tanks when they were a bit older for their own space!


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