Red Bellied Newt

[betz]

today i asked my husband to go and get me a new fish for my 4ft tropical fish tank i needed a fish that would go with plec/swordtail/guppy/red tailed shark/minnow/molly/ community and guess what he came back with a r4ed bellied newt after asking for advice from the aquarium owner. he told my husband it would be fine was never advised about being toxic or nothing now im panicking as anyone got any advice hes just sitting on my thermometer at minute.

 

[eschaton]

IMHO, he won't be fine. Everything I've read on newts (on caudata.org) stresses they are cold-water animals. They cannot tolerate temperatures higher than 80 degrees ever, and thus do not do well in tropical tanks. Room-temperature tanks are better, but ideally, they'll be in a tank which can get quite chilly (down to 50 degrees) in the wintertime.

If the heat doesn't affect him in the long run, he'll probably start eating the guppies, as newts are highly predatory. Honestly, a newt just doesn't belong in a tank like that under any circumstances.

 

[raptorrex]

today i asked my husband to go and get me a new fish for my 4ft tropical fish tank i needed a fish that would go with plec/swordtail/guppy/red tailed shark/minnow/molly/ community and guess what he came back with a r4ed bellied newt after asking for advice from the aquarium owner. he told my husband it would be fine was never advised about being toxic or nothing now im panicking as anyone got any advice hes just sitting on my thermometer at minute.

first off we need to know which type of firebelly you have, some pictures will help here.

things that apply to any type of newt:

max temp is said to be about 72f. lol i have an unheated tank here with 3 in, and it never gets below about 74f, sometimes higher. the guys seem happy enough.

they are poisonous, but touching them or the water they are in is quite safe. and this makes it safe to add other stock to the tank.

they need somewhere to get out the water, and somewhere to be both in and out at the same time. a bit of cork bark will do for the out, it will float on top of the water. a decoration or something will do for the in and out part.

they like very clean water and it seems that 40-60% change per week is most common.

they should not be in a tank with anything that may attack and eat them. only when eaten do these guys become poisonous.

the Chinese variant is more peaceful, and smaller, about 7cm or so at best.

as for tank mates, this would depend on the lowest temps they can be housed. many cory will do ok in the temp range, as will many plecos. personally i would keep to ground feeders, not so much as company for the newts, but as cleaners for the tank. where i get mine from they keep them in with ghost shrimp, so i guess they will be ok too.

the only real problem, when keeping them in any form of community, is trying to feed them. they like live food, worms and meal worms. most frozen foods go down well too. getting them to feed, whilst others are about can be a problem.

lol i thought one comment from a keeper of theses guys might help.