i'm a bad fire-bellied newt owner

[reinhart]

i've kept 2 firebellied newts in a 10 gallon tank for almost a month. it has 9.5 gallons of water in it plus a small floating piece of wood, which is ignored. there is an inch of large gravel lining the bottom of the tank and an airstone. I feed my newts live blackworms but i know that the tank is lacking in decorations and it is far from what newts have as a natural habitat. There is a Topfin water filter that requires a certain water level to run. I have two choices to make their stay more interesting:

1. put lots of live plants in the tank and rocky structures to mimic caves

OR

2. drain the water to half level and buy a new corner filter (since the old one won't really work), get some small plants, and place a rocky structure in teh center about the size of an audio cd that's above the water.

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another problem other than tank decorations is water temperature. It's currently in the high 70's, close to 80. Is that too high


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the third issue is tankmates. If i keep the water level to 10 or 9 gallons, should i be adding shrimp or fish to accompany my newts?

 

[Discomafia]

firstly, you need to lower the temperature to 70F, minimum. Because once it hits 75, it's dangerous cos they are more open to disease and the like.... keeping other fish would be ok, just make sure they have enough water area. A guppy is the first thing that comes to mind. But in selecting the fish, you also have to take into consideration the temperature of the tank. Dunno about the shrimp tho'. www.caudata.org is a good place to start. And this link helps too.

http/www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

 

[reinhart]

how do u recommend i lower the water temperature? my apartment without any AC or heating hovers at 75-78

 

[Discomafia]

how do u recommend i lower the water temperature? my apartment without any AC or heating hovers at 75-78

slowly drip ice into the tank, but that's just too impractical for me. Time consuming as well. You can also try using a reverse day-night cycle, at least that won't stress him as much. Sorry can't be of more help...

 

[Sorrell]

Floating a bag of ice cubes works too