Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I've got two small firebellies in a 5.5 gallon tank. (the're about 1.25 inches long snout to tail.) They were just purchased a few days ago and one is slightly larger than the other. He's been displaying mildly aggressive behavior towards the smaller of the two. mostly when the smaller one is being offered food, the larger will go after him often latching onto his leg or tail and doesn't seem to want to let go. At first I believed this was happening only becuase there were close together when being fed but even when the smaller one is a good half tank lenth away the larger will often go after him.
I've since seperated the two.

Should I set up n additional tank for the larger one and keep them like that for good or is there a solution to the problem.

P.S. its been a bit difficult to get the smaller one to take food. I've gotten him to eat a few bloodworms, but he has nowhere near the appetite of the larger ones.

thanks for the help.

not sure if this is true for newts..but usually two males will fight and are territorial..tyry using a 10 gallon for them.

and if the little one is hard to feed he might be stressed from the bigger one.so you could try to feed him seperatly(maybe take the bigger one out while you feed the little one)

It would be safer to just keep them separate until the smaller one is as large as the bigger one. FBNs and other Cynops species are not typically aggressive towards conspecifics unless they are either really hungry or are competing over a female.

Christina Miller
www.herptiles.net

all newts have VERY bad eyesight, they think anything moving is food. seperate them immediatly so they don't eat eachothers toes, tails ect.