Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've had a chinese firebelly newt for about 6 months now, and i decided he neededa friend. so i went to the petstore and got another newt. when i get home, my new newt is bigger than my old one. and my old one has smooth skin, my new one has like 2 lines of raised bumps running down his sides. (2 lines of bumps on each side.)

is it a japanese firebelly?

if it is, they're in the same tank, is that ok?

thanks!

i think it's still a chinese firebelly.... it looks just like this picture, which i found under "chinese firebelly".

it's weird how my other one doesn't have those bumps though... why is that?

It's hard to say. They could both be CFB of different sizes. Or your original idea may be correct that the new one is a JFB. People do keep these species together, as long as the size difference is not to great. A bigger problem, though, is that any new newts should be quarantined for a month before putting them together with others. All pet shop newts are wild caught and often arrive with diseases.

Again, I have a mix of the two and they seem to be doing fine (very close to all being the same size). The Japanese Firebelly seems to be more aquatic than the Chinese Firebelly.

I found a pet store that has captive breed Ch. FB's. Let me know if anyone wants more info - I'll send you pictures of mine.

Chris

If they have already been together a while (over a week), I wouldn't bother to quarantine now. I highly doubt that this pet store really has captive bred CFB. It just isn't "economically viable" to captive breed newts, unless some devoted hobbyist is doing it at a financial loss OR the shop is charging a very high price for them.

I just noticed the abrassion a day or two ago - should I still leave the guy in there?

It is a local hobbyst - I don't think that money is an issue. I may eventually try myself this spring.

I'm sorry, I thought you were refering to another posting (see 10/16?). Thanks : )