Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings everyone,

I have a healthy Cynops orientalis (oriental or Chinese red-bellied newt), housed in a 5.5-6 gallon enclosure, with about 20 small guppies.

I'm thinking about introducing an African dwarf frog, the little brown aquatic guys, into this set-up, but I'm worried about how it would react to the newt. I know that this species is toxic, I've read about the toxins secreted by Cynops genus newts kiling fire-bellied toads housed in the same tank.

Has anyone here had experience with these two species?

Thanks,
Christina Miller
www.herptiles.org

The newt may take some stabs at the frog and even get lucky enough to eat it given the size of the frog. Besides the 5.5 is a little small for 2 animals living in it.
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Jeremy Carroll
Center for Reptile and Amphibian Propagation and Conservation
http://www.onet.net/~eagle/Reptile/index.htm

I would never recommend keeping multiple species
together. Numerous diseases have been spread by
pet stores doing this, not only in herptiles,
but also in mammalian species.
Since you cannot create a functonal, self sustaining
ecosystem in your home, it may be best to make sure
you are fuffiling the needs of each individual species
by keeping them in seperate enclosures and rooms.
Otherwise the temptation is great to start saying,
just a few degrees here and inches of water there,
and before long you're really not providing a very
high quality of care.

In addition to what the previous two people have said, your tank seems to be overcrowded already with a newt and 20 guppies in a 6 gallon tank.
I think, if the newt doesn't get it to it first, these many fish would stress the small frog.