Japanese Fire Belly Newt

Cynops pyrrhogaster

The Japanese fire belly newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) is a small salamander native to Japan, where regional forms differ in size, skin texture, and belly pattern. Most are dark brown to black above with a vivid orange or red underside marked by irregular black spots, a warning pattern linked to skin toxins. Adults spend much of their lives in cool ponds, rice-field channels, and slow water with plants, surfacing to breathe and folding eggs one by one into aquatic leaves during the breeding season.

In captivity it is a specialist amphibian rather than a casual aquarium animal. Successful keepers use cool, clean, dechlorinated water, gentle filtration, secure lids, and a planted aquatic setup with easy haul-out areas. Heat, rough handling, fish tankmates, and poor water quality cause problems quickly; frozen bloodworms, chopped earthworms, blackworms, and similar invertebrate foods are more suitable than dry pellets alone. Captive-bred animals are strongly preferred, since wild populations in Japan have declined in many areas and international trade may be restricted.