I'm a proud frog-dad!
Just two days ago I discovered tadpoles in my little Hyperolius hieroglyphicus (hieroglyphic reed frog) spawning/tadpole raising enclosure!
I'm very pumped about this as I never actually saw the eggs they produced. I observed breeding behavior maybe just under a month ago (they were calling the night they were in the enclosure, but actual uh, froggy-style action happened later) but never saw anything resembling a glob of eggs. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a few tadpoles hanging out under under the wood and roots in the bottom of the tank.
I'm no expert on frog care, but I believe these guys are pretty uncommon. And I think for any aquarist, they'd be easy to spawn. Most frog people keep them on moist substrate with a large water dish, and I even read a care sheet recommending that, but that's actually not much like the natural habitat of most reed frogs.
I've had great success keeping them in a 20g h glass aquarium with a mostly covered screen top. There's about 3-4'' of water in the bottom with a ton of pothos growing out of it and some driftwood/rocks to cover the heater and filter. The frogs spend almost all their time on the pothos leaves, and some even enjoy basking directly under the UV light I've provided them, which is apparently something only certain reed frogs will do. These guys are native to Cameroon, so they like the extra warmth during the day.
I also put a UV filter in there since the adults make a huge mess and there's constantly bugs falling into the water, which I want to keep clean for the tadpoles. I think the UV may have fried a few of them when they were first born, but uh, maybe that's culling the weak?
This one isn't mine, but the females look pretty much exactly like this:
The males are INCREDIBLY LOUD, and sound like huge, angry crickets, so once I'm convinced I've got a strong population of froglets I'm going to move the adults into my swamp, which offers them similar conditions on a much larger scale. I'm hoping the fact that they'll be in a thicker, more full and more tightly sealed enclosure (that's farther away from my bedroom) will make the noise a bit less intrusive, haha.
I plan on sending some of the froglets to somebody from Dendroboard and possibly handing some to my LFS if they feel like selling them in a few months. The tadpoles are currently eating a powdered mix of fish food, algae wafers, and turtle sticks, supplemented with calcium.
Just two days ago I discovered tadpoles in my little Hyperolius hieroglyphicus (hieroglyphic reed frog) spawning/tadpole raising enclosure!
I'm very pumped about this as I never actually saw the eggs they produced. I observed breeding behavior maybe just under a month ago (they were calling the night they were in the enclosure, but actual uh, froggy-style action happened later) but never saw anything resembling a glob of eggs. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a few tadpoles hanging out under under the wood and roots in the bottom of the tank.
I'm no expert on frog care, but I believe these guys are pretty uncommon. And I think for any aquarist, they'd be easy to spawn. Most frog people keep them on moist substrate with a large water dish, and I even read a care sheet recommending that, but that's actually not much like the natural habitat of most reed frogs.
I've had great success keeping them in a 20g h glass aquarium with a mostly covered screen top. There's about 3-4'' of water in the bottom with a ton of pothos growing out of it and some driftwood/rocks to cover the heater and filter. The frogs spend almost all their time on the pothos leaves, and some even enjoy basking directly under the UV light I've provided them, which is apparently something only certain reed frogs will do. These guys are native to Cameroon, so they like the extra warmth during the day.
I also put a UV filter in there since the adults make a huge mess and there's constantly bugs falling into the water, which I want to keep clean for the tadpoles. I think the UV may have fried a few of them when they were first born, but uh, maybe that's culling the weak?
This one isn't mine, but the females look pretty much exactly like this:
The males are INCREDIBLY LOUD, and sound like huge, angry crickets, so once I'm convinced I've got a strong population of froglets I'm going to move the adults into my swamp, which offers them similar conditions on a much larger scale. I'm hoping the fact that they'll be in a thicker, more full and more tightly sealed enclosure (that's farther away from my bedroom) will make the noise a bit less intrusive, haha.
I plan on sending some of the froglets to somebody from Dendroboard and possibly handing some to my LFS if they feel like selling them in a few months. The tadpoles are currently eating a powdered mix of fish food, algae wafers, and turtle sticks, supplemented with calcium.
