ADF Tadpoles

[cdylnicki]

Hi everyone! 

First Pict: My African Dwarf Frog setup 36 gallon.  11 dwarf frogs.  Inside tank houses cherry shrimp
2nd Pict:  Dwarf frog eggs!
3rd Pict:  My tadpole setup - 10 gallon.  About 50 tadpoles
4th Pict: Tadople -  eggs were laid on March 6th

[Stussi613]

Wow, that's really cool!

[Olympia]

Wonderful! Seems the tadpoles are considered tough to raise- what are you doing to grow the little babies? 

[cdylnicki]

Yes, it seems to be a bit of a struggle.  They are surviving until day 7 and then I seem to have lost most of them.  I can see at least 10% are still alive and almost daily I am removing eggs from the parent tank and having new tadpoles hatch.

I have been feeding the tadpoles tank vinegar eels and paramecium (bought from Shawn84) since last Sunday. 

I was using RO water.  A water test reveiled that my PH was around 6.0, carbonate hardness is around 20, and general hardness is at 180ppm.  I also put in a small piece of driftwood and a coconut shell that I removed from another aged tank.  I realized that being from Africa, they probably prefer PH around 7.5, so my next step is to buy a piece of lava rock in order to naturally raise the level.

I set up an empty 30 gallon tank that I will try to raise new tadpoles in (filled to the top with an airstone and heater).  I thought I would also try a shallow glass goldfish bowl with no decoration/filtration to see if I can raise a few in there.

Thankfully I am on maternity leave and with the weather I am at home most of the time!!

[Shawn84]

Hows the tadpoles tummy? I would say dump the paramecium in 2 times a day and 1 times of the eel. Your water wouldn't be fowl. They will live in the water until the tadpoles eat it. I say 30mL of the paramecium each feeding would be plenty for them.

[Olympia]

http://www.flippersandfins.net/adfbreedingarticle.htm#froglets

Have you seen this link? There are a few tips there.

[cdylnicki]

Yep, it seems as though I've read every article out there!!  No one seems to give info on water quality, tank sizes, temperature, flow, etc.  Thats the tough part!  That particular article is one of the best, but I would love to see their system setup.

On a plus note, I did a water change on my tank today and there are still about 20 tadpoles!  Took out the drift wood and coconut shell, dropped the water down to about 4", and removed most of the duckweed.

I set up the paramecium and vinegar eels in a pop bottle on a drip system so they are being fed throughout the entire day. 

[Shawn84]

Experience though trial and error That's what I learn through out the years of breeding different type of fish. Just keep it up and don't get discourage. 

[cdylnicki]

Thanks for the support Shawn!

My goal:  To succeed at this and be able to educate others.

[cdylnicki]

My first utube video ever (and its about my tadpoles!): http://youtu.be/FFWHJRryOAs

They are so tiny, they are very difficult to capture on camera.

I removed about 50 new eggs from the adult tank this morning.

[Shawn84]

Looking good so far. I see that there belly is nice and round. That's always a good sign. I notice that the water movement was strong from the vidz. Have you consider turn it down low? Since most of these guy produce in stagnant clam water. Maybe the strong aeration in the tank is causing the die off? Just a though  

[cdylnicki]

The heater/air pump is in the back corner and is quite low (though you are right that where they breed is in stagnant water).  I need enough flow to keep the heat stable throughout the tank.

I see the plants producing oxygen, but I dont think its enough to keep enough oxygen in the water for the tadpoles (as they don't breath air right away). 

Since I've lowered the water level I have barely noticed any die off!  I think its due to the concentration of paramecium is easier for them to hunt.  The "drip drip" in the water is due to my paramecium/vinegar eel bottle contraption.  I love their full tummies!

I set up my 30 gallon in the basement last week and filled it with paramecium and a bit of timothy hay.  Every water change I've been doing on the frog tanks have been put into this 30 gallon. 

Im doing this:
(A) because every time I do water change, I pick through the water to find tadpoles and eggs, but Im worried I may miss a few and dont want them to go down the drain.
(B) I would like to see if once the tadpoles reach a certain size I am able to put them into a bigger tank, and keep the 10 gallon for the new babies.

[Shawn84]

The power of Paramecium    Let the MTS begin hehehe You will most likely be putting them in a different tank and if you like breeding them you will get into a cycle. As the fry will grow in all different speed.

[cdylnicki]

I just found 3 tadpoles in the 30 gallon!  They have full tummies and are swimming around happily!

Good thing Im throwing the "old" water in that tank!

[Olympia]

Wonderful!
Do you have any way of "organizing" them? I read somewhere the larger ones will eat the smaller ones if there are size differences.

[cdylnicki]

Good point Olympia.

Right now they are all around the same size.  The plan was once they got larger I would move the larger ones into the 30 gallon - i have a divider that I can use to split up the tank if they start getting agressive.

I also have a few extra empty tanks hanging around in my basement if necessary.

Im curious to see if I provide constant live foods if that would lessen their canibalism.

[cdylnicki]

Tadpolemania

[cdylnicki]

 

[Shawn84]

Nice big head they have hehehehe 

[sas]

Looking really good!