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Thread: Where are the eggs?

  1. #1
    162Smolenskya
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    Question Where are the eggs?

    I've had my female ACF for about 9 years and my male for about 4 years, although he's 6 years old. Lately I've been noticing a lot of amplexing going on, but it only lasts a few seconds and then they break it apart. My female has never laid eggs in her entire life, and even when I introduced the male to her she's always rejected his mating call. I don't really care about the eggs (I'd probably just let them eat them), but does this show something is wrong with my female?
    I thought it was fine because my female is actually slightly smaller or equal in size to my male, so maybe it's too much work for her to carry him around? She's also much more pushy than my male. When he grabs on to her, as soon as she starts swimming he lets go. I feel like she needs a male who's as pushy as she is in order for amplexus to be successful. But that still doesn't explain why she's never laid eggs just to discharge them. Has anyone else's frog never laid eggs in almost a decade?

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  3. #2
    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    Good question. I myself am not sure either. I am in a similar situation, three female frogs, one male frog. Amplexus now and then but never are any eggs produced.

  4. #3
    162Smolenskya
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    Well it's good to know someone else is in my situation at least.

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    100+ Post Member rodsboys's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    I have never had eggs either despite amplexus and calling occasionally. I have similar aged frogs. 4 big females and 2 males. I have read that if temps are kept consistently in the 70-72 range it is likely females won't produce. I am fine with it. Don't really want to bother with it.

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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    I guess it makes sense as to why Xenopus Express injects their frogs with hormones to get them to reproduce. I think that breeding must have something to do with temperature.

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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    In my experience it's quite common for Xenopus to produce eggs when they first reach sexual maturity. Whether they continue to do so in subsequent years is dependent partly on diet but mainly on environmental conditions. If the frogs are kept under constant conditions of photoperiod (light) and temperature all year round it's unlikely that they'll breed. This is because they originate from regions with a Mediterranean climate (i.e.:with slight seasonal variations) rather than tropical. The simplest way to replicate those natural variations (in the UK anyway) is to keep the frogs in an unlit and unheated tank so that the frogs experience ambient light and temperature. Under those conditions they're more likely to produce eggs in spring and summer.

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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    Interesting, I keep my frogs at 72F in summer and 68F in winter, I guess it has something to with the photoperiod then. My tank has a lot of plants so I keep my lights on about 10 hours a day.

    So I suppose if I wanted to ever breed these frogs I would need a separate tank kept around 68F and unlit for an extended period of time for them to reproduce?

    I really thought I'd have some eggs at this point really. My male frog was raised alone in a 10 gallon tank for about 8 months, he was always calling for a mate. I finally added him to my tank with 3 adult females, he did perform amplexus constantly at first, but has cooled off now. I haven't seen it happen for quite some time, he does not sing any more either. Weird.

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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    I'll explain in more detail why I've concluded what I wrote above.

    I had two pairs of young frogs which, on reaching sexual maturity after approximately a year, produced eggs. For the next 7 years they remained healthy and went into amplexus but there were no more eggs. During those 7 years I kept them in a lavishly planted natural-looking tank which, although pleasing on the eye, did not provide any significant changes in environmental conditions in terms of lighting (10 hours a day - controlled by a time switch) or water temperature, which, like yours, was roughly in the 68°F to 70°F range. Their tank was in a north-facing room and never received any direct sunlight.

    Eventually, I decided to move things around and transferred the frogs to another tank, which was sparsely furnished with plastic plants, no substrate or artificial lighting, a few short pieces of upturned plastic guttering to provide shelter, a basic air-powered box filter and a sliding glass lid. This tank was situated in a south-facing room, which received direct sunlight (when it was sunny) for a large part of the day, although the tank itself did not. However, the room had a fluctuating temperature range. In winter, there was no heating on in the daytime when I was at work. In summer it got fairly hot (most homes in the UK don't have AC), which meant that the tank's water temperature gradually fell and rose accordingly from the low 60°sF to the upper 70°sF range.

    The result was that the frogs started producing eggs again during the first summer of being in the new tank. They did it again the following spring and, even after the males had passed away, there was at least one female who expelled unfertilised eggs in April of one year. Unfortunately, I didn't keep detailed records.

    The experience was unexpected and an unintended consequence of relocating the frogs. The main lesson I learnt from it is that what we may perceive as a "natural" tank can sometimes amount to little more than a pleasing visual effect to satisfy our own aesthetic requirements rather than a true replica the frogs' natural conditions.

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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where are the eggs?

    They live in turbid water so this makes sense actually.

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