New to firebellies

[Monty]

Hi everyone,

First of all, we're new to this forum so "hi!"
Secondly, we bought 3 FBT last Sunday (definitely one male because he's making sound ).

They're in a aquarium of 45x25x20 cm (lxwxh) with about 2/3 water (the water is all around), the water is 7cm deep.
As land they have a big platform made up of liana wood, some petrified wood beneath this, and they're feeding dish.
The top is from mesh so that there is not problems with the ventilation.
They're placed in the windowsill in our room where it's 21-23 C during the daytime. As a extra source of light/warmth we put a normal 'desk lamp' on one side above the land area which we turn a few hours a day.






After reading A LOT online and on this forum we still had a few questions:

- Does the water need to be treated with special dechlorinater or will it suffice using tap water which has been in a bucket for 48h?
- Is it smart to place a waterfilter or will this create too much of a current in such a small aquarium for them?
- Also we ran into some posts about putting fish or snails or shrimp in the water to keep it cleaner. As it so happens to be we all of
these. Will these be able to live in the same water as the FBT as they secrete toxins? And won't the toads just eat the shrimp (we
have red cherry shrimp)

Greetings,

[milky85]

i'm new to FB's to, but i use a water filter in my tank and it doesn't seem to cause a problem... a guy i worked with in the past had a large FB toad tank in the past and again he suggested it was best to use a filter, just to help keep the water clean.

Now i'm not saying this is right although he also kept fish in his tank, don't recall if he had shrimps, but he ha white cloud mountain minnows and i believe he had zebra danio's as the are temperate water fish. His tank was around about 4 ft in length, so this could help in reducing any harmful toxins in the water (again i'm not saying that this is the correct thing to do but he had no issues).

The water i used was treated tap water, but even with keeping fish, i used to allow my water to stand for a period of time and even testing it with the chlorine strips we had, it had dispersed.

hope this helps, but there are a lot more experienced people than myself, as i said i'm new myself

[Heatheranne]

Hi Monty and welcome .

I had four FBT's for years (two green & two brown). I had them in a terrarium with waterfall filter and a fine air bubbler in their water area. It never bothered them at all. They'd hop in the water right over the small bubbles. I used stress coat dechlorinator for treating our tap water. We had a betta and two small albino catfish in the water too. I did water changes every 3 to 4 weeks. We also put a water bowl in and changed that water daily. They never got sick and lived until I traded them. The fish are still alive and healthy and now live with my RETF. Hope this helps .

[Jace]

Nice setup! I always used an appropriate sized filter with my toads, and even with a bit of current, they seemed to enjoy the water movement and thought jumping off the filter was a game especially for them. The one time I tried keeping white clouds with them, my toads managed to eat them. They do secrete toxins, but if you keep the water portion clean-and a filter will help with this-I have heard of people successfully keeping fish and toads together. After my failed attempt, I never tried again, but I was kept busy enough with 8 toads so fish were not a priority. Best of luck with your little toads-they are very lucky to have found a home with you!

[Firebelly love]

Don't keep any other (froggy) species with this toad, they do secrete toxins. I think fish are ok but I'm too afraid to try. I declorinate my water every time, this is a must. Great looking tank, and welcome to the forum!!

[Monty]

Thank you all for your reactions!
Unfortunately I have to let you know last night one of our frogs died I truely have now idea what happened, she (/he) was standing up in the water frozen in this posture when I found it... Yesterday she still was lively and eating and swimming about...
Since we bought them on a Sunday the stores were closed so we picked up a few bottles of mineral water for their first few days and we read this would be good as well. Could this have been the problem after all? Or could it have been some kind of dissease what didn't show?

I ran to the petshop this morning and picked up a tiny heater with protection around it, a nice filterpump and some stuff to dechlorinate the water.
Hopefully the other 2 will do fine and be happy...

[Jace]

I'm sorry to hear about your little toad. Unfortunately, it is hard to say what caused it to die. Based on your photos and your writings, it doesn't sound like it was anything you did or didn't do. These are hardy little toads, but occassionally they pass on for no obvious reason to us. I am sure your other toads will be okay and very happy. Best of luck!

[Heatheranne]

Wow! She's a little climber. I hope your babies will be okay.

On the fish question... You can have fish but they have to be really hardy fish because of the frogs' toxins and you have to keep the water very clean as to not kill the fish or dirty your frogs's water. Catfish, betta (only one), small goldfish. Although the frogs might try to eat the goldfish and they are also dirty fish and will dirty the water quicker. Goldfish are not the brightest fish either and may not protect themselves where the bettas are cautious and will protect themselves well and accommodate easily. Male bettas are tough, eat very little and produce very little waste if they are not over fed. I have a betta and two catfish in mine that have never bothered my toads and have been alive for years. I have a fine rock bubbler and a waterfall filter on the water. I did finally trade my toads in this year and purchased my RETF's, so my water is only now half as deep as it was before.

Anyway, just some ideas...

Would love to see what you decide

[hopper]

can these be used for snake food

[Heatheranne]

Gee, I'm not sure about the cherry shrimp. I don't know much about the shrimp.

Thanks on my terrarium. I'm currently working on a 55 gal tropical rainforest vivarium for my babies .

I'm glad your babies are doing well. They are so fun. Have any pictures?

[Monty]

We picked up a new home for our FBTs (45x35x60cm) and are planning on turning it into a vivarium with a homemade background and waterfall.
It'll probably take a while, but pictures will follow! :-)

[Monty]

The new home turned out to have broken glass... We bought a new one for them - a 60x30x50cm.
A few days ago we finished our design, in short it's going to be part land an part water, with a waterfall. We started with making the first parts of the background, and slowly it's becoming more and more towards finishing this first step!

[BettaShawn]

Hey Monty, I just joined this fantastic forum maybe five minutes ago.
First of all, I would like to say, thanks for doing your research before purchasing an amphibian. I, myself am keeping fire bellies and they are hands down one of the most awsome anurans. The water does need to be treated with dechlorinater before usage, distilled water works too. If you didn't just be sure to do so next time, it will not harm your toads all the way to death. Second, yes the waterfilters are excellent, I use them myself, the toads actually love having a current, just be sure that the current is not like the Colorado river! And finally, absolutely, you can keep other aquatic specimen w/ the toads, I have done so with my vivariums. The toxins excreted are not enough to harm any aquatic specimen like snails and shrimp. Yeah, the toads might snack on the shrimp when given the chance, but usually the shrimp are watchful and are very fast to get away.
Good luck with the fire bellies! -Shawn