I got Tads!!

[Grrrit]

congrats man! thats awesome. i think i have o. pumilio "cristobal" tads hidden in a brom. i havent seen them or havent seen any being transfered, but the male stands guard during feedings and mistings. if i get close he seems to try to lead me away? 0.o

[MikeM670]

Do you have one of those little mirrors that extends out on a pole. Maybe you can use that to try and see into the leaves.

[Leefrogs]

nice mike.
Congratulations on new babies!!!

[MikeM670]

I ordered some stuff from Josh for tadpoles so just waiting for it to arrive. I'll need to setup a rearing area for them as I won't dare leave them in cups on a shelf. The cat loves to climb and I'm afraid she will knock the cups over.

[bshmerlie]

Aren't tadpoles fun? So Mike, Are we going to meet up when I come out to Chicago in October?

[MikeM670]

Aren't tadpoles fun? So Mike, Are we going to meet up when I come out to Chicago in October?

Yes they are fun!

I would love too! I just need to know what days your coming so I can make arraignment for days off if needed!

[Grrrit]

Do you have one of those little mirrors that extends out on a pole. Maybe you can use that to try and see into the leaves.

Haha that's halariously a great idea! I think I have one in a junk tool box I left at my moms when I moved out. Or I can try and talk my dentist out of one next week he's pretty cool. Just might. Thanks though, I never would have thunk it.

[MikeM670]

Another question for tad care. I removed a film container from my tank that had fallen from the glass. There were three tads still in the protective jelly inside the container. I want to remove them from the container and either place them in a petri dish or individual tadpole containers. How much water should be in the containers?

Here is a image of the tads.

[John]

For Ranitomeya I generally use the either 2 oz or 4 oz deli cups filled most of the way. Obviously 1 tadpole each.

[MikeM670]

I would really like to have good news about rearing the tadpoles but I have lost three maturing tads. I really am at a loss to explain what is happening. One day they seem fine and the next day they are found dead floating in the containers. I just found my third one DOA. I'll try and describe each tad death so somebody maybe able to tell me whats going on.

I have been raising all my tadpoles in deli cups with RO/DI Water. At first they were being feed HBH Frog &Tadpole Bites. The one thing I did not like about this food was after a day the remaining or uneaten portion would develop a white fuzzy coating. So I switched to Ocean Nutrition Formula One Marine Pellets that did not do this after being in the water.

The first and oldest tadpole was found floating DOA in the container which I had been feeding the Tadpole Bites. There did not appear to be anything visible wrong with the tad. The tad had developed a full set of rear legs and the front ones appeared well developed. The tail still had not been absorbed very much.

At this point I switched to the second food for all the tadpoles. No more fuzzy food in the containers.

The second tadpole was to my inexperienced eye fully developed with excellent coloring and with just the tail remaining and was extremely active. I setup a new 5 gallon tank that was first filled with coco fiber and then covered with a high quality sphagnum moss. Everything was very damp and I added some spring tails to the tank for a first food. I placed the tadpole into a film container and set it at a 45 degree angle so the tad could climb out easily when it was time. The frog was in this setup for about a week. I added some more water to the film container to replace any that was lost. I still feed the tad some of the formula one. Then one day the frog was found dead in the container. The water was clear but I did notice about 5 large spring tails in the container water. Could this have stressed the tad to death?

The last tad was found DOA in the deli cup just a few minutes ago. I had been watching the development of all the older tads carefully looking for the right time to place them into the film containers and into the 5 gallon rearing tank. The tail did not look like it was starting to be absorbed.

I'm just really frustrated as to what is going on. Is it improper care on my part or is this normal for the first round of tadpoles from a young breeding pair?

Comments are very welcome.

[MikeM670]

I have my first Dendrobates Ventrimaculatus 'Understory Line' sucessfully out of the water. It happen either last night or early this morning.

Here is a image of the little one.