Fire Bellied Toads: Fish?

[Murray of the Deep]

Hi guys,

This is my frist time on this forum i joined to network with other folk who have firebellied toads. My 13yr old son as a 55 gal twnk set up as an aquaterrium in his room. It has about 6 inches of water and lots of areas where the toads can get out of the water either completely of partially. He has been doing a fabulous job, so much so, he has had two plattys that have bred over and over again in the tank. Granted, many of the young do not survive but currently he has four .75 cm long pltty babies doing very well and growing. He also has 5 zebra danios, 4 neon tetras and a albino bristle nosed pleco he calls Gandalf! We recently got a 2inch sailfin pleco whom he called Gollum, (theme going on here) but unfortunately he died yesterday. Not sure if it was the tank and conditions that were at fault or perhaps he was not a great fish to begin with. We got sucked into buying him from petsmart, we usually go to a smaller pet store that is more specialized. There stock is always in good condition.

My question....... Should we try sailfin pleco, (the albino bristle nose has been in the tank nearly 6 months with no problems, the fish have all been in over a year) or should we forget the pleco and go for something more interesting? Any suggestions?

This is a kid who really looks after his yank very well. He does partial waater changes every 10-14 days, feeds the toads live crickets at least once per week and 2 of his 4 toads also will eat freeze dried crickets. He also uses blood worms if we can't get him down to buy live crickets.

Wuld be grateful for any input. Will try to get a picture of his set up, I think it looks smashing and I love watching the tank and it's inhabitants, it is very cathartic especially after a hectic day. He has ADHD and it is the best therapy you can buy, this is his words! ��

Looking forward to learning lots and exchanging views,

With thanks

Sue
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please dont mix fish with fire belly toads and also plecos suck the skin of fbts and causing them to released milky poison and the pleco was killed.... please dont mix any fish with fbts it will even try to catch it.

[KittyKat90]

Jeromeetabuzo- I had the same type of fish in the same type of set-up with Fire Belly Newts and everyone thrived with out any Deaths. So, since Bilbogsl's fish (besides the Pleco) and frogs seem to be thriving, I think them keeping fish in the tank is fine. I'm pretty sure they were intending on the baby fish to be food, as well.

[sschind]

plecos suck the skin of fbts and causing them to released milky poison and the pleco was killed....

Do you have any evidence to back this up? It sounds like something you may have read on a website somewhere without any proof of any kind.

Fish with FBs can work if you have adequate filtration and do your water changes. I'd recommend 25%-30% weekly but that's just me.

[Bilbogsl]

Hi Steve,

I think that is why Noah's set up is working so well. He is religious about partial water changes. He watches his toads very carefully checking them over visually every day, things do seem quite balanced. The bristle nose albina pleco has never been observed near the toads and to be honest, having watched the toads, I would very much doubt that they would tolerate anything sucking on them they would simply get out of the way. The comment about the sailfin pleco being too big we addressed by making the decision to get a small one, he was about 2 inches long and keep him till such a time that his size was an issue for him and the other fellow occupants in the tank at which point our local specialist store would have taken him back and exchanged him for another small one. I guess, in retrospect, it would be much simpler to get a rubber lipped instead then the size would not be a factor! Thanks��