Tank Mates? Tank Set Up?

[FrogFriend]

I had a HUGE algae problem for awhile. I am not sure why it was so crazy! Now it's under control between my snails and Emerald catfish. I was told at first to use real plants in the tank and it would cut down the algae. It didn't. I was cleaning it ALL the time which I didn't want to do because the constant cleaning isn't good with how sensitive they are. I don't use products when cleaning my tank because it can cause problems with the toads. I do a thorough cleaning every few months where I remove the toads and everything else and clean each thing individually and clean the tank with my own natural cleaner that I make and throughly rinse the tank and replace things. This gives me the opportunity to get the calcium deposits off the side of the tank so I can enjoy watching my toads. This algae problem is what got me to start doing research on adding other things to my tank. I heard others saying that they have other living aquatics in their tank and said basically what I mentioned regarding size of tank, types of fish and emphasis on extra cleaning. It takes more work to have fish/snails, etc because you have to do more cleaning. We had a Golden Mystery snail in one of our fish tanks and then one day she started to lay egg clutches. We decided to keep the clutches and see if we would get snails. Oh did we ever! Our original snail ended up dying not long after the snails began hatching and we started seeing tiny snails crawling on the sides of tank. Of all of the snails that we saw only 10 babies survived. I had read in one of the reports that you can have snails in with the FBTs. Nobody stated how long they had their snails or fish with their toads but I decided to give it a try. I grabbed one of the snails and put him in with my FBTs and crossed my fingers. My snail did really good, so I added another snail and kept my eye on them to make sure that they were doing ok. I checked on their shells to make sure the toxins did not affect their integrity and they were still good. The algae level was still crazy though, so I got an Emerald catfish to help out which is also when I added the air stone. The Emerald is doing great, the snails are doing great and it's been 4 months. As I mentioned earlier the snails are doing so good that they are mating and laying clutches! LOL!! But as I mentioned, I keep a VERY clean tank. The snails and catfish ignore the FBTs and the FBTs ignore the snails and catfish (the catfish is too big for the snails to even consider eating!). Now, I can't speak of any other type of snail or fish, this is just my experience with these kinds.

Oh, and as for the petstores having fish in inappropriate sized tanks with mates that may not be the best, you have to remember. Their number one responsibility is to make money! This is why when you go into PetSmart or some place like that they will load you up with all kinds of things, even if you have something they will tell you something else is better. You always want to do your research before buying or adding something! If you buy an addition then you want to keep them in quarantine for awhile to ensure that they are healthy before adding them to your population. Also, I do have a bala shark with a red tail shark. They have been together since they were frys so they aren't bad with each other. The bala does not nip at him nor he to the bala, but they do chase eachother around the tank. I am very cautious in ensuring that nobody gets hurt! When I got these guys the person who I got them from had a bala shark, red tail shark and African Electric Yellow Cichlid together in a 10 gallon tank. This is VERY inappropriate! I am sure it was fine originally when they were all babies but as they got older the cichlid began nipping at everyone. He was removed from the tank and put in another tank and now everyone is happy! Oh, and as soon as I got them home the bala and red tail were switched to my 30 gallon and just recently in my 55g. Eventually the balas will be too big for the 55g and I will have to come up with something else, which I may donate them at that time. PetSmart states that they need a 44g tank, but all my reading says that because they get to 14 inches they need an 80g p/bala.

[Hoppity100]

Wow, you're busy like me! I clean my frogs every week and I don't have algae because my real plants are several strands in the water. Other plants are fake and soft, above water surface but they can crawl over them or hide. I added a mystery snail to my fish tank a month ago and he is fine, fish don't bother him. I did not put a snail in frog tank because there is not enough water as my fish tank. I'd like an apple snail but no one sells them. Yeah, snails multiply fast. I would add a few small fish to frog tank but I haven't because I don't want to risk giving them a sick fish if they decide to have it for dinner. I'm alternating worms and crickets so they don't get bored. One frog out of four came to store quite skinny. I have given him extra worms.

With the pet store, like you said, they want to make money. The tank I saw with balas and red tails had to be less than 10 gallons and it was way overstocked. I told them what I saw the fish doing and they just had no answer. Even though balas were small, the two should not be housed together. The red tails were being bullied and it really bothered me! How can they work there and not care? And why are feeder fish in huge tank? They could be divided up into smaller tanks like the fan tails are. Goldfish don't bully other fish! This is so stupid of a store to act like they either don't care or don't want to admit something is wrong. But I research before shopping and know stores can give wrong advice. This is the same store that would not give hamsters a wheel and gave me a handful of excuses why. Each excuse got worse and worse. I emailed store and never heard anything about my complaints.

You must have alot of room to have a 55 gal tank. I have 2 10 gal tanks and carry them to kitchen to clean after removing as much water as I can. The gravel vac I bought does not work. I have no choice but to carry. The frogs are fun and I love cleaning their tank and putting it back together. If you have any more info to share about tanks, let me know. I am so glad you wrote!

[FrogFriend]

I got my mystery snails from PetSmart. From my understanding, mystery snails and apple snails are the same thing, at least they are in the same family. As for the amount of water, my FBT tank has about 5 inches of water in it. It has to have a lot of water in order for it to work properly. As for people working in the the pet stores, some are just there for the paycheck, some of them are interested in fish, etc but they just don't know much and they picked up this job hoping to learn, but just not getting taught. That happens too. My 55g is for fish. My FBT for the moment are in a 10g. I use the gravel vacuum to clean out the water but when I do a thorough clean I take it into the kitchen to clean out. But I remove all the extra stuff and take it to the kitchen to clean up first so that the tank is not so heavy. There are so many pictures on Google search of tank set ups. I would say check it out! I got some good ideas from there!

[Hoppity100]

That's how I clean my tank, I take everything out then carry it to the kitchen. Apple snails are bigger and shell I think is a different color. Our stores sell either black or yellow shell snails mostly the same size (no larger than a 25 cent piece) and the snails are in the same family. My frog tank has about 3.5 inches of water. I bought 2 different gravel vacs and they don't work well at all. I tried to get them started by getting water into tubing first and ended up with a mouth full of water! Moving up and down quickly did not work either. Thanks for telling me about tank set ups on google, my tank is as natural as I could make it. I wish someone here could show me how to post pics. I'd like to post mine with close ups from different views.

I originally got red claw crabs from petsmart and they died when I transferred them from fish tank to their own tank. I did the salt thing for their water and what happened is they became territorial in spite of having many hiding places and had one big fight overnight. The last crab I guess wanted to be alone. He was for quite a while then died. Petsmart had crabs and frogs together and I wonder what went on in their tank overnight between them. I got the feeling frogs did not like living with crabs. Do you think they belonged together in the store?