Breeding

[opistoglyph]

For those wishing to raise large numbers of carnivorous tadpoles. Me, I go wiith live foods- microworms, whiteworms, dapnia, freshwater fairy shrimp in the beginning- gel foods etc can be tried later.

Once tads are actively free swimming, they can be transferred to sweater boxes with 4" of water. I've silicone sealed powerfilter fittings (with adjustable flow rate)into the boxes with one end of the box raised a half an inch, and a hose bringing the return to the high end, the intake drilled into the lower end side near the bottom. Use foam over intake, clean foam twice a day.

To prevent cannibalism, make plastic screen tubes 5-6 inches long, 3" across- depending on screen material you can sew it, glue with silicone seal, staple it, whatever. I tad per tube. 48 of these fit in the sweaterboxes I use. I never try to raise thousands of tadpoles, I select a couple hundred of the most active, and ones I see feeding before I transfer them. The rest are euthed.

Depending on size of food and screenmesh size in tube, you can feed each tad individually or just dump food into bin. I prefer adding food to each for best chance of success. Experiment to see whether your species feeds day or night or doesn't matter.
Clean filter frequently, add leaves or whatever other conditioning material you use to filter box or cannister.

I do 25-50% water changes daily, with conditioned water held in 5 gallon pails, prepared days ahead of time. For most tads I use 6.5-7.5 water, low level hardness. Buy a good test kit, check daily for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.

A little tip: when tads look like they are ready to metamorphose, raise temperature 2-5 degrees fahrenheit, as most tads metamorphose in shoreline waters that get a lot warmer, they seem to develop better this way (for me).

If you are doing this with climbing frogs, let me go back and ensure that when you cut your tubes you do it with precision, all the same height. That way the sweaterbox lid can be placed over the tubes to keep the frogs from climbing out when they do metaporphose, which they usually do en masse, either before you get up in the morning, or while you are at work.

Whole spawns of cannibals may be reared but the volume of food and water used is kind of excessive for the hobbyist.

The above method also works to raise saltwater shrimp and crabs once the larvae become benthic, water scorpions, lethoceros nymphs, caddis fly larvae (I used them to make natural jewelry this way, able to control building materials easily), salamander larvae, many kinds of fresh and saltwater fishes, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, etc.
It is easy, with help, to do this on a commercial scale- the labor intensive part is making the set-up, once you have it it is good for years.

Hey, I'm adult ADHD, nothing better to do when you sleep 3 hours a day.

[Mercedesherp]

This species can be frustrating. I wll however remind you of JC's ABF article. There are some things that cannot escape what we wish to do, and how things actually work. (less, and including hormone therapy).
You will need to grow a group of young animals, or, you wll need to provide proper amounts of nourishisment to recent adult imports. They will need a dormancy period,
which allows a completion of Endocrine system maturity for successfull spawning.
Its not any more difficult than it is easy, you do however need an idea of normal biology, and species specific requirements.
My attempts with these resulted in 3 females consuming 3 males. After which the females released ova in the breedng chamber. ( husbandry errors )
They produce large eggs with low numbers < 300, so even a moderately prepared hobbyist would be able to manage the larvae.
As far as food for the larvae, stick wth live blackworms, tubifex, and have lots of frozen bloodworms, as you can afford, and investigate other protein sources cautiously.
Besides the frogs you need to accomplish this, you need dedication, persistance,
and patience.
GO FOR IT !!