Happy toads and eggs :)

[Dynamitella]

For christmas I got three more firebellies to add to my existing pair I redid the tank a month ago, and the toads haven't shut up since. They constantly hug and chirp together and they are very active and chubby.
And apparently this worked out great. This morning I discovered eggs in the moss! I always do a headcount every morning and night, since I have had some escapers before. So it was a welcomed surprise.


I have moved the eggs carefully, along with the moss, to a small tank. I only used tank-water from the toads and a sprinkle of water from my pangio kuhlii-tank (low pH and clean water).


What do I need to know about raising them? The plan is to add about 1/2-1 liter of water every day until I've filled the tank up (it's about 7 out of 25 liters now) so that I won't shock the eggs or tadpoles. And then add rocks and driftwood from another tank further on, while decreasing the waterlevel. This would allow the tadpoles to reach land easily while turning into toadlets, as well as being able to eat small critters living in the driftwood.

[Marco Caccianiga]

Congratulations! Your toads look great!
It's always a great moment when you find eggs! I think that you're doing everything fine. It's more or less the same things I did and everything went always well (last time I had 75 toadlets out from 99 eggs, which is good, at least I think..). How many eggs do you have?
At the beginning eggs and tadpoles are quite delicate, so try to leave them undisturbed as far as you can. As they start growing and eating they will turn the water into a mess in a very short time. It's incredible how they are able to dirt the water. So it's fine to have an adequate volume of water and to change it frequently, at least partially. A small filter can aid, kept at minimum, but only when tadpoles are able to swim actively.
I used to feed them with algae (if you have driftwood from another tank it would be great) and vegetables: they love zucchini, but they are really bad for water quality so for the last laying I only used fish food, particulary chips for vegetarian fish like loricarids etc. They also like some kind of aquatic plants like frogbit; in general, plants are good as they help a complex ecosystem to develop, which is good for extra food (algae, bacteria etc) and to climb on later.
I started to lower the water level when rear legs were fully developed; when you start to see front legs uder the skin it's time to have a lot of places for them to attach to. In one month you'll have your first toadlets!
Keep us updated!
Marco

[Dynamitella]

Thank you!
Oh, that sounds great. I only have about 20 eggs I think. I left 4 or 5 in the main tank for now, as a plan B if i screw up
I think this could work out great. I have access to alot of javamoss and aquatic plants, stones and driftwood with algae and micro-animals. I'm sure the tadpoles will have a blast eating away. (and I have daphnia, mysis, artemia, mosquitolarvae and other frozen foods that I will try out).
I have kept alot of dwarf shrimp, and they are incredible sensitive as well. So the small but frequent water changes and small foam-filters are an every day thing here
Thanks again, I'll post pictures (eventually) and do updates as we go along

[kroberts009]

your toads do look great! congrats on the eggs!

[Dynamitella]

Thanks!
Here we see an example of the chubbiness I seem to have pot-bellied toads instead of fire-bellied ones.