Need your input! Going to be setting up my first FBT tank!

[Jenste]

I am a sneaky little devil

To anyone familiar with me, they will know my husband is not fond of the creepy crawly. Thus far my tanks have only been able to house anything aquatic - fish, axolotls, and frogs such as African clawed frogs and African dwarf frogs. No "land" critters allowed as he doesn't want them to roam the house. (He really is terrified of them, even little anoles)

I want to redo my 26 gallon bow front for Fire Bellies. My LFS has a bunch and their set up is about 8" water enclosure with an island. When hubby saw it, all the frogs happened to just be sitting in the water. He agreed I could get some. (I think he also really liked their colors)

YIPPEE

So the largest tank I have to use is my 26 gallon bow as the 20 gallon long is set up for my ADFs and my 72 gallon is set up for discus. I didn't want to just do a 10 gallon.

This is where you people come in.

1) I have sand, rocky gravel and medium (1-3" size) rocks, tall amazon sword plants and driftwood. I was thinking of getting some larger tupperwares and siliconing sand and rocks to make ledges. Nothing will be siliconed to the actual tank in case I get them another tank down the road and reconvert this to fish. I have lots of extra heaters and filters around also so the "water" part will be filtered at all times.

2) How deep is too deep? The tank is 20" tall. I was going to have about 4-6" of air space and 14-16 inches of depth, or is this too deep?

3) Would the appreciate those stick on vine plants going down into the water or no?

4) I was planning on feeding crickets, dusted every other feeding, and earth worms. I was planning on feeding every other day when young and every three days when older. Does this sound right?

Feel free to throw out ideas and what I need to change...I am all ears! (well, eyes, but you know what I mean!)

[Creamballman]

you can do pretty deep if you want, like basically an aquarium, but then you MUST have a haul-out are or these guys will drown. Better to feed every 1-2 days, but it really depends on what (how fattening) you feed, and how many. Better not to have small rocks to avoid impaction (my guys jump at crickets even in water, some don't though). I personally only have 3 inches deep of water.

[Jenste]

Thank you so much!
I am going to be playing with the tank for a bit. I have a large ( Very large) piece of driftwood that looks like a tree...I am going to see if I can fit it in and then find a way to turn the top of the "tree" into the main part of their land area.

[Creamballman]

Yeah, I have a 3X10 piece of plexiglass siliconed in to separate land(coco fiber) from water

[blindderik35]

hi jen, THATS A HUGE TANK THEY WILL LOVE IT.I RECOMMEND YOU USE A FILTER SYSTEM AND SEPERATE HEATER FOR THE WATER .MINE LOVE THIER SEPERATE WATER FALLS TOO. OH YEAH I ALSO USE 2 TIMERS 1 FOR DAY BULB AND 1 FOR NIGHT(PURPLE) THE NIGHT LIGHT IS LIGHTLY HEATED AND WITH THIER VISION IT LOOKS JUST LIKE THE MOON TO THEM.

[Jenste]

Water will be filtered and heated. Probably two filters so I can try and make a waterfall area with the outflow.

Is the night bulb essential? I thought a normal aquarium light was all that was needed.

[Sunshine]

They do not need a heater for the water. They like it cooler. They do not need a night bulb, mine do fine without one. They like the water to be still, so I don't know about having a waterfall. I would read the FBT care article if you haven't yet. Frog Forum - Fire-Bellied Toad Care and Breeding - Bombina orientalis and relatives Have fun!

[Jenste]

I did read that article and have been reading a lot of pretty much everything I can find online due to low response volume.

I read it was best to keep the water around 72-74*F (if I average the info on this and other sites and unheated my water temp seems to be in the 60*s on this side of the house - North/North East) with depth not being an issue with adequate land mass. I am probably going to have it about half filled to play up the tree like form. I am diligent with water quality and always over filter rather than under filter. The filter outputs will of course be directed in a way for minimal surface movement. Multiple climb out points is my goal.

I will post a picture once I am able to get the tank set up, hopefully tomorrow as I emptied all stock out of it this evening (was housing Angelfish juveniles).

[Jenste]

And now the fun of draining the tank to add the driftwood so I can play with out getting soaked. Also have to add a deeper sand bed so I can really root everything into place. Have the sand already rinsed in my back yard (I got up early as the afternoon calls for rain!)

[Jenste]

Ok, waiting for the sand to settle. (Excuse the glare, at this time in the day there is nothing I can do about sun light coming in through the blinds. Also, these are taken by my phone and not my camera as the camera is charging so I can take good photos of the frogs when I get them! )

Only ended up using one filter for now as the Fluval U2 is good for 30 gallons and there is probably just over 10 gallons in the tank. It has three out flow options - out of the top, out of the bottom, and out of the middle. I have it currently set for out of the bottom so all waste etc in the water will get moved around to the filter but the top of the surface doesn't move.

I have a "reptile dish" thing that I had originally bought to use as a feeding dish in my axolotl tank until I got it home, peeled all the labels off, cleaned it and then realized it floated. Now it and a large rock (to make sure it is completely balanced and doesn't wobble in the slightest, have made a type of platform in addition to all the branches.

Will look much better once the sand fully settles as you will be able to see the "tree" like appearance and all the climb out levels.

I put a floating betta log in to for good measure, may end up taking it out if they don't use it.

[MatthewM1]

Tank is looking great. Love the driftwood, it's gonna be fun watching them hunt the crickets off of it.

They won't use the depth of it, if startled they may dive down and hide at the bottem but that's about it. Fish would go great in there. I personally don't believe that the toxins excreted will harm them especially with that volume of water and regular water changes. I've got 2 white clouds, a blueberry shrimp and a mystery snail in with mine and everybody's happy

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

[Jenste]

I added a few of my extra guppies to the bottom for movement.
The frogs are settling in right now and are LOVELY


I will be able to get better photos once it is evening so that there is no glare to deal with =)

[Creamballman]

Of you want to use fish with fbt, they can be for feeders every once in a while(they are fattening), but otherwise they will die pretty quick because fire belly toads are somewhat toxic.

[Jenste]

If the guppies pass I won't be overly heart broken but I have found multiple threads in my search (not just here) where a form of livebearer inhabits the deep water tanks and seem to do alright.

Sun will be down soon and then the photos can begin! I started taking a few but there was a bit of glare coming from the other side of the house. (bow front tank picks up a lot of glare in pictures!)

[Bombina Bob]

For this tank i would lower the water so its only around four inches, Or you
could use large cork flats for your toads to rest on. I have my FBTs in a temporary
15 gal terrestrial setup with a large water bowl, I provide a hide with plenty of
moss and plants, for this tank you can keep the tank this way and maybe
put some Java moss on the edge of the water,

Have a nice day!