Hi Everyone,
About a month ago, after much time researching the internet, I set out to breed my red eyes. I wasn't successful. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong so when I attempt this again, I'll hopefully be successful.
Here's the play-by-play:
Sex ratio: 4 males : 2 females (all adults, I've had them for over 2 years)
3 weeks before I transferred them to the rain chamber I fed them more than normal and cut back the cage misting to simulate sort of a dry spell in the season.
Rain Chamber
- Built from an Exo-Terra 18x18x24 tank
- PVC pipe rain bar attached to the top of the screen
- Distilled water
- External aquarium canister filter to cycle the water from the bottom to the rain bar
- False bottom from egg crate sat just below water level in case frogs lost their footing
- Generous amounts of real (pothos) and fake broad leaf plants placed in the tank
- Water heater placed in the water to keep temperatures at 75-80. Aquarium digital thermometer placed in water to monitor temperatures
- Thermometer/Hydrometer installed in tank to monitor environment (I was getting temps in the 75-80 range and humidity in the high 90s)
- Automated 12 hour night/day cycle for lights
- Rain schedule (8am on 1 min, 12noon on 1 min, 4pm on 1 min, 8pm on 2hrs, 12midnight on 2hrs)
After 5 days of transferring the RETFs in the rain chamber, they laid 2 clutches of eggs with roughly 30 eggs in each clutch.
Once I saw the eggs, I removed the RETFs from the rain chamber and returned them back to their permanent tank.
The eggs were laid on the pothos leaves. I snipped the leaves the 2 clutches were on, removed all the other plants and hung the leaves from the top of the rain chamber just above the surface of the water. Based on what I have read, I turned off the rain at this time.
I noticed on day 2 that the jelly the eggs were in was quickly drying up. I got worried and I turned on the rain for the remainder of the egg development to keep them hydrated and moist. I adjusted the rain schedule to be very light (no more 2 hour long sessions). The jelly regained moisture. The eggs were developing inconsistently. Some were further along than others. Is this normal?
During this time, I started putting together the tadpole tank.
Tadpole Tank
- Generic fish tank 15 gallon
- Distilled water
- Water heater placed in the water to keep temperatures at 75-80. Aquarium digital thermometer placed in water to monitor temperatures
- Submersible water filter (sponge only)
- Live plants
After day 7, I transferred the clutches and leaves, they were on, from the rain chamber to the tadpole tank. I hung the clutches above the water in preparation for the tadpoles to hatch. At this time 5 were ready for hatching while the others were still in early development (they took the form of tadpoles, had visible eyes, but were far from the other further along developed tadpoles. The movement of me transferring the clutches over the tank caused the 5 further developed tadpoles to hatch as soon as they were above the tadpole tank.
The other under developed tads did not make it to the water. The clutches dried out since they were no longer being kept moist by the rain. I had 5 tadpoles from the entire clutch make it to the tank. The tadpoles lasted less than a week. They started dying one by one. I fed them tropical fish flakes, crushed algae biscuits and boiled lettuce (all recommended from what I read online). Feeding frequency was once in the morning everyday.
So based on this post-mortem, what did I do wrong? What should I do differently to have better success?
Help. I plan on trying again in a week.