Uh Oh. Gonna have babies

[alane]

They were making quite a racket last night.

And now there are about 50 more eggs.

Good lord.

Do they stop laying eggs?


The eggs laid a few days ago have developed more: I see a spine, eye spots; a little miniature tadpole with a yolk sac. Also, they twitch once on a while now.
[edit] they are hatching or within hours of hatching. I see a few tadpoles no longer in an egg. Some are very close to emerging from the egg. They still have a little bit of yolk left, they are not actively seeking food yet; they are mostly motionless but once once in a while they vibrate. They seem to remain attached to the location where they were an egg. The care sheets say that they'll finish off their yolk first before venturing forth.

[privet01]

Do you think a change in the overall tank temperature may have sparked the breeding? Did the temperature you try to maintain it at go from a lower temp to a higher temp?

Just curious. Trying to see if I can come up with any evidence that may re-assure me that I might be able to exercise some controls to their environment that might keep them out of the mood to mate should I decide to get more FBT's.

[alane]

I've done a few things that could have stimulated them to breed.

Weekly water changes: Although I let the water warm to room temperature, my tank slightly heated to be a little above room temperature. So on a water change, i'll drop from 76 to 73 degrees, sometimes more. The first water change I did dropped the temperature quite a bit. The frogs did not seem to mind, in fact they seem to like changes to their environment. Far from hiding, it kind of gives them energy to explore.

Rain mode: To clean the tank, I can reconfigure the water return to "rain on things".

Both of these things, i've heard, can stimulate them to breed.


I count about twenty five tadpoles. The first brood hatched. The second clutch of eggs is also obviously fertile.

Their behavior is odd; they don't move. They pick an out-of-the-way spot, hang motionless, vertically, head up and tail down. I read that they have to fully consume their yolk first before they start eating for real. Don't know how many days that'll take.
Fortunately, the mosquito fish in my tank are not large enough to eat these tadpoles.

[alane]

Egg, mid to late development.


A tiny little free tadpole. 1cm head to tail.

[Froggie85]

This is exciting . I wish I could have babies I dont understand why I have not yet . There temp is perfect! SO CUTE!!! im jelly

[alane]

The tadpoles in the satellite tank are not doing as well as the ones in the adult tank. I believe this is because the mosquito fish were harassing them and nipping at their tails. At least one tadpole died, some have nips out of their tail. I removed the mosquito fish and put them back into their outside pond, where they came from. The tadpoles and eggs in the satellite tank are now all alone.

The tadpoles in the adult tank are doing well. The first group that hatched out appears to be scavenging and eating, and are visibly larger merely 24 hours later. The second group of eggs has hatched, and the first set of tadpoles is twice the size of the second set already. The second set of eggs were more numerous, all fertile with very few or no failures during growth, and smaller. There appears to have been a very minor third egg laying as well, just a few. When an egg fails during development, development stops and it turns cloudy.

The better tadpole development in the adult tank may be a result of simply having a better environment to live in; many more places to hide, lots of food, no other animals picking on them.

It's hard to believe that these things are gonna turn into fire belly toads. I wonder at what point do they turn green and become cute. I'll be sure to post photos.

[alane]

This is one of the most mature tadpoles, posing on the glass for me. Check out the video on YouTube, below.

They have a sucker mouth and eat on almost any surface. They love algae.
You can see the beating heart in the video quite clearly.
And it's mostly intestines! Eats poops and grows 24-7.



Video of tadpole. A mouth, a heart, a tail, and a lot of intestines with food.
https://youtu.be/oy6N-7Ii41s