Hello everyone, I'm new to the Frog Forum. I joined to hopefully get some help from people with more knowledge than I have. So here's the story:
I work at a pet store and we got a shipment of goldfish a couple of days ago. One of my coworkers saw a large tadpole in the goldfish tank and had no idea what to do about it. Apparently this happens often but they must be taken out immediately and I didn't want to know what would happen to the poor tadpole after that. So, I offered to take the tadpole home with me. At first, my intentions were to just take it to a pond some where and let it go. Then, I came to my senses and realized I couldn't just let a frog out into the environment if it's not a native species. So, it's here at my house in a child-sized kiddie pool filled with water and rocks for him to climb onto if he needs to get out of the water. Oh, and he is almost done with his metamorphous. He's been with me for 3 days and his tail has already shrank quite a bit, he's climbing out of the water to dry off and bask, breathing air etc. I plan on keeping him for his lifetime, but I need to know what he is to help me give him a good life! I'm not sure where are goldfish come from though. Hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of him and someone can help me. Thanks!!
It's definitely a Ranid of some sort; Probably bull frog, possibly green frog. It will be easier to determine after it grows a bit. You were right not to release it.
Give it time to absorb it's tail. Set it up half land half water, in an enclosure with a sturdy lid. When it's mouth is fully formed, feed it small insects and earthworms. As it grows, it will eat any live, moving prey that will fit in it's mouth.
Plan on eventually providing it with a very large enclosure. Bullfrogs, especially, are big jumpers.
Yes it will grow. Feed it well and it will grow quickly.
Bullfrogs do not require any special lighting. If you want to grow plants in the enclosure, you'll need a plant bulb of some sort. Use fluorescent, they do not create much heat, Amphibians can be easy to overheat. Mid 70's is sufficient. A small aquarium heater can be used if necessary. You also will need a secure, tight-fitting top, this species is a strong jumper.
...that said there's evidence that UVB light might help frogs (milky tree frogs at least) develop strong bones. If you wanted to get one of the UVB tropical lights it might help.
American bullfrogs are native to your state, but it still might be unwise to release it in case it picked up anything from the goldfish. Also they tend to eat smaller frogs so a population boom of bullfrogs might not be great for other area amphibians.
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