Some more help please ;)

[jags78]

hi guys, ok well i got a bigger tank, which was given to me by a friend its a really nice one, and will go on my kitchen side,

the frogs are gonna go in there, im putting new filter sponges as she thought they were old and threw the others away!! doh!!

im going to shops tomorrow and will get some gravel, i wanted to go down the real plants route....is that hard to do ? will it be easier just to get some silk ones?

also does the tank need to cycle before they can go in? and is there any fish i can put with them? could i get a couple of bigger ones??

i want the tank to look really nice and eye catching, so any advice help would be great

thanks for any replies, they seem to be doing fine, but i had to take my blind cave fish out because everytime the frogs moved the fish thought it was feeding time!!

jags xx

[Dejavudoo]

I have heard that its best to keep a frog only tank although I'm guilty of having kept fish with my frogs before I knew any better. Oopsies.

As for plants, your best bet is some type of anubias. ACFs are known to tear up other plants but the anubias has tougher leaves. Some people plant their anubias in substrate while others say its best to tie them to driftwood. The driftwood would need to be boiled for at least 5 hours if you get some. You can then use fishing wire to tie the plant to the driftwood. I've heard it can take up to 6 months for it to finally root to the wood though.

Hope that helped. Good luck with your froggies!

[Jenste]

I also recommend the species-only tank....

and I have live water wisteria in my tank and I leave it floating - - it disperses the light so the frogs are more relaxed, and they like to hang out in it with their noses above the water.
also, you just need to buy a small bit and it grows quite steadily.

[jags78]

thanks guys, i will leave it with just the frogs in, its a 20 gal tank...shall i just have the 2 in there or could i get 2 more? or 1 more?

im thinking of not having gravel..but putting some big pebbles on the bottom, what do you think? i have orniments and will get the floating plants, and maybe a silk one to have stood up,

iv been feeding them bloodworms from a pipette thing we have and they have been coming to it and feeding off it, my son loves it when they do that, i just wanna get them in their tank now so they can settle in!!

i have also been giving the brine shrimp, is there anything else they like?

sorry for all the questions, and thanks again x

edited to say that iv just found your page jenste, iv saved it in my favs!! brill website,

[Jenste]

ok....

1. large rocks as a substrate is a no-no. ACF can accidentally kick these as they go to kick off to swim, and a loose one can be sent into the glass with enough force that the glass can crack.

2. bloodworms - - should NOT be used as a main part of the diet. they have very little nutritional value and would be like a person living off of cream puffs - very yummy, but not healthy! also brineshrimp is not something larger frogs will take great joy in eating due to how small the pieces are.
your best bet for a balanced diet are the floating Repto-Min sticks you find in the turtle section. these are very nutritional and will be a wonderful rich diet for the frog.

3. as far as having more room for additional frogs - - it is a 20 gallon correct? in a 20 gallon standard or tall tank, two frogs is it. in a 20 gallon LONG tank you can have three. The reason you can have more in the same volume is surface area - the long tank gives the frogs much more room to move around.

[jags78]

right i will get some of the turtle food stuff today, so what shall i have at the bottom? i dont really want sand as i have had it before with fish and it was rough on the filter....small gravel?

the tank is...25 inches long, 12 inches deep and 15 inches tall...so its longer than it is tall, i tried to work it out to gallons and the closest i came was 20 gall?? but im hopless with numbers and maths!!

its bigger than the tank they are in now,as that is a 16 gall, and its not as long, its ok for now but i can see they will need more room soon,

i have set the tank up now, put some stuff out of my already set up tank to try and get it to cycle,but i dont want to have to wait as long as i did with my last tank...its a second hand tank so maybe it wont take as long to cycle?
do i need a full cycle on the tank before they go in? i will get the water tested before i put them in,

thanks again,

[Jenste]

Instead of gravel get small river rocks...they are much smoother and more natural looking.



With a larger water volume and of you stay up on waterchanges they will be just fine in the new tank


And your tank sounds like a standard/tall....long 20gallons are 30" long

[jags78]

i got some sand gravel stuff, it looks fine, i will stick to the 2 froggies for now, i have got some floating plant stuff, and some orniments,

thank you very much for the info you have given me

i will let the sand settle and them put them in tomorrow,

[ramble]

They sell stuff that helps cycle the tank faster now. I used Smartcycle and it seemed to work fairly instantly. By the next day, the nitrates were up and the nitrites were at zero. I've been testing daily since putting the frogs in and it has stayed the same. I'd add the stuff, some plants and fish food and test the water the next day to be sure it works because the reviews are mixed - apparently sometimes the bacteria die off because it's not refrigerated like other brands.

(Disclaimer: Other than that, I know nothing about frogs. I am new to this but I have had fish and turtles for years.)

[Jenste]

I hate to disagree....but "bottled bacteria" is never an option I would use - - bacteria is LIVING - - it cannot be living locked in a bottle with no oxygen or food source. never mind the fact that you have no idea how long it has been sitting on the shelf in that bottle.

Just good old patience and water changes as your bacteria colony grows in your filter is the best method.


as they say, "patience is a virtue"

[ramble]

Maybe it cycled faster because I used existing substrate. There were mixed reviews on it, but I figured it couldn't hurt.