Stress?

[Mentat]

Hi Eli, frogs in video look fine. Answered some of your questions below. If it was me; would move the frogs into the larger tank now. Get a small bottle of Seachem Stability and follow the label instruction and treat new tank with frogs in it for two weeks or until nitrites hit zero. Then follow on with normal water changes (around 20% weekly) using dechlorinated tap water. Seachem Prime is good and would stay away from any conditioners with Aloe due to binders interfering with frogs skin functions .

...

3. Water source and any conditioner treatments? : Distilled, no additives water or tap water. Both get treated with Seachem Prime before being added to a tank.
Should not use distilled water with frogs, live plants, or fish.

6. Describe any filter system including model and media? No filter, the tank is 2.5 gallons. I do daily water changes of about 20%
Frogs being more "active" during your cleaning or water changes is normal. They are just trying to get away from the giant hands and can't.

13. Have you found poop lately? I am not too sure what ACF poop looks like! I may have or I may have not. Someone please describe this to me?
When feeding ReptoMin poop looks similar to it.

[elliotulysses]

Hi Eli, frogs in video look fine. Answered some of your questions below. If it was me; would move the frogs into the larger tank now. Get a small bottle of Seachem Stability and follow the label instruction and treat new tank with frogs in it for two weeks or until nitrites hit zero. Then follow on with normal water changes (around 20% weekly) using dechlorinated tap water. Seachem Prime is good and would stay away from any conditioners with Aloe due to binders interfering with frogs skin functions .

What I've been finding as stool ends up being kind of dust-like.
I did at a tiny bit of API's Stress Coat + because they seemed a little upset, but it does make sense as to why they are scared.

My big tank is not completely cycled and I was using janitorial ammonia to get the biofilter started. Should I do a complete, or nearly complete change then use Seachem?

[elliotulysses]

Also it is very reassuring to see that their behavior is pretty normal! And they look so majestic when they swim.
Should Prime be a good product to deal with stress? It is supposed to help with reducing stress.

[mpmistr]

You may be over thinking your approach to these frogs. They are actually quite easy to keep. The room temperature of 74F is a bit warmer than Xenopus prefer but it's not life threatening, if you could get it a few degrees lower in your home they'd probably appreciate it.

Anyways, ACF to swim around a lot, they're also very skittish. My small male is kept in a 10 gallon tank so he can grow large enough to join my big tank.. at night he swims around like a total spaz. They like to swim, they're fairly active frogs actually.

I believe these frogs are being kept in 2.5 gallons? Way too small for these guys, but I know it's a temporary home until your larger tank cycles. That being said, they probably aren't jumping for joy being in such a small tank right now.

In my opinion ACF with a good 'run away' reflex is a sign of a healthy frog. If the frog did not react to stimuli, I'd be worried. In the wild things that scare them should induce a flight instinct, it's in essence how they keep alive. Of course they shouldn't be startled often but it does happen. (My frogs freak when I close the living room door some times)

If you are using Prime don't bother with Stress Coat, they in essence do the same thing.

[elliotulysses]

You may be over thinking your approach to these frogs. They are actually quite easy to keep. The room temperature of 74F is a bit warmer than Xenopus prefer but it's not life threatening, if you could get it a few degrees lower in your home they'd probably appreciate it.

Anyways, ACF to swim around a lot, they're also very skittish. My small male is kept in a 10 gallon tank so he can grow large enough to join my big tank.. at night he swims around like a total spaz. They like to swim, they're fairly active frogs actually.

I believe these frogs are being kept in 2.5 gallons? Way too small for these guys, but I know it's a temporary home until your larger tank cycles. That being said, they probably aren't jumping for joy being in such a small tank right now.

In my opinion ACF with a good 'run away' reflex is a sign of a healthy frog. If the frog did not react to stimuli, I'd be worried. In the wild things that scare them should induce a flight instinct, it's in essence how they keep alive. Of course they shouldn't be startled often but it does happen. (My frogs freak when I close the living room door some times)

If you are using Prime don't bother with Stress Coat, they in essence do the same thing.

Unfortunately I don't have much control over my heat except for turning on/off a fan which is directed towards the tank. Later on, when they are in their bigger tank I can get the water to cool down to 68 F or so, which should be better?

And to be clear, they aren't fully grown, just kind of in a baby stage still. I would put them in the tank I'm cycling, but I would worry about their health! And I would have to probably do something like a 100% water change. And then, my aquarium is still not fully cycled.

[elliotulysses]

You may be over thinking your approach to these frogs. They are actually quite easy to keep. The room temperature of 74F is a bit warmer than Xenopus prefer but it's not life threatening, if you could get it a few degrees lower in your home they'd probably appreciate it.

Anyways, ACF to swim around a lot, they're also very skittish. My small male is kept in a 10 gallon tank so he can grow large enough to join my big tank.. at night he swims around like a total spaz. They like to swim, they're fairly active frogs actually.

I believe these frogs are being kept in 2.5 gallons? Way too small for these guys, but I know it's a temporary home until your larger tank cycles. That being said, they probably aren't jumping for joy being in such a small tank right now.

In my opinion ACF with a good 'run away' reflex is a sign of a healthy frog. If the frog did not react to stimuli, I'd be worried. In the wild things that scare them should induce a flight instinct, it's in essence how they keep alive. Of course they shouldn't be startled often but it does happen. (My frogs freak when I close the living room door some times)

If you are using Prime don't bother with Stress Coat, they in essence do the same thing.

Also I may look into something like this Marineland Classic 4 Gallon Hidden LED Desktop Kit at PETCO as a temporary home. Should I do something like purchase this and get Seachem Stability? Or, as I am waiting to find out
Just do a water change and use the Stability.

[Mentat]

Agree with Michael; these frogs are not fragile. The transfer can be done right now. Do not add any more ammonia to 20G and wait until ammonia reads 0. Make sure that janitorial ammonia has no other cleaning ingredients on it; if so, that could be very bad.

If 20G is full of distilled water do a 50% water change with dechlorinated tap before transferring frogs. Move frogs and start using the Seachem Stability for 2 weeks. You are done .

[mpmistr]

I agree with Carols in making sure that ammonia you are using does not contain ANY chemicals besides ammonia. Be very careful on that one because if there are other chemicals in there you will be headed for trouble. Also agree on the distilled water, never use it. Use tap+SeaChem Prime. I've personally never used SeaChem Stability but I doubt it would do much harm to try it.

When you read zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and nitrate under 20ppm it is time to add the frogs. Just please please please make sure the janitorial ammonia you used is 110% free of other harmful agents because they will surely kill your frogs I cannot stress this enough!! I did a little Googlin' and it appears that janitorial ammonia is usually 10% ammonia hydroxide. I assume this should be safe but I'm not sure..

I find snails make good cycling animals. They do not produce a ton of waste so they won't cause the water to become toxic to themselves but they will add enough 'snail poop' to cycle the tank. Some cheap ghost shrimp would do the job too, again very small bioload so properly filtered they should survive the cycle (not that they are long lived anyways 1-2 years tops). I am a bit paranoid with using chemicals in my tanks. I would throw an apple snail in there once the ammonia hits zero and see how he does, or some ghost shrimp. Shrimp are a good indicator of water quality, and if they survive the frogs will just eat them anyways and enjoy the treat.

[elliotulysses]

Agree with Michael; these frogs are not fragile. The transfer can be done right now. Do not add any more ammonia to 20G and wait until ammonia reads 0. Make sure that janitorial ammonia has no other cleaning ingredients on it; if so, that could be very bad.

If 20G is full of distilled water do a 50% water change with dechlorinated tap before transferring frogs. Move frogs and start using the Seachem Stability for 2 weeks. You are done .

I know that they are not fragile and are pretty hardy animals, but right now the ammonia is reading 0ppm from my API chart. I am just going to add some ground up fish flakes and siphon them out later.
I am going to the pet store to get my water checked out again, but unfortunately not for a few days. I hope to see if they have stability there. Sadly, the last time I went they had ammonia testing kits, nitrate testing kits, but absolutely no nitrite tests.

[elliotulysses]

Agree with Michael; these frogs are not fragile. The transfer can be done right now. Do not add any more ammonia to 20G and wait until ammonia reads 0. Make sure that janitorial ammonia has no other cleaning ingredients on it; if so, that could be very bad.

If 20G is full of distilled water do a 50% water change with dechlorinated tap before transferring frogs. Move frogs and start using the Seachem Stability for 2 weeks. You are done .

As I've said, this seems like the simplest solution.
Right now my ammonia says it's at zero, while the nitrites are sky high. Should I do a bigger water change and then add them after I add the Stability?
And I only need to use the Stability for two weeks? This sounds like heaven.

Would I need to continue to use the product when I get a sponge filter to seed in bacteria for itself?

[elliotulysses]

You may be over thinking your approach to these frogs. They are actually quite easy to keep. The room temperature of 74F is a bit warmer than Xenopus prefer but it's not life threatening, if you could get it a few degrees lower in your home they'd probably appreciate it.

Anyways, ACF to swim around a lot, they're also very skittish. My small male is kept in a 10 gallon tank so he can grow large enough to join my big tank.. at night he swims around like a total spaz. They like to swim, they're fairly active frogs actually.

I believe these frogs are being kept in 2.5 gallons? Way too small for these guys, but I know it's a temporary home until your larger tank cycles. That being said, they probably aren't jumping for joy being in such a small tank right now.

In my opinion ACF with a good 'run away' reflex is a sign of a healthy frog. If the frog did not react to stimuli, I'd be worried. In the wild things that scare them should induce a flight instinct, it's in essence how they keep alive. Of course they shouldn't be startled often but it does happen. (My frogs freak when I close the living room door some times)

If you are using Prime don't bother with Stress Coat, they in essence do the same thing.

Also the stress coat adds aloe, which isn't so great for the fish.

I suppose being in a cramped, slightly warm space would make them stressed out, but hopefully not stressed out enough to get some sort of disease. As a new owner, I'm sure it's common to fear disease, but I should give them more credit. They are a popular lab animal after all. Especially with some genetic experiments and optogenetics.
It's pretty cool to think that you can have a pet that holds the future in it's hands--maybe even giving sight to the blind!