# Frogbeasties



## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I finally got my frog beasties moved into a proper tank, only took me a few months of stress and pestering to get my other half to rearrange our space to fit it in though.

This is the overall view of their 20 gal. They're running a 30-60 gal filter on here, because frogs are dirty, and that is why I call them Stinkbeasts. Also featuring a plant mat made from my own ingenuity and plastic plants, and the lovely lily that we got from Aluka. 

The albino is Freddie, the male.

Frankie (the female) looked so.... disconcerted here. I love her cute face!


There's a "Troll" under my bridge!



and just so the rare and elusive Freddie's isn't left out, that I had to ninja my way around the tank to get a photo.


Last but not least, Mini-frog, the illustrious Pancake!


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## jona31 (May 19, 2013)

oh i love them there so adorable


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Thank you! they're my wonderful babies!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Walked into my bedroom to singing. Freddie is serenading his lady love.
No video, just audio.


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## jona31 (May 19, 2013)

whats species are these little guys?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

the two larger ones are Xenopus laevis (African Clawed Frog or Plantanna)

The Dwarf frog is Hymenochirus boettgeri.


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## SeaKnight (May 24, 2013)

I have 4 African Dwarfs and know they are fully Aquatic are Clawed Frogs also fully Aquatic???


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

the species I have are, there are species of "African Clawed frogs" (there's more than one with the title, the ones that do are X. tropicalis, and the Silurna sp.) who prefer things like a lily pad to sit on, but that's about it.

They are very capable of short bouts on dry land, even shorter if the frog ends up on the carpet like my male has on a couple of occasions.

Here's a little video of them from a little bit ago, Freddie is feeling amorous, and Frankie's had just about enough of his nonsense, so she's hiding underneath a decorative bridge. He actually ended up amplexing the filter intake (they have terrible eyesight, and he's kind of... dumb. Bless his heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKRoD9OOiPY


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## SeaKnight (May 24, 2013)

Love it!!!!!!!!!! I never really was one for frogs, but now I have the 4 Dwarfs and 6 firebellies and I can't get enough!!!!! Sooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and yes, I know what ya mean by dumb, couple of my males are like that too.......


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

Aaaawww! They're great. I have so many happy memories of my own clawed frogs.  So delightful.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

They're my favorites!


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

Did you get Grow-a-Frog kits when you were a kid, too?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

nope! I actually rescued the albino dumbbell last fall from a fish store. He was about the size of the Dwarf and so severely emaciated that I was afraid that we were bringing him home to make him comfortable so he could die. The same with the Dwarf, who was also pretty starved too when I got him.

I decided to get the female as a friend for Freddie later on... which was while I still thought Freddie was a girl. It took months for his "tail" to go away.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

I looked up the Grow-A-Frog kit. Based on the dimensions, the plastic "aquarium" (I don't even want to call it that) holds something like 0.3 gallon. According the one reviewer, the instructions tell you to never ever change the water or else "the tadpole would starve." That makes me a little bit sad. All those reviews about the little ACF tadpoles dying before they even reach adulthood... 

I love Freddie. He's such an adorable frog.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Fenghuang said:


> I love Freddie. He's such an adorable frog.


Want him? he's driving me crazy!!! Once he's done being hormonal and annoying, you'd have to send him back though. lol

As much as I love him, I don't like him very much lately...


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

You don't want to send him here. I'd keep him! xD


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

until he got amorous again, then you'd get sick of the near constant singing and filter humping. He's stopped it from working 3 times


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

OMG! Where Freddie's singing is loud and annoying, Pancake's is ADORABLE!!!


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

I wasn't endorsing the cruel grow-a-frog kit. Just asking if she'd also had the childhood experience. 
The frogs are actually illegal in some states because so many people released their frogs in the wild, and now they are outcompeting natives for resources. Not to mention the spread of disease.
I really miss having frogs. I looooooooove the singing SO MUCH! I have amphibian envy.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that. It was more "Holy crap, I _wanted_ one of those as a kid?!" I never realised how awful they were.


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

No worries. E-communication is notoriously subject to...subjective interpretration, shall we say.  I may have read something into your words that wasn't there. The grow-a-frog kits and instructions are saddening. Of course, so is the misinformation and tiny tanks marketed for bettas. I look back on the bettas I had when I was a kid and feel bad for them, what with their little tanks, dirty water and lack of heaters. And some of my herps, too!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

well, Turtlebarb, if you miss the singing, I posted that clip of Freddie's song, you're welcome to listen to it till it drives you crazy! lol I do have an edited clip of that on loop for 10 minutes, if I knew how to pass along the mp3 though, I would.

today, I have my tank drained 1/4 of the way in an attempt to spawn them, even though I don't want hundreds of tads, but it's looking like letting him do his business will be the only way to get the male to stop harassing my female before she gets hurt!

Mike and I woke up this morning to the intake tube sleeve cracked, and the raft ripped off of the wall! 

I was first introduced the the ACFs as a kid, but it was a brown and white pair in my neighbor's 55, not a little GAF kit. I fell in love with them then, probably around 4-5 yrs old, but my mom is a bit squeamish and wouldn't let me have any (or newts, newts were totally off the table!). When I was older and she'd moved out of my dad's, I had a few, but something would always go wrong, and I'd lose them in a month. Last year, I bought a pair of tutti fruttis, not realizing they're died, and had them for a few months while I scoured everything for a 20 gal for them. I couldn't find one by the time they were 2.5" so I sold them. A month later, I got my 55, and I kicked myself!

so last fall, I was in the local fish store when I found this poor, emaciated baby frog, and I told my fiance (didn't ask his opinion either), that we weren't leaving that store without him!

In December, we bought a brown, and another frutti, but this one was discounted for us because his arms hadn't formed properly. We called him Rex. Unfortunately though, Rex got stuck under an ornament and drowned, but Freddie and Frankie are still doing fine, and will be celebrating their first Gotcha Days November 23, and Dec 12.


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## percyfyshshelley (Feb 26, 2013)

Love the singing! Not so sure about the filter humping tho, lol. Poor guy.


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

A wonderful tale well told!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Well, I'm a potential grandma.

I came home from running errands to find eggs EVERYWHERE!!! there's still a lot that I've missed, but I'm sure they're not done, and I don't think I could keep up with HUNDREDS! So I took out all of the plants that had eggs (except the real plant), and I have them in a 2.5 gallon jar that I drilled holes in the lid of. I'll let you know tomorrow night if they're any good.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Skyewillow's half-arsed temporary frog rearing facility! :


(its secret identity is a bucket...)


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

We have "C" shaped eggs! (red arrows)


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

And TADPOLES!


Pretty sure this one is going to be wild phase:


This one looks like it may be albino:


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## SeaKnight (May 24, 2013)

Cool, I just had to remove the last of the 6 infertile eggs my parakeet laid over a month ago... (gestation is 17-21 days)..... It would have been her first clutch.... :-(


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

a lot of these are infertile, I'm hoping that the ones finish hatching soon, so I can clean up before they begin to decay


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## SeaKnight (May 24, 2013)

Good luck with them!!!!!!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Current count is 7-8 tadpoles.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Yay babies!

How long does it take a ACF tadpole to develop into a frog?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

From what I've been reading, anywhere from 4-12 weeks lol!

More sources say 4 or 5-6 weeks. I need to check that they are free swimming yet, because they'll need to be fed soon.


I'll have to post more pictures in a bit


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

PICTURES!!
Midnight- Midnight:30






These ones were taken at 12:22 PM





They literally grow so fast, as you can see the photos, which were only 12 hrs apart!


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## jona31 (May 19, 2013)

ooh I want a frog beastie lol


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Free Swimming Babies


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

So adorable I love tadpoles ! Years ago when my kids were small we had a small wading pool set up in the summer that had not been drained after the last time the kids used it going into late summer and a frog must have hopped in and we had tadpoles , we fed them fish flakes till they become big enough to move and we just scooped them up in buckets and took them down to the pond to grow and live in. No fish in our pond but plenty of frogs live in it :-D


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

That's pretty funny, Perseusmom! Our pool would gain tadpoles before we'd open it in the summer. lol


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## SeaKnight (May 24, 2013)

I have a neighbor next door who has a substantial sized above ground pool that has not been in use for many years... It has become the local "bullfrog" (not sure if they are actual bullfrogs) breeding grounds.. All the frogs go to this pool to mate/spawn and then all the little froglets (once they are strong enough) make their way to the creek just on the other side of my property and I would venture to guess eventually down to the river...


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Baby monster update! We're at 12 days old now. 2x feedings a day, and I have about 3-4 BIG babies in the group. I think those are going to be my holdbacks, so everyone else can have theirs at similar sizes.



Here's a few (not the bigguns) in a betta cup to give a perspective on size.


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## jona31 (May 19, 2013)

I want one


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

It would cost more than it's worth to try to export to Canada. :-(


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## jona31 (May 19, 2013)

oh ok makes sense they look so cute congrats your a froggy grandma yay


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

Awwwwww...brings back such fond memories. I wish I could have one, but ACFs are illegal in my state. What are you feeding them?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

the adults get specially formulated pellets from xenopus express.

The tadpoles are eating spirulina and egg yolk flake soup.

Last night, I decided that the smell of their container was too much and giving me a headache, so I cleaned the whole thing. Apparently, they're not as resilient as fish are to total water changes, I lost a few. I haven't re-counted them yet to see how many made it, but there was 95 before it happened.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Next time try dripping the water in. Should reduce losses.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

They were doing fine with the 50% changes.

It could've also been the cup my son knocked in full of pens and markers.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I finally did a new head count, we went from 95 to about 20. ugh...


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## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

If it makes you feel any better, that's not unusual.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

they were all perfectly fine until the total water change, so it's unusual for me.


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