a different tadpole set-up

Do you have any lights on teh tadpoles to help the duckweed? I tried duckweed in my tadpole cups and it started to rot and smell bad so I took it ou of most of the cups. Java moss seems to work well though.

I do use the same method and it has always worked well the plants usually feeds from the tadpoles waist + good bacteria sets in and give an equilibrium to the whole set up.

Ben E said:

All tads are set up with a clay/soil bottom with leaf litter a few rocks and floating plants. Water is never changed. Tadpoles actively ingest the substrate and are fed supplementally about twice weekly. This is low maintenance. Currently using this method with 7 genera.

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How many tads can you put in each container? Also, are there any limitations/issues you have come accross with adding different age tads in the containers?

Melis

well there are always some limitations, i have found that some of the dendrobates will nip at each other, and go into this almost ritualisitic looking battle where they hover in mid water column and flip and twirl around each other...i try to keep large size differences down to a minimum with multiple containers. Thumbnails are kept in individual glasses. There are 12 40 watt standard fluorescent tubes above the tads to keep vigorous plant growth. If you are having trouble growing duckweed with your light levels i doubt that the java is doing much for nitrogen export....the tanks stay relatively clear ( a little stained from the leaves) and water quality is very good including low NO3 readings. Ben

Tadpoles actively ingest the substrate

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They eat the clay/soil? or do they eat the leaf litter?

TWELVE 40 bulbs?!

Luke

oh i miss counted there are 8 40 watts and the tads eat the substrate...see the intestines in the one pic...that is substrate in their gut....mmmm

Hey ben how much you charging for that duckweed?

Charge for duckweed? My aquarium had it and kept coming back over and over again! It can become very invasive.

clay soil

please tell me how you make the clay soil.

dmartin72 said:

Charge for duckweed? My aquarium had it and kept coming back over and over again! It can become very invasive.

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Yeah, my tad containers quickly become so overgrown by it, that you cant even see in the tubs.

I have to remove duckWEED from my vivs literally every week, or it would block out luight completely for the crypts bacopa and anubias i grow in my water sections. But it does give a nice effect so i still leave some everytime, and have no intentions of removing it.

I raise most of my tads with a similar set up, one plant that does extremely well is parrotsfeather, myriophyllum sp. As it grows the lower leaves die and the tads munch these up, especially Epipes.

I generally put each clutch in a container, there is some fighting and once in awhile I'll get a froglet missing an eye or piece of a limb but it's rare.

IF anyone raises Agalychnis tads they will eat tons of duckweed.

Thanks
Eric

Woah, its a work of art. Good job.

it is a great sign that you are removing so much duckweed. It is a great nitrogen sponge....i would rather remove a scoop of duckweed than change water any day.....ben

At first i dreaded having to remove duckweed, i tried using a spoon, and then i tried a net. Either one was hell, the spoon would get more water then duckweed, the net would have duckweed stuck all in it...SO i now use a fork, once the roots are long enough, the fork will get much more duckweed then you could imagine.

Ryan

clay soil

how does one go about making clay soil?