[TreeFrogPyscho]

Hi folks,

Just brought a Hyla Arenicolor (Canyon Treefrog) tadpole home and put him in a fish bowl (a repurposed iced tea pitcher). I have a bed of river rocks and have filled the pitcher halfway with spring water, so about 1/2 gallon. For food I've been feeding him boiled broccoli that's cooled in the freezer. He already has hindlegs that have yet to separate from his tail, and his mouth is so small I have to shred the broccoli with a fine grater before he'll try to nibble it, and he always leaves food leftover. He's been in this "bowl" for a day and it's already stinky, probably in part from too much broccoli. I'm wondering if a simple air pump + sponge filter is necessary to clean it up. I also notice that he swims around the top, which I've read is a sign he might need more oxygen/has a gas bubble in his gut. If you have any advice about water/diet/anything for my little guy, let me know.

<3,

TreeFrogPsycho

 

[varanoid]

Your are on a dart frog specialized forum so this may not be the most ideal place to post your question, but that being said there are many people here with a diverse range of experience who may be able to help you. I don't have any experience with your frogs, but boiled then frozen broccoli may not be the best for your tadpole. Generally speaking we have tadpoles and feed them preformulated tadpole food with a pretty good success rate. At least I claim that. That being said, it is easy to overfeed in a small body of water, I raise mine in singular floz not a half gallon. I don't feel the need for supplemental filtration is necessary if fed in moderation. at least for dart frogs. But I would never offer as a diet one singular food source such as broccoli.

As for why it is swimming at the top, I can't say with certainty. It could be bloated, which may be a result of improper diet. It also could be gulping for oxygen, something I have have observed in DF tads on occasion. Either way, I wish your tadpole the best. You owe it to the little guy to do your due diligence to give it the best care possible.

 

[TreeFrogPyscho]

Thank you for such a thorough and thoughtful response! For his diet, I just ordered tree frog tadpole pellets from Josh's Frogs, and I will try to replace the broccoli with kale as a supplement to the pellets when they arrive. He has started venturing lower in the bowl again, but still favors the top. In case it's oxygen related I've ordered a gentle nano air pump that I hope will help.

I know this is not really a forum for tree frog care, but as a new member I could not make a post in the space dedicated to tree frogs, so I thought I 'd ask anyway in the introductions page. I thank you for sharing your experience with me!

 

[varanoid]

My pleasure and best of luck!

 

[jgragg]

I'm not a frog or fish guy but I know a bunch of them (including hatchery-scale guys who have to figure out new taxa with some regularity). There's really only 2 determinants of larval-rearing success - diet and water quality. Screw up either one, and they're dead.

I've grown out (with a wide range of, but generally improving success...) a number of wild-collected tadpole batches (hylids & ranids) because I "needed" metamorphs for litters of newborn tree vipers. E.g., 15 baby snakes needing a froglet every 5 days or so, for about 6 months = ah shit, that's a lot of froglets! (I simply came to detest training them to tease-feed on pinky parts - my time and, I thought, their diet suffered.) Anyway, point is - just like with an aquarium, more water volume makes life easier, because it takes longer for things to go to complete shit. "It's already stinky" means your water quality already went to complete shit on you once. If the tad is still alive, that's your freebie fuck-up. You're probably out of those now.

Diet and water quality. Screw up either one, and they're dead. Get cracking.

Good luck with that little canyon! They're neat, neat little guys, I see them quite a lot on hikes. Exactly the kind of thing I wonder why more people here don't keep them - a small group of them would be perfect for a sizable paludarium with waterfall / cascade, over gorgeous fake rock planted with mosses & ferns.

 

[sweetlu60]

Congratulations on the canyon tree frog (or tree toad ). I recently wild caught ten tadpoles from a desert riparian area. They were located in shallow pools that were evaporating before they could complete the metamorphosis, so I did not feel ethically challenged taking them, but I also could legally collect up to ten with my hunting and fishing license per the regulations.

I successfully have raised nine of the ten to froglet (but have lost two since then). I was actually surprised how quickly they changed from tadpoles to frogs. A couple of them had rear legs when I collected them, the rest grew and changed to frogs within 10 days.

I had about a week before I went to collect the tadpoles and had set up a ten gallon aquarium using one of Zoo Med's 10 Gallon Paludarium as a filter using water from my eco-system pond in my backyard. I added American Speedwell and Yerba Mansa as plants, and some small river stones. The water quality was much better (and larger) than from the location I collected them. I added some algae from my pond and did provide some tadpole pellets that I got at Petsmart. This did fine.

I would recommend you start your fly cultures now, unless you have access to pinhead crickets. I gave them some "small" crickets about two weeks after they reabsorbed their tails, but those were probably too big for them.

Mine are about five weeks as frogs now and still doing well. I am feeding them D. Hydei (Goldens) on a daily basis, although I do reduce the amount on one day to simulate a fasting day. About every other week I am giving them small crickets, about 1 a day for three days. This week, I got some meal worms, but they are not quite big enough for them yet. They ate them but a little more difficult.

My long term goal was to set up a multispecies paludarium with Canyon Tree Frogs, Western Banded Geckos, and Arizona Triops, but am now leaning toward just the frogs and geckos. The seven are currently housed in a temporary 12x12x18 enclosure with about 60% of the area as land and the rest as a "pond" The pond area is using a Zoo Med 10 gallon Turtle Clean/Paludarium filter. I am establishing another small enclosure from a 12 x 12 x 12 enclosure. This one is having a stream and full backgrounds. This is taking some time to get established. The final will be a 24 x 18 x 12 that I have with the intention of stream and pond. Not very tall, but I am providing lots of crevices for them to hide in. Over the long term, I plan on two in each of the smaller enclosures and 3 in the larger.

Over the 5 weeks since emerging as frogs, they have grown to about 1/2" to 3/4" in length. It is amazing to watch them change colors to match their backgrounds.

Hope this information helps you out.

 

[minorhero]

Hi folks,

Just brought a Hyla Arenicolor (Canyon Treefrog) tadpole home and put him in a fish bowl (a repurposed iced tea pitcher). I have a bed of river rocks and have filled the pitcher halfway with spring water, so about 1/2 gallon. For food I've been feeding him boiled broccoli that's cooled in the freezer. He already has hindlegs that have yet to separate from his tail, and his mouth is so small I have to shred the broccoli with a fine grater before he'll try to nibble it, and he always leaves food leftover. He's been in this "bowl" for a day and it's already stinky, probably in part from too much broccoli. I'm wondering if a simple air pump + sponge filter is necessary to clean it up. I also notice that he swims around the top, which I've read is a sign he might need more oxygen/has a gas bubble in his gut. If you have any advice about water/diet/anything for my little guy, let me know.

<3,

TreeFrogPsycho

I have raised wild caught tadpoles from my area and kept fish. They really don't eat much as tadpoles so if your water is stinking after a day its definitely due to way way way too much food. I feed high quality fish food that I crumble up small. They also eat algae I had growing in the tanks. The tadpoles I had were also kept with some freshwater shrimp that were actively breeding. The tadpoles definitely ate a few of the shrimp as they got bigger.

Anyway a filter definitely won't hurt but if your water is stinking I would do basically a 100% water change and then dramatically reduce food going forward so you don't have left over food in the tank after say an hour. Feed twice a day this amount.

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[TreeFrogPyscho]

Update: First off thank you all for the responses, and to the mods for moving this thread to the tree frog space. I have done a complete water change, replacing the original water with conditioned tap water that I also left out for 24 hours just in case. My tadpole food got delayed, then stolen before I could get home, but I also got some spirulina and chlorella powder. Taking advice from another thread, I premixed the powders with water at a 50/50 ratio and added until the tank water became a light green color. He seems to be happy eating that for now as I wait for more tadpole food to arrive.

I've also added an air pump and air stone, but have left out the sponge filter as it is too large for the small tank, and it seems unnecessary now that I don't overfeed him.

He is slightly larger than when I got him last week, but is still only .5" now. Last week he had barely visible back legs, which are now much more prominent. Will update next week, hopefully will be able to report much more growth.

 

[Kmc]

Please somebody intercede if Im wrong but, the powdered algae isnt alive, so if mixed in the water like dissolved solution most of it is going to simply 'turn'.

When I have done DIY larvae food, I have mixed stiff pastes that I form into pellets or press on slate or in submerged betta bowls (the only thing they're good for)

It holds together and is manageable.

Back in the day I had a low breeder tank in the dept lit up real well and beautiful green algae grew in it for the fish guy and I recall some tadpole kids. We just used to give it away in fish bags.

I remember a kid walking away with a bag, holding it up remarking how beautiful the algae was. Cool kid.

 

[jgragg]

a low breeder tank in the dept lit up real well and beautiful green algae grew in it

I fully agree that feeding with periphyton is way easier & cleaner than feeding with stuff you plop into the tank. The tads eat it; it's just as fresh as it could be. The stuff is alive, so doesn't "turn"; better yet, some of its needs are met in mutualistic relationship with the tadpoles.

Good thought, thanks for sharing.