# Tad setup



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

interesting, do you have pics of yout tad setup by any chance? just curious to see what it looks like. are they all raised together or individual containers?

Split from http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=32267


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

It is a very simple setup. The racks are Sterilite with ~16"x16" shelves (3 shelves per unit; 6 units in my setup). I house all tads (except Zaparo) individually in 5oz solo cups. 16 solo cups fit perfectly in each shelf. So it it a very space conservative setup to house nearly 300 tads.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

sweet setup!! very nicely organized. do you get more breeding in the winter or in the summer? also the tannin in your tads, is that from leaves placed in the cups or an additive?


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

I get pretty regular breeding throughout the year - although there are peaks in the fall and spring - when the temps are a little more stable.

The tannins in the water are from the Indian almond leaves that I use. Each cup gets a piece of a dried Indian almond leaf when setup - and then replaced as it is eaten. I do no water changes - just topping off. The leaf also serves as the primary food source - although I feed a tadbites/sprirulina/chlorella/fishflake/etc. mix once a week to supplement the diet.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Cool setup Oz, do you heat it in any way?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

have you tried feeding any other kinds of leaves?


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

kyle1745 said:


> Cool setup Oz, do you heat it in any way?


No - I just rely on the room temps, since I keep the frog room within a much narrower temp range than the rest of my house (addl. heating and cooling). Morph times take a week or so longer on average in the winter - but I don't notice any major differences in morphing size or growth. I have been using this setup for well over 2 years now - and it has been working very well.




Julio said:


> have you tried feeding any other kinds of leaves?


No - I just use the Indian almond. I have oak - but the Indian almond leaves leach tannins into the water so quickly - I don't need to boil them ahead of time. It takes about two weeks or so for the leaf to soften up - but at that stage the tads are eating very little anyway - and I assume they graze on bacteria present on the leaf/sides of the cup. By the time they are more aggressively eating, the leaf is softer. Also - the supplemental feeding once a week is enough that there is always some other food around. The high tannin content helps prevent the water from getting really nasty. For the most part - while the water is dark brown - it is always clear.


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## jaysnakes (Jul 5, 2006)

Very cool tad setup Oz I'd like to try something similar. Are those the 5 oz sundae cups or something else and where can I get them at?


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

Jason - 

Sorry for not replying earlier - I must have missed this one. I use Solo plastic Souffle cups (5.5 oz) - Item # P550. They are not the only brand that works though - I know other companies make them (Sweetheart, Dixie, Dart)

If you watch Ebay - you can occasionally find great deals on them. I found a case of 2500 for $0.99 - I won't need to buy any more anytime soon :lol: 

You can also check here: Plastic cups. I have ordered things from this store on several occasions before - and haven't had any issues.

Oz


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

Do you think 5.5 oz is enough for tads. I am currently using 16 oz containers stacked in what use to be the bathroom closet. I would love to be able to use smaller containers.


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Here's mine. I use this to hatch out eggs and then raise the tads in individual containers.




























16 of those containers fit perfectly into this size sterlite box. The water level just touches the bottom of the container. I also just added an air pump to circulate the water a little bit. Although I think a small pump would do the job better.


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

porkchop48 said:


> Do you think 5.5 oz is enough for tads. I am currently using 16 oz containers stacked in what use to be the bathroom closet. I would love to be able to use smaller containers.


In my conditions - 5.5oz containers are enough for tads.  I have morphed large & healthy imitator, fantasticus, ventrimaculatus, reticulatus, quinquevittatus, variabilis, vittatus, azureus, zaparo, and lamasi all from this setup.

As you'll probably notice - most of the frogs I am working with are of the smaller variety.

I have tried comparisons of the vittatus, azureus and zaparo in smaller individual containers vs. larger containers, but they were housed comminally in the larger containers. I found that the azureus housed individually morphed larger (but slower generally) than the froglets raised communally in 18gt Sterilite containers ( ~1.5-2 gallons of water inside). For the vittatus and zaparo - I found that communal raising and individual raising didn't really have any different outcomes - other than that when raised individually - all of the froglets morphed in a shorter window than communal raising - although that is just an observation at this point and needs to be retested.

So - I guess the answer to your question depends on the species that you are working with. If it is mostly larger species, than containers larger than 5.5oz are probably ideal, but the 5.5 work.

I know another frogger who works primarily with auratus and tincs who morphs all of his tads in the large Red Solo (16oz total I think) cups you can find at the supermarket - less than half-filled with water. So the final volume of water in those cups is probably not too much greater than mine (maybe 6-8oz.).


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

Thank you I appreciate the info. 
My 16oz containers I buy from a wholesale place in town. 5.70 for 50 with lids. So not too bad of a deal. Most of my frogs are tincs, leucs, and auratus so not a lot of smaller frog unless the imitators quit advertising they want to breed and just do it. 
I may try out a smaller cup and see how it goes. It was not bad when I only had one shelf of tadpoles but now i am starting on the 3rd shelf and running out of room


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Here is mine.





































It is a spin off of Brian's Tropicals.
It has a filter and pumps that circulate the water. The cups are about 5 oz. and they have tiny holes in the sides for the water to circulate through. The bottoms are open but covered with screen and then aquarium gravel. I do not do water changes, just a tank of water that is gravity feed and controlled by a float valve. I was having problems in the past with bad tads. But now things are perfect with this system.


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## frog_newbie (Sep 5, 2007)

Some very nice setups. 

Dragonfrog, nice to see yours, I was thinking about a set up like yours if I ever get my frogs to lay. Unfortunately I don't have enough control over the heat in my room to use a setup like Rozdaboff which looks very efficient and minimizes the use of space.


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## spydrmn12285 (Oct 24, 2006)

Dragonfrog, is it just one species of tadpole in that set up or are there multiple species? Isn't there the issue of hormones or whatnot of different tads that keep them from morphing out larger? Did you have problems with bad tads with this system before and perfected it, or did you use another system? What do you do once the tads start morphing out?

I've been wanting to try something like this for future tads, hence my questions .


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

At the moment I only have Azureus and Cobalts in this setup. I am not worried about the hormone thing. If it doesn't cause death, why worry!!

Once the tad has all four legs, I put it in a morphing tank.

Before this set up I used to have them in individual cups and had nothing but problems. This setup seems to do very well, plus it is maintenance free.


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