# Tricolor woo hoo and advice needed



## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

I was doing some work in the frog room and I decided to tear down and redo my Tricolor viv. I was convinced I had lost my female. I was going to look for her and get the male all set up in a new viv. 

I found him first. I knew it was him because of this. Now I know my female is still in there.

















Sorry for the bad pics I did not want to get too close to him. 

After I start checking out all their puddles in their tank I pulled 18 tads in different stages/ sizes. Will they run out of room to put tads?
The tank is starting to look pretty dingy ( which is why I wanted to redo it) but now I dont know what to do. Any advice?
Of course they can not put the tads where I want them. I found some in muddy puddle, some in film cannister and some in petri dishes that have flooded. Not a one tad was put into the water bowls I have in the tank for them.
Is it ok for them to live in a tank that the ground in saturated?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Pretty nice!!!


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

porkchop48 said:


> I was doing some work in the frog room and I decided to tear down and redo my Tricolor viv. I was convinced I had lost my female. I was going to look for her and get the male all set up in a new viv.
> 
> I found him first. I knew it was him because of this. Now I know my female is still in there.
> 
> ...


funny, but my mantellas prefer the substrate (and pool) soaked and icky over nice, clean and managed. Go figure!


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## MzFroggie (Mar 22, 2008)

Congratulations...I would leave the tank be as well as the frogs..Why don't you just remove the tads you can find and set them up in tadpole cups or something. Then maybe that way they will have more room for the one's on his back..LOL..Just a suggestion..Do you have any full tank shots? I would love to see it.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Move them all to a 10G tad/morph tank. Fill it about half full and add a couple indian almond leaves. I set up a 10G tad/morph tank for my tricolors by cutting and siliconing in a couple of glass ramps. I also ran a couple beads of silicone along the width of the ramps to give them something to hold onto when they climbed out. Probably didn't need it but that's what I did. As they morph and climb out I'd catch and move them to a grow out tank. 

This system worked very well for me.

Be prepared for some SLS.


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

MzFroggie said:


> Congratulations...I would leave the tank be as well as the frogs..Why don't you just remove the tads you can find and set them up in tadpole cups or something. Then maybe that way they will have more room for the one's on his back..LOL..Just a suggestion..Do you have any full tank shots? I would love to see it.


 
Ok make that 21 tads. Some have back legs and some have front leg bumps. 

Some of the puddles



















Top of the tank shot









Full tank shot










Definately grundgy looking


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

pl259 said:


> Move them all to a 10G tad/morph tank. Fill it about half full and add a couple indian almond leaves. I set up a 10G tad/morph tank for my tricolors by cutting and siliconing in a couple of glass ramps. I also ran a couple beads of silicone along the width of the ramps to give them something to hold onto when they climbed out. Probably didn't need it but that's what I did. As they morph and climb out I'd catch and move them to a grow out tank.
> 
> This system worked very well for me.
> 
> Be prepared for some SLS.


Right now I have them in individual cups. Does the tank idea work better?

I know they need stuff to climb onto...Would Java moss work as well?

They have been breeding for quite a few months and none of the tads have every made it to the back leg stage. So hopefully I make it through the SLS stage. The parents get a varied diet. Bean beetles, isos, springs, crickets and baby lateralis plus fruit flies so I hope that helps.

Thank you for the advice


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## brog32 (Oct 28, 2005)

Very cool!! Good luck


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

porkchop48 said:


> Right now I have them in individual cups. Does the tank idea work better?
> 
> I know they need stuff to climb onto...Would Java moss work as well?
> 
> ...


It works better in that it's a lot easier

Healthy froglets will be able to climb out of the water fine. Jave moss is fine. 

Here's a pic of the tank setup I have for tricolors. I produced over 100 this way.

Catch them in a frog catcher as soon as they climb out and transfer them to a grow out tank. It's OK even if they have some of their tail left.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

grungy to you.....

perfect for a frog couple 

I'd leave it alone...you move them now they may not be happy again for a year. tads do fine in puddles, and tricolors do well communally raised. 

You can pull tads if you like, but it isnt necessary.

I've provided them with more puddles/ pond depressions in the past and just left everything in there.

S


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## bruce (Feb 23, 2007)

I agree with Shawn, Some of the most prolific tanks I have seen are the, shall we say grungy? In fact, being a fan of grungy breeding tanks, I used to clean at least the front glass off on the tinc tanks so I could see them,and production immediately went down. Now I just clean the upper 1/2 and peer through the top to make sure all frongs are fine.

May not have the prettiest of tanks, I leave those for the display tanks, but their frog heaven!


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

I agree with the comments that the tank is fine. I wouldn't change it. There a couple reasons why I like to pull Tricolor tads after they've been deposited in a tank's water feature(s). The first is that Tricolors don't give a hoot how many tads they deposit. Over crowding can easily become an issue as they compete for food, space, and clean water. Second, you can better control the amount of food they get when you know how many are in the seperate tank. Third and probably the most important reason, Tricolors can throw a lot of SLS froglets early on. You won't find them all and those with SLS will likely die in the tank. You may be OK with that. The fourth reason is a bit of a guess. I let a couple froglets grow up to maturity in the tank. After this all breeding stopped. Just a thought with no definate conclusion.


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

pl259 said:


> I agree with the comments that the tank is fine. I wouldn't change it. There a couple reasons why I like to pull Tricolor tads after they've been deposited in a tank's water feature(s). The first is that Tricolors don't give a hoot how many tads they deposit. Over crowding can easily become an issue as they compete for food, space, and clean water. Second, you can better control the amount of food they get when you know how many are in the seperate tank. Third and probably the most important reason, Tricolors can throw a lot of SLS froglets early on. You won't find them all and those with SLS will likely die in the tank. You may be OK with that. The fourth reason is a bit of a guess. I let a couple froglets grow up to maturity in the tank. After this all breeding stopped. Just a thought with no definate conclusion.


I ordered a 5 1/2 gal today from my LFS. I will pick it up when I get back. 
How many tads is too many to put in a tank? Here comes the stupid question... Do you filter the water?

I found more tads in the tank today. I dont want a whole bunch of dead tads/froglets in the tank so I will be pulling the ones I can find. I am sure I will miss some. 

Thank you again.


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## DCreptiles (Jan 26, 2009)

yeah i have to agree with everyone else to leave the tank as is and let them continue their great productivity. a wet muddy tank is just what they need to go about their business. and instead of pulling all the tads you can find. try leaving tads in locations you know they like to lay and see if they morph out compared to the ones you raise.
either way congrats on the find and the productivity.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

porkchop48 said:


> I ordered a 5 1/2 gal today from my LFS. I will pick it up when I get back.
> How many tads is too many to put in a tank? Here comes the stupid question... Do you filter the water?
> 
> I found more tads in the tank today. I dont want a whole bunch of dead tads/froglets in the tank so I will be pulling the ones I can find. I am sure I will miss some.
> ...


Tricolors morph out really small. As long as you keep enough food in there, 30 or so tads shouldn't be a problem. But thats a SWAG, based on what I've done. I've had that many in that size tank. I never bothered to run a filter, but did do partial water changes once a month. Some people run a simple sponge filter. Remember the Indian Almond leaves, you'll be glad you did. If you need some, PM me your info and I'll send some out to you.


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

pl259 said:


> Tricolors morph out really small. As long as you keep enough food in there, 30 or so tads shouldn't be a problem. But thats a SWAG, based on what I've done. I've had that many in that size tank. I never bothered to run a filter, but did do partial water changes once a month. Some people run a simple sponge filter. Remember the Indian Almond leaves, you'll be glad you did. If you need some, PM me your info and I'll send some out to you.


 
I got a couple large springtail cultures going. My best one just crashed though. Hopefully it has some time to rebuild itself. 
I do have plenty of almond leaves but thank you very much for the offer.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

porkchop48 said:


> I got a couple large springtail cultures going. My best one just crashed though. Hopefully it has some time to rebuild itself.
> I do have plenty of almond leaves but thank you very much for the offer.


IME, tricolor froglets will take small mels right away. They are very aggresive eaters and would wipeout the springtails in short order. If you have some wingless mels, you s/b all set.


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## porkchop48 (May 16, 2006)

pl259 said:


> IME, tricolor froglets will take small mels right away. They are very aggresive eaters and would wipeout the springtails in short order. If you have some wingless mels, you s/b all set.


I dont have wingless but I have flightless ( excuse the stupid question) but they are essentially the same thing right?

What about using showbox size steralites?

I read some where about not feeding them algea based food. I am currently using brine shrimp flakes, frozen bloodworms and tadpole bites. Is that ok?

I swear I am acting like this is my first time raising tads. I really want these guys to make it.


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