# Tadpoles and I’m not ready.



## Lumidaeus (Jan 26, 2012)

Ok, I’m sure there’s a sticky somewhere, I’m on mobile and honestly I can’t seem to find the confirmation I’m looking for. 
I love paludariums, building them for 10 years. I have had three sips for three years, just chillin and letting me upgrade their display tank as I go. Never heard any calls, never saw any eggs. I assumed I had three females, and I was ok with that, since I’ve shifted into orchids and I’m loving creating orchid/ frog/ shrimp habitats. Long story short, they are currently in a 36x36x18 zoomed paludarium. Life is good. Until two weeks ago, when the back seal gave out and dumped 20 gallons of water on my living room floor. I talked to that fish place and zoomed (whose customer service is amazing btw) and they replaced the tank. Sweet. I can do this one better then the last one. Frogs are chillin on their Mesa sans water, fish and a few shrimp are in a 5 gallon bucket with tubes all over the place (wife is stoked), and I have some time to craft a better tank. And then wtf. All my orchids start blooming (great can’t move them now), and eggs show up on a leaf next to a bowl of water I put in just in case (I have a mist king still doing it’s thing). And then there’s eggs in the water. And now there’s tadpoles on the leaf and in the water. Wtf now is not the time. I haven’t looked into husbandry at all, I assumed these fine ladies were just gonna party till it’s over. I just started carving foam and tossing black silicone this afternoon. New tank is at least a week away. What the heck do I do with tadpoles!!! This is awesome I’m elated I’m just not prepared. I’m going to snag a small tank I guess, build a still water vivarium or something. Ordering tadpole food online now, but if you have any advice please I’m all ears! I have 2 tadpoles (one from the leaf) and three more eggs in a ceramic oil serving dish, full of leaf litter and other garbage. I’m afraid to disturb it. It looks like tincs should be raised individually, but water changes and a ready food source should help with aggression I guess?

Any advice for a first timer?

Being unprepared is horrible and the timing couldn’t be worse. Heck, I don’t even know how to reintroduce them! I’ll do my research, but if someone wants to make the next few days less frantic for me I would certainly appreciate it!


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

This is a good general guide to get started: Dendrobates azureus & tinctorius - Novice

Really, you just need to put them in some water, feed them, and let them grow!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Chris S said:


> Really, you just need to put them in some water, feed them, and let them grow!


Yep, it isn't hard. I feed small fish pellets, a couple every few days.

Here's another guide that may help:









Tadpole Care


Tadpole Care Sheet Got eggs? Make sure to read through the Egg Care Sheet for information on that life stage. Also, please note that these are general guidelines, and species specific information can be found on the individual species care sheets. Egg Care Sheet Poison Dart Frogs (Family...




www.dendroboard.com





And a couple threads:








tinc and leuc tads


Does anyone communally raise tinc or leuc tads? I saw on a Japanese page azureus tads being raised communally. I ask because I am taking over a substantial and very prolific collection. I now have 250-300 tinc and leuc tads and growing. I am wondering if I got 24"x24" tubs to rear large...




www.dendroboard.com












Community Tank for Raising Tinc tadpoles


I had read several threads that raising Tinc tadpoles in a community tank creates development risks due to growth inhibiting hormones and aggression. However after seeing a video on YouTube by Troy Goldberg, he seems to successfully raise several tincs together of varying ages in a large plastic...




www.dendroboard.com





I should point out that coming from fishkeeping I made some assumptions that simply don't work for frogs. The one that's relevant here is: tadpoles are not fish (duh, right?). They don't eat like fish, so don't feed them as much as you would fish and don't necessarily expect to see them eating. Tads eat a lot of algae and biofilm, too. Feed sparingly.

For clarification: three tincs were in your paludarium for three years without breeding or even calling, and then bred when they were moved to a terrestrial viv?


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## Lumidaeus (Jan 26, 2012)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Yep, it isn't hard. I feed small fish pellets, a couple every few days.
> 
> Here's another guide that may help:
> 
> ...


not quite. I understand they have a very quiet call, so I may have missed it.They are still in the large zoomed paludarium, but there is no water in it, so they are kinda floating on an island:







I ki now have 3 tadpoles, and have food on the way. Thank you for your help! When I get home from work I’ll look into all these links!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Lumidaeus said:


> not quite. I understand they have a very quiet call, so I may have missed it.They are still in the large zoomed paludarium, but there is no water in it, so they are kinda floating on an island:


My point was that removing the water from their enclosure caused them to breed. This strikes me as a clue that the frogs would benefit from a viv that isn't a paludarium (by 'paludarium' I mean an enclosure with some land and some water, not simply the glass enclosure called a 'ZooMed Paludarium'). 

Generally, when captive animals commence breeding after some change in their care (especially a change that is suspected to be a positive change for other reasons too), we tend to take this as confirmation that this change is a beneficial one.


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## Lumidaeus (Jan 26, 2012)

I 


Socratic Monologue said:


> My point was that removing the water from their enclosure caused them to breed. This strikes me as a clue that the frogs would benefit from a viv that isn't a paludarium (by 'paludarium' I mean an enclosure with some land and some water, not simply the glass enclosure called a 'ZooMed Paludarium').
> 
> Generally, when captive animals commence breeding after some change in their care (especially a change that is suspected to be a positive change for other reasons too), we tend to take this as confirmation that this change is a beneficial one.


I thought about this post and it has me second guessing their habitat. I’m building the next tank with way more flat leafy areas and much less water. Also, they never had a small pool or puddle to lay in. They were never interested in any of the broms, which I had thought was sufficient.


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Lumidaeus said:


> They were never interested in any of the broms, which I had thought was sufficient.


Tinctorius do not really use broms for anything; said broms are mostly just decor for you if you decide to use them. Bromeliads are more utilized by obligates and thumbnails for reproduction.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Darts don't need standing/moving water in the viv at all; I certainly wouldn't provide any in a froglet growout viv. 

Providing a dry petri dish under a coco hut gives the adults a convenient place to lay eggs.


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