# what to do with carried tadpoles?



## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

Looked into my southern variabilis tank the other day and one of my males was carrying around two tadpoles on his back. When I looked in today he had dropped them off somewhere in the tank. I looked into all the film canisters and they were empty. I heard they do not egg feed their young so I wanted to ask what I should do at this point? 

Would it be wise to go through all the bromeliads to look for these tadpoles? Or should I just leave them and hope they make it?


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Are you sure that they do not feed? I would leave them alone if it means tearing up the tank and stressing everyone out to find the tads.


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## dgibbons1 (Jul 25, 2013)

Is it a pair or is your vivarium populated by a group? Also ive heard that sometimes tanks can get slugs or mites that might eat the eggs.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Since the tads were riding on daddy's back - it's probably past time that slugs/mites might eat them?

Personal preference: this is why I do not put bromeliads in tanks that do not have egg feeders in them. Use small condiment cups or such - something you can easily remove.

s


dgibbons1 said:


> Is it a pair or is your vivarium populated by a group? Also ive heard that sometimes tanks can get slugs or mites that might eat the eggs.


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

frogface said:


> Are you sure that they do not feed? I would leave them alone if it means tearing up the tank and stressing everyone out to find the tads.


They are variabilis.

I would pull em if you want. But even though they won't egg feed, I have found frog lets in tanks with frogs that the adults don't raise the tads. So their would still be hope.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

While variabilis don't egg feed per se, they will frequently lay fertile eggs or deposit new tads in the same leaf axil/film canister that tads are occupying. The older tads will make short work of the unintentional food source.


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## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

thanks everyone, I guess I'll just leave them in the tank and hope for the best.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

I've also made the mistake of putting broms into tanks with thumbnails that do not egg feed. I don't anymore. But heres what I would recommend. Theres a few different approaches you can take.

#1 Pull the brom, turn upside down in a bucket of water, flush it again and again till tads are out. Leave brom out from this point on.

#2 you can sprinkle tadpole food (flake works best, powdered) into the CENTRAL brom axle, then flood the brom a little and the food will wash down into all the lower axils. Do this every few days.

#3 Let the tads be, hope they survive and morph.

Your decision will obviously depend on your goals. Are your frogs just pets and raising tads and froglets is not a priority. Or just the opposite? Is your tank intended to be for show, or for reproduction


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## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

pdfCrazy said:


> I've also made the mistake of putting broms into tanks with thumbnails that do not egg feed. I don't anymore. But heres what I would recommend. Theres a few different approaches you can take.
> 
> #1 Pull the brom, turn upside down in a bucket of water, flush it again and again till tads are out. Leave brom out from this point on.
> 
> ...


Thanks pdfCrazy! What would you recommend to place in the spot of the broms?


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## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

I've uploaded a picture, I believe he may have dropped them in the bromeliad to the right of the tank because he was hanging out there all day that day.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Ohhhhhh, that's such a nice brom. Tank is set up very nicely, looks good. It'd really be a shame to tear apart. Instead of broms, a decent plant that will offer some shading and acerage for the frogs to cruise on is alocasia amazonica "polly". Some amazon swords will do well. Drymonia chirobogona is another nice broadleaf. But after seeing how nice that tank looks......its hard to recommend pulling those broms


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Or just leave it in tact and spend a little more time once a week looking for eggs and pull them. My variabilis laid in the Broms until it died and then they went to film cans. All my vents seem to prefer the Broms over the film cans. And they always tend to lay in the same leaf or two of the Broms.......so makes it real simple to find the eggs. If you miss a clutch....so what. They will lay again and one day you may find a frog let in the tank...which is also a cool surprise.

Tank looks good....its working....my opinion is to leave it be.


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Break looking brom on the left. What is it?


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## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

ZookeeperDoug said:


> Break looking brom on the left. What is it?


The brom on the left is neo high voltage.



I'm going to leave the tank as is until the broms die and then i'll replace them. I'll just pull out the top of the tank this weekend and look for tads in the broms.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I have currently eggfeeders, but I am interested in this thread. Could someone post a picture of a good setup for not eggfeeders frogs? To give an idea. Thanks


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## pavochavo (Nov 21, 2012)

Brom's in this tank definitely look great!!


Robert


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