# Tads incoming!



## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

I wasn't sure if I would post about it yet, but I've succumbed to my inner madness and ordered tadpoles on a Black Friday deal. My wife was on board, and well, now I get to use the froglet viv soon and set up a new viv early next year! I got the cups ready a few days early so they had some time to grow a little biofilm. The foam pad is there because its an exterior wall and well, I can get a little paranoid over things and I'd rather be safe than sorry. The poster was a birthday present from a friend way back in high school! Two of those species are on my bucket list. I've been reading a ton on tad foods. And I'm planning on repashy soilent green as a staple. I have many types of fish foods, frozen blood worms, fruit flies, that I will vary the diet with. My goal is to get large, healthy froglets! When my frogs start breeding I want to attempt rearing in my 10 gallon aquarium, but I did not want to try it with bought tads. Wish me luck!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Good luck!

Which species tads are you getting?


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Azureus. Sorry, no thumbnails. It was a top choice of two family members for our first frog, so I had promised them at some point. This will be a fun project for me. I realize I will probably be splitting them up in temp growout bins until I decide on the pair of keepers.


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## bssknox (Apr 24, 2017)

Can never go wrong with blue frogs!


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Tads came in last week. There was an issue with proper handling at an airport. Long story short, their water was in the 40s and six survived. Ive worked everything out with the vendor, and have felt bad that this happened. 

Being excited and a little depressed at the same time, I may have missed one tad not looking so well. The front 1/3 of the tail is discolored and the transparent edge appears to be gone. It’s the best pic I can get, so the color is terrible, but you can at least tell there is a difference. I’m assuming exposure to cold may be the start of the end for this one. Is there anything I can do or add to it’s water? Has anyone seen this before?


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

I'm sorry about the hitch in transport. 

No idea about the pictured tad. Give it the best care you can, and he may tough it out. Best of luck.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Upon closer inspection, the tail edge (for lack of a better term) is folded over, not missing. When I noticed it, it reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream. If it survives we shall name it Neo or Bonnie.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

All the tadpoles are doing great! The one that I was concerned about has been eating the most and has the most healthy bowel out of all, lol! I feed mostly repashy soilent green. I have also used repashy community plus, bug bites, and hikari vibra bites. Feeding happens after each cleaning. I use a pipette every other day to clean out the feces and uneaten food/leaf debris. Maybe two tablespoons of water taken out, then top it off with fresh RO, gradually increasing the water level each time. Two out of eight days (that's my week is 8 days long) after cleaning I put them near a sunny window for about 30 minutes so the Christmas moss can thrive. I know I might be over doing it. But I figured its my first attempt at dart tads, I paid for them, and this way I can monitor their development closely and take notes with what works best. For example, I have noticed their poos are very sturdy when eating soilent green compared to the other foods. Am I doing this right?



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6 This is Neo/Bonnie


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## Bubba614 (Jun 14, 2020)

I hope everything goes well. Post updates


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Gave them a bloodworm treat for the first time today. Will they eat baby brine shrimp (once they sink to the bottom)? I hatch them occasionally for my fish. I might try before the next clean.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Things are growing well, lol. Pretty much all the tads are close to 4cm in length. All have hind limb buds. Two have limbs with pigment so they look like miniature legs. The longest rear legs are around 1/8”. How large do azureus tads get?

I have changed their diet around a bit. I used to keep three containers of repashy in the fridge, soilent green, community plus, grub pie. Now I make one with this ratio 2 soilent green: 1 community+ : 1 grub pie. Feeding, cleaning out poop 3x/week. I top off with RO, and also tadpole tea with Indian almond leaves from treated tap water.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

I saw, for the first time, some leg movement! Pretty cool seeing a tadpole move it’s tiny 3/16” legs around building strength!


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## klc21473 (Jan 13, 2021)

Watching this story unfold has been fun to watch. Thanks for sharing!


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Development is progressing! Not sure if I mentioned, but our house temps are in the mid-high 60s during the winter. The tads do get a boost in heat for a couple hours most days (all day when I have off work) by sitting on the fish tank. I'm not concerned with them taking longer, as they are large, eating consistently, and development is progressing. It is so hard to get good pictures, but I wanted to show how the rear legs are coming along. I can't wait until some color patterns develop!


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Better pics taken with the fish light on top of the cups. They are in 32oz deli cups. What’s the average size of Azureus tads? These are monsters compared to some similarily developed tads that were DOA when ordered.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Picture time! I’m seeing more leg use this weekend. The furthest two in development are starting to show some pattern develop. No blue yet, but it can’t be long!


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## FroggerFrog (Jan 11, 2021)

Can’t wait to see them turn into froglets!


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Quick question... when do you tip the tadpole cup? Is it when they pop front leg(s)? Or is it when they look like they have wings, lol?


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Frogmanjared said:


> when do you tip the tadpole cup? Is it when they pop front leg(s)?


That's what I do with my leucs.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Picture update, any day now hopefully. I’m bad at pictures lol


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I don't see any front legs on the tadpole... It might be a while yet.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

fishingguy12345 said:


> I don't see any front legs on the tadpole... It might be a while yet.


I hope not! The front legs aren’t elbows out on these pics. They are stretching the spiracle out. Their overall shape is changing, but it has been a while since I’ve raised a tadpole, so I’m a bit fuzzy in the memory department.


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## E man (Feb 27, 2021)

Frogmanjared said:


> Azureus. Sorry, no thumbnails. It was a top choice of two family members for our first frog, so I had promised them at some point. This will be a fun project for me. I realize I will probably be splitting them up in temp growout bins until I decide on the pair of keepers.


I love Azureus they are so blue


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## E man (Feb 27, 2021)

Frogmanjared said:


> Gave them a bloodworm treat for the first time today. Will they eat baby brine shrimp (once they sink to the bottom)? I hatch them occasionally for my fish. I might try before the next clean.


be carful about that bloodworm they have tough skin and they can get constipated 
give only as a treat and in small amounts.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

E man said:


> be carful about that bloodworm they have tough skin and they can get constipated
> give only as a treat and in small amounts.


Yea, they didn’t touch it, so I never tried again!


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## Kmc (Jul 26, 2019)

Get leucs. They are the dart frog superhero coaches of newbee success and good cheer.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Strange story... last night before I went to bed I saw an elbow popping out of a spiracle. In the morning it was back in! I spent half the day driving to pick up the new vivarium and visiting a frogger friend. When I got home there was a nice, sturdy leg popped out! Such a tease!
#3 wins the race!


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Two tads with all legs, an one with three! I really like the patterning on the first one!


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Woot!!!!! Always nice to see 4 legs on a four legged animal


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Wow, it’s hard to lose an animal that you’ve invested so much time in and it was at the beginning of its life. Got home to find #6 dead. It had its front legs out, looked the same as the others. Just wasn’t meant to be. I buried it next to a blue tulip.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Frogmanjared said:


> Wow, it’s hard to lose an animal that you’ve invested so much time in and it was at the beginning of its life. Got home to find #6 dead. It had its front legs out, looked the same as the others. Just wasn’t meant to be. I buried it next to a blue tulip.


I'm sorry to hear that. Sometimes they just don't make it.


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## E man (Feb 27, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> I'm sorry to hear that. Sometimes they just don't make it.


Don't blame yourself, it happens all the time


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

fishingguy12345 said:


> I'm sorry to hear that. Sometimes they just don't make it.





E man said:


> Don't blame yourself, it happens all the time


Yea, I kinda knew something wasn’t right. It was the one with the tricolor tail. Up until a couple weeks ago it was the largest and fastest developer, then two shot ahead of it. It’s ‘snout’ looked just a little bit off, but nothing like a malformation that I could tell.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

A couple tails are getting pretty short! How do you go about letting them leave the water? I have about an inch of water in a 32oz deli cup tilted @ 45 angle. There is also some Christmas miss and a bit of Indian almond leaf in each cup. The two froglets I suspect will come out first always have their nose at the waters edge, but I haven’t seen them out yet. There are no frogs in the grow-out yet, so I could just leave them open in the viv, but am unsure of when to do that, or if I should use a smaller cup when the time comes? I’m stressed out about this more than I should be!


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

What you're planning to do sounds like what I do with my Ranitomeya tadpoles.


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Well within 15 minutes, and one has left it’s cup, now I’m officially terrified! I assume it will hide out in the leaf litter until it goes on the hunt in a few days time?


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Frogmanjared said:


> Well within 15 minutes, and one has left it’s cup, now I’m officially terrified! I assume it will hide out in the leaf litter until it goes on the hunt in a few days time?
> View attachment 298688


Correct. Are there springtails in the tank? (I'm assuming yes).


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## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

fishingguy12345 said:


> Correct. Are there springtails in the tank? (I'm assuming yes).


Yessir! It’s been bioactive for around five months. one of them is moving around tapping it’s toes and seems to lunge. Maybe strength training, lol? Both are out and about, haven’t gone into hiding yet.


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