# Starry Night Reed frogs tad development!



## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Finally got my guys to breed. Picked up a couple babies from Mike Novy @ Rainforest Junkys and raised them up.

Woke up one morning to all of these eggs....



Then I finally got the tad rearing tank set up.
10 gallon tank, 7" water, Temp - 76-77 degrees, air pump sponge filter, with pathos, duckweed, and some rocks for algae to grow, bulb is a plant light in the fixture.



few days later....








Currently eating: Fish flake food, dried up bloodworms, algae bites, spiruluna bites (excuse the spelling)
If anyone has any advice or anything that is always appreciated as well.

These guys are growing more and more everyday. Looks like there is over 100 tads...I also have a tank of Red Eye tads which are neat too.

Cheers to success!


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Would you be able to post more pics of the adult enclosure? Can you also explain what, if anything you did to get them to breed?


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

mydumname said:


> Would you be able to post more pics of the adult enclosure? Can you also explain what, if anything you did to get them to breed?


The tank I have them established in is a zoo med 12 x 12 x 18. Really happy with this cage. Here is a step by step on how I constructed it and the final product:









Here is the tank as it is now...Really lush and grown in, they love it!

..Sorry for poor quality cell phone pics




Half of the tank is filled with treated H20...I have a pump behind the cork bark, which powers a very small amount of h2o out of the cork and into the water to create a very weak waterfall. 

In the water area i put a TON of pathos plants. These guys love to congregate by the water area and call all night long. I noticed when the pathos was more taken over in the water, I saw more m/f interaction. 
One very interesting facts about these frogs is that they will almost always lay their eggs underwater. When I encountered them breeding I saw the male on top of her, underwater, depositing the eggs. They lay anywhere between 50-200 eggs if not more. 

My first clutch was about 120 eggs, I currently have 110-118 tadpoles (granted my math is as good as I think it is). 
The second clutch (just found today) was about 80 eggs.

I noticed before the eggs the females going into the water, not being receptive to the males calls(at least it seemed that way) and seemed to relax by the water edge, possibly to absorb for eggs. Few days before amplexus my females were noticeably bigger and fatter.

I keep their tank around 78-81 degrees, and mist them three times daily. 
I noticed when I misted 3 times daily I noticed more calling and interaction.
As far as changing anything or adding more stimuli I just increased the rainfall, added more pathos, and let the tank become lush, and that seemed to do the trick!

My ratio is 2.2.2 right now, feeding small crickets dusted with herptivite and repcal. These guys are fantastic little frogs, acrobatic, bold and excellent for display in my opinion. Very excited to watch them morph into froglets.


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

Thats a very nice viv. I have a few questions if you dont mind... When you say you increase rainfall do you mean you hand mist more, or do you have a misting system? Also do you mist during the day or night? They are nocturnal, right?


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

scoy said:


> Thats a very nice viv. I have a few questions if you dont mind... When you say you increase rainfall do you mean you hand mist more, or do you have a misting system? Also do you mist during the day or night? They are nocturnal, right?


Not a problem. Thank you for the compliment. Anyway, mainly they are nocturnal. But my one beastly male, he is out all the time, usually resting on the top of the brom(which they seem to enjoy). But when those lights go off, they are all out. When I feed them however, it does not matter if it is day or night, they will be out destroying the crickets. I have them on a timer, 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.

I do not have a misting system...Working on that 
However, I use a hand mister. Before breeding, I misted the tank once to twice (rarely twice) a day for about 20 seconds (I have glass covering the top screen).
when I noticed them reaching maturity, i just added the misting times every 8 hours for about 25 seconds per session. And to be honest, the days that I had a normal work day they only got misted twice daily. Which is usually morning, and right before I turn the lights off, and if i could in the afternoon for a very light misting.

Wanted to share this, my male right before the lights went out:


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## Styx (Oct 25, 2008)

Beautiful frog and congrats on the tads.


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Wanted to post an update on my growing tadpoles. They are almost a half inch long and I have had minimal fatalities. Enjoying this alot!


-I love this picture. The spirals are bilateral and both @ caudal aspect of the tadpole, so it looks like simple muscle forming, which means back legs!






-I FINALLY got a picture of one of my females



-Here is my second clutch, all growing like weeds too!

Cheers!


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Styx said:


> Beautiful frog and congrats on the tads.


Also thank you!


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## daggekko (Jun 27, 2011)

Awesome thread!! Have you done anything special in the tadpole tank to insure water quality doesn't go to crap? With that many tadpoles it has to get funky quick!


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Thank you, Well considering the tadpoles that emerge are about 2 cm long, Any type of filter with a moderate suction will kill them, so basically what I did was drain the water every single day, more than half way, then add new treated water. With that I had a small sponge filter powered by a very small airpump, this worked for about 2 weeks.

Unfortunately the tads were just too dirty. When they started reaching about a 1/2" I was able to upgrade to a Whisper 10i filter, with window payne wrapped around the holes (even though they are too big to get sucked in, didnt wanna take any chances hurting them).
This filter is working great. Since they have been growing I have been gradually increasing the amount of water in the ten gallon, I stared it at being about 1/4 of the way filled, now it is a little under 3/4 the way full.


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## esnailme (Jun 17, 2013)

What do you plan on doing with all those tadpoles?


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Update.

About 40% of the frogs have grown in back legs. More are coming in each day. They are about 3/4" - 1" long.





Cheers


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## Halter (Jul 28, 2012)

Update:

Good things have been happening. So far I have 5 that have crawled out of the water, they seem to be doing well. I have them in a 10 x 10 x 10 exo terra with leaf litter. Unfortunately I lost a few as they were going through the last stage of metamorphosis, I guess that is why they have such a huge clutch. 
Cheers!


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