Hymenochirus tadpoles

[fishkeeper]

Has anyone here any experience successfully raising these tadpoles. I put together a small group of these frogs as a miniproject, and they've been spawning and producing the most adorable little tadpoles. Of course, I have been killing most of them...they seem to be poor hunters compared to fish fry and starve quickly.

Btw, I think these are really underrated by amphibian enthusiasts. I'm sure if they weren't so cheap they'd be as esteemed as the dwarf pipa species which they resemble. They are some of the weirdest anurans available(webbed front feet for one), and also produce really unusual tadpoles.

[ajc]

Start off with infusoria and follow on with newly hatched brine shrimp and sifted Daphnia.

[geganewt]

you said they are tadpoles, not to seem rude but aren't tadpoles vegetarians? i know mine are, but than again mine are bufo tadpoles, not hymenochirus. But you should still try giving them some algae or boiled lettuce.

[jays]

Originally Posted by geganewt

you said they are tadpoles, not to seem rude but aren't tadpoles vegetarians? i know mine are, but than again mine are bufo tadpoles, not hymenochirus. But you should still try giving them some algae or boiled lettuce.

If you try to feed Hymenochirus tadpoles these things they will starve to death.They are carnivorous.I have had luck with Moina(they are very small),Banana worms and then bigger sized prey as the tadpoles grew.

[fishkeeper]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I've heard praises for microworms etc. for the first 2 weeks or so, but afterwards they'll need more solid food. Wish I had some Daphnia that'd be perfect. Anyoen here think newly hatched mosquito larvae would be appropriate?

I have two left from the first batch going strong. I suspect they were the youngest and came into feeding mode when I began successfully hatching the BBS.(for the first to hatches I tried to play cheap and use some eggs that had been out of storage for a time). The others must have been starved beyond no return. A remarkable example of convergent evolution(or whatever you think explains that...nc), though they seem to be almost wannabe fish fry. :) The remaining two are eating brine shrimp as their bellies are fat but are far less active and successful in their pursuit of BBS.



Btw, jays...have you any comparisons between banana worms and the more traditional micro/walter worms? I understand walterworms last longer underwater than microworms. Are bananaworms really worth the trouble to obtain if one already has/is getting the usual worms?

[jays]

I can't tell the difference between walterworms and banana worms by looking at them.I will say my "banana worms" last a good few days underwater.Also they are very prolific.As far as them being worth the trouble?I guess that's up to the individual.They are really cheap for starter cultures.P.M. me if you need leads or I could probably send you some for the cost of shipping. Anyone who takes the time to breed Hymenochirus is alright in my book so I am happy to help.

[fishkeeper]

Walterworms are supposedly smaller than microworms(this is oft debated), and last a bit longer in water(24 hours plus). Are you saying banana worms are sorta a better version of the Walterworm?

I've already got walterworms starting up, so I don't think I need banana worms. Plus, mosquitoes have finally found my bucket of dirty water!

[martintruckenbrodt]

Hello,
http://pipidae.net/breeding.php

I've got my best breeding results in small tanks (25 litres) with mat filter. I did not any water change. I fed young Artemia and some years ago Moina.

Perhaps you want to translate this form german into english: http://www.pipidae.de/vermehrung_ber...ckenbrodt1.php

The result will be funny but perhaps helpfully too!

Bye Martin

[fishkeeper]

We are left with one tadpole. It resides in a sweaterbox in my zoology class, and the teacher/fellow classmates are getting a neat glimpse at metamorphosis. Due to be a frog in maybe 2 weeks.
For anyone contemplating raising these I've found newly hatched mosquito larvae a great and convenient food for raising these guys once they are about 2 weeks old. Infusoria, vinegar eels, and artemia can bridge the gap.

Here's a technique I've developed.
-get some food scraps(banana peels, old dog food, etc.) put it into a stocking. Tie stocking off and chuck into a 5 gallon bucket of tank/pond water
-to make the mozzies come faster, you can also pour some stew/water from some cooking/cans(use common sense here). I found that the water leftover from canned tuna, dumplings etc. works very well.
-When mozzies come to lay eggs, use a stick to scoop rafts off the surface. Bring with you petri dish with water or similar thing to put the rafts into. Make sure to get all of them, you want to be reducing your local mosquito population, not increasing it!
-You can either float the rafts in the tadpole tank, or keep them in the container until they hatch and then pour em in.
-sooner or later you will miss some eggs and the larvae will hatch. You have a few options
1. Pour off all the water...let the bucket dry for a day or to. start from scratch
2. next time you are boiling something...take the boiling hot wastewater and pour it into the bucket. This will kill all the mosquito larvae and give you a clean slate.

[fishkeeper]

Epic fail!

Tadpole looked just a week from morphing out...had both front and back legs, and was found dead after a weekend. I did add food prior to leaving and this worked previously. My only guess is that it got tangled in the java moss in its tank...or maybe it simply needed a lot more food at this particular point.

To top this off I lost 2 of the 3 frogs about 2 months later(been in my care for about 4)

So in short. Yes, ADF tadpoles are alot like fish. But they are uncoordinated fish that need to be fed almost constantly!

So major problems I ran into
-providing enough food, and keeping food close enough to the surface where the tadpoles hunted in their most ineffecient manner(mosquito larva worked best...daphnia would probably be good too. BBS worked ok but would need to be in high densities)
-providing food frequently enough.

Maybe I will try again next summer.

[josealmighty]

Hi guys! I am currently raising these as well! I post most of my experiences on Dwarf African frog on yahoogroups, petfish.net, and talkto.thefrog.net.

Once I have time, I will collect all past posts and give out the link!

[martintruckenbrodt]

Hi josealmighty,
I would be interessted in a breeding log for www.pipidae.net .

Bye Martin