FBT Tank & Gender?

Hello All,
I'm a longtime herper, but new to the site. I'm impressed by the level of civility, thoughfulness, and information in the postings.

I keep mostly geckos and fish, but picked up a couple of FBT at the local PetSmart because my toddler daughter loves frogs, but my wife hates fruitflies (so no dendrobates). Bombina seemed to be the perfect fit. They have been a total hit with the whole family.

I've seen a lot of people weighing in on water depth. It has always been my understanding that FBT were more toad than frog, but I have limited tank space so had to try something different. I have a beautifully planted 15 tall aquarium, I dropped the water by one third, threw in some pathos and spiderplants (which grow hydroponically), put in a commercial "turtle dock", and made sure the water level was low enough that the toads could rest on the top of some of the aquatic plants. After two months, the frogs have adapted to resting on the pothos and other leaves. They occasionally dive down to the bottom of the tank and hang out for a while. I have zero fear of them drowning. They are feeding and amplexing fine. One guy at the local Herp store thought the toxins from the Bombina would kill the fish - not so. Haven't lost a fish yet. The tank has a sponge filter and I do 25% water changes every week.

I've posted a couple of pictures. From what I've read on the forum about sexing, I should have a pair here, right? The rub is that the male ( the amplexor) is heavier bodied than the supposed female - I would have expected the opposite from amphibians right? Females are usually more big and round bodied? The supposed female has also been amplexed by a dwarf clawed frog that lives in the tank:happy:. He actually came up onto the turtle dock with her once.

To breed them, do folks cool them down? What does Bombina "hibernation" look like?

Sean

Hi there

These articles should help as I think they are pretty comprehensive:

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis)

Marc Staniszewski's Bombina FAQ

I would say personally I would lower the water depth or perhaps add more areas of land perhaps stone mushrooms siliconed to the sides and wood pieces projecting out the water.

If you want to keep that type of aquarium with the volume of water I would recommend African Clawed Frogs - they are entirely aquatic - very hardy, easy to breed and will actually hand feed if you are patient. although obviously you cannot house both because of the toxins that the FBT secrete.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the articles - they tell me everything I wanted to know. I thought, briefly, about Xenopus, but they're actually an invasive species in some places over here in the states and not nearly as charming, in my opinion. I think putting together a proper set up with Bombina in mind is on the horizon of the near future.