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Have two african clawed frogs

One of my brothers purchased two very tiny African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus Laevis) for my kids as a surprise gift. They came in little cups as if they were from a carnival. He purchased a nice 5 gallon set up and told me to change the water only when necessary... as if I needed another living thing to care for.  I have a smorgasbord of food available for them from freeze dried bloodworms to actual aquatic frog food and Wardley's flake fish food. We have had them for 3 weeks so far and I have only changed the water once a week.  I used plain old bottled spring water. Does any one have any pearls of wisdom to share with me so that Squirt and whatever the other one's name is don't go to frog heaven before their time? Thank you, Laura
 
When I worked for a tropical fish wholesaler, way back when, we just put them in a 20 gallon tank and fed them frozen bloodworms. They didn't even need any floating material to hop onto. So if you get a small tank set up, with pump and sponge filter, you should be just fine. We didn't do more for them.
 
whatdoya mean by a small sponge filter? I can go pick one up real quick today before the blizzard hits our area.

We have ponds with skimmers and bio filters and freshwater aquariums with all kinds of filters but I am not familiar with small sponge filters. Gotta brand name to make it easy on me when I go to PetSmart? This is a 5 gallon tank and the froggies get it pretty messy by the time the week is up.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Does any one have any pearls of wisdom to share with me so that Squirt and whatever the other one's name is don't go to frog heaven before their time?

Keep them away from the nepenthes and sarracenias.
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I can't remember the brand names, but they are sold in pet shops - circular, square, triangular... Somebody help me out... Hagen? You hook up pump tubing to it, from the pump, and it sucks the impurities from the water, going through the nitrogen cycle.
 
Laura, sponge filters are easy to spot at the pet store because they are the cheapest filters imaginable. They don't plug into anything except an air pump; the bubbles flowing through the filter draw water through a little Brillo-pad looking thing that filters it biologically. I don't remember brand names (it's been a long time since I kept an aquarium small enough for one of those filters) but, basically, it should be the only one there that doesn't have any electrical parts.
Best of luck,
~Joe
 
I do have several spare whisper pumps around here and maybe one of them is small enough but if not... no biggie as I have to go back again and check at PetSmart for the small sponge filter. I guess I didn't know what I was looking for. It's been a long time since we've had an aquarium that size too. Funny how we forget that even the simplest filter is quite capable of doing a perfectly fine job. I will pick one up and I can easily jump start it by squeezing out some beneficial bacteria from one of my larger filter mediums in an established tank and let's see if I can get some nice Chemolitotroph and Heterotroph bacterias going in the little 5 gallon for Squirt and WebFoot.  

I have to admit that all of you are slipping.  It may be a small set up but it does provide a nice opportunity to start an aquatic utric.  Any suggestions for 70F water with natural light?
 
U. gibba seems to be the most mentioned as an aquatic.
 
  • #10
I tried U. gibba in a glass on the windowsill for over a year. Never did anything there.
I have recently tried U. gibba in both of my fish tanks. 1st tank is a 40 gallon planted community tank set at 76 degrees and has 80 watts of light. The U.gibba grows well in this tank along with two other types. U. aurea and U. inflata.
My 2nd tank is my 29 gallon discus tank. Temp is 83 degrees and has 40 watts of light. I have placed some U. gibba in this tank.......it is going completely nuts. It is growing 2 to 3 times faster then in the other tank. I had also moved a small piece of the U. aurea or U. inflata, not sure which 1 it was, to this tank as well, but looks like it dislikes the heat as it seems to be dying.
I use Dirt Magnet Jr Sponge Filters for my Cherry Shrimp tank.
 
  • #11
Thanks, We have an angelfish tank that is mine and I keep the temps at 80°.  I would like to try maybe U. aurea in there based on what you said and aside from that, it is a graceful plant.  I have several outdoor ponds and I'd really like to try U. inflata in one of those possibly in the future.  I think it might do just fine out there and I love the way it creates that floating starfish rosette with the flower stem smack dab in the center.  Koi can be brutal to plants so I don't know if it will work or not but then I have another pond for Wakins and they are not nearly as destructive so that's a possibility.  Thanks for mentioning it as I looked it up and it is very attractive. I actually ordered some U. gibba and am undecided as to where I will try that out but perhaps the frog tank.  My husband has a tank and he said no way no how does he want to see anything in his tank and that he'll slap my hands with a ruler if there's anything in there that he didn't put in.  Well!  I guess I've been told.  

Say totally off topic but... how long did it take you to make that Chickadee on the pine bough?  That is absolutely spectacular.  

~~~ ><> ~~~ ><> ~~~ ><>
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (LauraZ5 @ Jan. 21 2005,11:34)]Say totally off topic but... how long did it take you to make that Chickadee on the pine bough? That is absolutely spectacular.
Thanks for the comment.

I think I made that project mid to late 90's. I gave it to my Mom for Christmas back then. She really likes Chickadees. Most likely it took 2 to 4 hours to complete.
The owl that has all the tiny holes cut in it I made for her this year. That was a pain in the you now what. Took me around 15 hours. I had to drill a hole for every cut. Then disassemble and reassemble the blade on the saw for each one. Just to give you an idea, it took about 15 minutes to cut the compltete outline of the owl out.
 
  • #13
2-4 hours?  I figured the chickadee took about 10 and I figured the Noah's Ark for more. I like trees and I like wood.  I have a chunk of zebra wood over here somewhere that I meant to do something with. Unfortunately, I did not do too well in the adult wood carving courses I took and re-took a second time.  I had visions of my fingertips flying across the room and finally realized I was way too afraid of the tools to ever be successful.  I think I had better stick to the nice easy little chunks of wood they give Cub Scouts to work on for their Pinewood Derby cars and call it a day. I have made a few of those because Den Leaders were supposed to make their own cars to "set examples" for the kids. I would be embarrassed to post a photo of my car. I did my best is about all I can say.  I did really enjoy your woodworking projects though. You do very nice work.
 
  • #14
Thanks again for the comments on my work.
My next project that I will be starting sometime soon will be a wine rack for the wife, and maybe finishing a Winnie the Pooh scene That I started about 2 years ago for her.
I have always thought about trying carving.
I guess it's best not to continue if you have a fear of the tools. Although another thought would be keep trying, maybe at some point you will be confident with using the tools and lose the fear.........or a finger whichever come first.
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #15
Back when I was in High School I was working on a wood block to be able to pull a few prints.  I was using a V gouge to get the desired effect. I was struggling with the grain of the wood and I recall the teacher instructing me to gouge AWAY from my body to avoid injury. I looked up to have eye contact with her and the V gouge slipped and went right into my body. The last thing I remember was a paramedic telling everyone NOT to pull it out.  They surgically removed it and when I returned to school, I was moved into a lithograph class at my parents request.  These recent wood carving classes were my second attempt at working with hand tools.  I thought the wood carving/whittling would be safe.  They started me out on soap to help me get the hang of it. I did fine with soap.  I have had some success with jig saws and such and I haven't lost any body parts yet so perhaps I will stick to that when the boys need to work toward Merit badges in woodworking. Other than that, I think I will just enjoy what ever you post at your web site. That link was sent to our Troop Master because of the chickadee you created. You have no idea how many boys have looked at that chickadee.  The Troop Master liked your fish, he has a pond. Keep up the good work AND when are you going to make a project depicting a sarracenia???
 
  • #16
Not good. Now I see your concern for the tools.
 
  • #17
Te he... Wanna trade a nice lithograph for the chickadee? I've got a really nice soap carving of a frog somewhere around here and if you stand far enough back from it... by gosh by golly it could look like an ivory carving.
 
  • #18
The poor frogs were squashed by...wood carvings!
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I have never grown aquatic Utrics, but....the prescribed method has always been to have a hadful of peat (at least) in their bowl. I am not sure how that would work with the frogs. I guess you could try it.

Cheers,

Joe
 
  • #19
I don't know about African Clawed Frogs, but the aquatic frogs and salamanders around here live in very murky water. I doubt a little peat would do much harm for your frogs, but I think it might cause trouble with the filter. Maybe you could get one of those floating nets for raising fry, poke a few holes for the roots to grow through, and fill that with your Utrics and medium.
~Joe
 
  • #20
Ummm, not exactly Griffin, "The poor frogs were squashed by...wood carvings!"-  I did learn that the boys thought my Ivory frog carving was a really neat bar of soap and it is long gone.  Husband is laughing about the demise of my masterpiece.  

Rats!  I wish seedjar would have posted that great idea about using a fry net for aquatic utrics before I went to PetSmart and ultimately to WalMart to pick up the little spongie filter thingies.

Here's the spongie filter thingie I picked up-
ec0b0359.jpg

Please tell me this is what you all had in mind?
 
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