Small amphibians

dwarfgourami7

Steve the angelfish
Nov 13, 2006
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England! uk
I have a small tank and would like to put some form of amphibian in it. They can't be too high maintinence and nice. I was thinking some form of frog/toad or crab. If anyone has anything that they think would do well please say.
 
toads are land creatures who only use water for spawning.
most frogs cannot survive in an aquarium without some kind of island for them to leave the water. same with crabs, they can not stay completely submerged, most (if not all) sold as freshwater are actually brackish, and having any kind of exposed area above the water greatly increases the risk of escape. frogs can jump, crabs will climb and crawl out of any opening they can reach.
your only option here is an african dwarf frog, or adf. they live submerged, only rising to the surface for a breath of air. they are mostly blind and so are difficult to feed. with the type of fish you have in your tank i think it would be difficult to keep one alive, most of the food would probably be stolen right out from under it. also, shorter tanks are recommended so that it is easier for them to get air.
 
The tank can be part land part water and has a tight lid which has holes sooo small not even a ADF could get through but i would rather have amphibious then aquatic as i alreay have a tank with fish. Basicly i can turn the tank into whatever what animal needs.
 
ah, i see - the tank you want to put the frog/toad/crab in is NOT your 30g tank, correct?

check into fiddler crabs, firebelly toads/newts, hermit crabs maybe. . . .you can find tadpole-growing kits online or in catalogs, probably in the spring you can collect your own frogs eggs or some LFS's carry tadpoles. . .
 
Yes in a smaller tank not sure in capacity. I would like somthing easy to feed and look after. I was looking into fire bellied toads but i hear you neep special air heaters as well as water and possibly a basking lamp. Correct?? If soo what else is good.
 
If you have central heating in the room with the tank, you don't need heating for firebelly toads or newts. the toads do like a basking lamp or warm lamp - with mine I use a desktop halogen positioned over the tank at one end (the tank is covered with wire mesh) with no other lights, and this is fine for land plant growth - for water plants you would need low-light species or fluorescent lighting. FBTs need a bit of space as they are quite active - however they also like company - I have 3 in an 18x10x10 (8gal?) tank, which works well. A standard 10gal is big enough for 5.

Firebelly newts are IME mainly aquatic, but do come onto land occassionally (though I have heard people say the opposite). It's easier to feed newts as they'll take frozen food - FBTs need live insects, but that's actually a lot easier than it sounds. Unless you have at least a 10gal tank go for Chinese rather than Japanese firebelly newts.
 
there is a frog thats small that lives in your tank and it doesent require land, it can hold its breath for very long periods and then swims to the top for breathe and then swima around again.

i see them all the time, i wil find the name for them but they are about £4 ish
 
Originally posted by Aaron89:
there is a frog thats small that lives in your tank and it doesent require land, it can hold its breath for very long periods and then swims to the top for breathe and then swima around again.

probably an ADF, or an African Clawed frog (these need more space - they are sold quite small but get to 4-5" and really need a 24" tank minimum).

Originally posted by desertgoldhound:
Firebelly toads arn't that demanding. I had a few and then they multiplied and i had a lot. here is a care sheet however I feel 2 of them could fit in a 10 and 5 in a 20 contary to what they say

I think you can keep a higher density than that - with land/water amphibians tank floor area is more important than volume - and a 20gal doesn't have much more of a footprint than a 10gal. So, when I said before you could keep up to 5 FBTs in a 10gal, that doesn't mean 10 in a 20gal (more like 7). Anyway, they are small (2" or so) and 'social' - mine like to stay near each other.

Though to give a more precise stocking level for your tank we would need to know the dimensions...
:)
 
Basicly i have a tank with a heater and a filter that i can adjust the contents to suit the animals habbitat i want somthing that just requries that.
 
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