L & H Fish &Frog Journal
African Dwarf Frogs -  Hymenochirus boettgeri
page 11

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7-27-04 I did a water change for Buffy [our dwarf puffer] and for the frogs. I've been trying to do a 1/3 - 1/4 tank water change twice a week for Buffy. I cleaned out the breeder box of the dead tadpoles from the heat last week. And after cleaning the frog tank I fed them some frozen worms - hoping to encourage some snuggling. When I noticed tadpoles! And some eggs that are actually currently hatching maybe a dozen or less! But it's still promising and made me smile.

7-28-04 The frogs did get busy after their tank cleaning. We have tons of eggs in addition to all the tads. I ordered an evaporative cooler hopefully that will arrive soon and help keep the house cooler!

7-30-04 Tons of tads. Everyone looks great. Except green water tanks have misquito larvae growing in them argg... now what to do? I suppose just feed them to Buffy! Well that worked and it's free. I read from other daphnia growers and just ran my brine shrimp net swirled it then rinsed thoroughly added to a small flask and eye droppered them into Buffy's tank and to the feeder goldfish. Well, let's say Buffy likes them a lot! I'm sure the goldfish will as well. And it's free!

8-2-04 My post this morning to Dwarf Puffers.com:

  What did you decide about the fry and mosquito larvae?

I've been trying to keep a variety of live food for my aquatic family which includes a dp tank, a African dwarf frog tank with a breeder box with 30+ tadpoles, mixed tetra tank, and an outdoor water garden with goldfish.

I have my brine shrimp hatchery one of those cheap ones you just add a bottle to and a pump I bought my eggs & brine shrimp food from http://www.lfscultures.com/kits.html

I also ordered a large daphnia culture like 500+ daphnia pulex from them. I started two green water tanks before the shipment arrived. I have a small container in the house in case the one outside crashes. I have one tank with daphnia and snails outside on my patio.

And I have a reserve green water tank outside for the daphnia. I noticed the other day that it's full of mosquito larvae. So, I've been netting them the large ones and rinsing them and feeding them to my tetra tank [they love them!] and to my dp [who seems to really like them too!] I hope it's ok to feed live mosquito larvae to them - I guess the draw back would be the fear of growing mosquitoes in your house! My fish don't seem to leave any after just a couple minutes they've mowed right through them and the fish net seems to just get the large larvae right out if I wait for them to surface.

I have some live tubifex worms in the frig that I've had for about a month in a shallow plastic container with a lid with pin holes in it. I've been feeding them flake fish food and baby food every few days and rinsing daily. I haven't noticed any dead ones except those trying to escape who get stuck on the lid.

So, my dp, Buffy, gets snails, brine shrimp, daphnia, live larvae, and live tubifex worms. Buffy seems to be doing well and is friendly greeting me asking for food.

I like the whole circle of life thing the dirty tank water feeds the green water, the green water feeds the little daphnia and larvae which in turn feed the fish!

My goldfish also seem to love the larvae & brine shrimp. I save the daphnia for my dp until my tadpoles get big enough to eat them too.

Later,
L

*Sadly, Buffy died October 2005 due to poor water quality in 2005 due my neglect and distraction while I was in school. She was the first fish I think I ever loved. I cried and we had a little service. Maybe some day I'll try again. For now, I'll stick with what I know I can take care of and not overfed and keep the water quality good.

More froggie stories to come....

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