How To Go On Vacation With Fry?

My very irresponsible ADF frogs have been laying eggs all summer (tadpoles aren't fry, but they seem to be just as delicate). I have killed six batches of eggs, but brood #7 and #8 are going strong, with 1-2 feedings of BBS per day and 90% water changes.

I have a camping trip planned for this weekend, but I am not sure if I could/should trust my petsitter to 1) rinse, sort and feed BBS. 2) resetup and prepare BBS (I suppose I could just set up a few new hatcheries, so they wouldn't have to do this) and 3) very carefully execute a 90% water change with a turkey baster. My mom would happily give this a go, but she is not a fish keeper, and this is an involved process.

Should I just cancel the trip? Has anyone else ever dealt with this before?

 

Do the tadpoles stay at the bottom or in the water column? If at the bottom, I would suggest letting your mom pull about 50% of the water from the very top and not worry about cleaning the floor of the tank. Just give it a good cleaning and 90% water change right before you leave.

As far as feeding, that depends on how good your petsitter is. Overfeeding and mucking up the water would be worse than not feeding them at all. How long will you be gone? Do you have access to microworms?

 

My mom would probably be the petsitter, since she is emotionally invested in the tadpoles. The tadpoles themselves are everywhere, since they seem to be scattered in all stages of development. They are at the top of the water column, but they scatter to the four winds as soon as you disturb the water.

There is also this added irritation of preparing the water for the next day, and leaving right next to their tank. The temp has to be exactly the same, or they give up and die.

 

As for microworms, I haven't looked into them, if only because the tadpoles only eat from the water column. The BBS stay alive for hours and hover, letting them feed for quite some time. If I use microworms, I would likely have to feed multiple times per day. I have never used them before, but I assume they don't swim freely for hours.

I was using frozen bbs, for some batches of tadpoles, and they all starved to death since the bbs sink almost immediately. I work full-time, so I cannot feed Evey 4-6 hours.

 

Microworms sink to the bottom so that is not an option. Vinegar eels stay in water column I think, but may be too small.

I know it is hard to leave fry (or tadpoles) for a few days. If your mom is invested and you can have her work with you to teach her how it’s all done, then that’s the way to go.

Best of luck! I would love to see pics of your little tadpoles.

 

I'll get some! They are very, very fun to watch if not the most photogenic of creatures.

I will have to get me some vinegar eels, because the larger bbs were too large when they were just born and my stupid frogs just laid more eggs. They lay eggs every 3-5 days.

 

I'll get some! They are very, very fun to watch if not the most photogenic of creatures.

I will have to get me some vinegar eels, because the larger bbs were too large when they were just born and my stupid frogs just laid more eggs. They lay eggs every 3-5 days.

You are lucky. I kept frogs for years and never had any tadpoles.

 

I'm going to spend the day tomorrow setting up two more BBS hatcheries and moving the tadpoles to a plastic storage bin. The larger volume of water will mean that the water changes aren't necessary, and my mom can just feed the tadpoles.

I also took a very bad video of the little guys. It is very hard to get my camera to focus on them.