Here they are!

We have no problem differentiating between our three frogs. I was afraid we might. My daughter has stood firm in her choice of names, and the three frogs have kept the same names they were given when they first morphed from tadpoles into frogs.

From left to right, this is a photo of Spotty, Zeyonda, and Buggy-Eyes. I think they are all three females, but I know it might be too soon to tell. It looks as though they all have a cloacal flap, but maybe they are just always pooping! LOL

Buggy-Eyes has always had the best appetite, was the first to transform, and is now at least half again larger than the other two.


Spotty is indeed the spottiest, even though we didn't know that when she first morphed from tadpole to frog. She is also the shyest and spends her time hiding unless she's eating.


Zeyonda was the last to transform, and has the darkest markings, looking nearly black at times.
They all three do change color from time to time and depending on where they are resting. They look greener when they are hiding in the plants. They all looked a pale yellowish-tan color when they were living in the pickle jar which had beige and yellow sand in the bottom of it.

Peekaboo!

They love their new home!

feeding frenzy


hello



We moved the froglets into the 40 gal tank last night.
The thinnest, darkest one was the last to transform, and is now much smaller than the other two, who are growing at an alarming rate and getting fatter by the hour! But they are all doing well, it seems, and really love their new home.
I do have to turn the filter off in order to feed them.
They are pretty smart, and have already figured out that I put the majority of their food in the terra cotta dish. I was worried at first when they didn't seem to be able to find food unless they accidentally landed on top of it!

If they could talk, they'd be saying *wheeeee*!

The most recently morphed froglet is now eating, but not as voraciously as the other two. Buggy-Eyes is still the piggiest, and gets way more of the food than the others. His belly is the fattest, as a result. I'm so afraid I'm going to over feed him, as I'm trying to make sure the other two get enough. They are no longer afraid of me, and will come up to the side of the jar and stand up like they are begging for food everytime anyone walks by. The third froglet is still a bit darker and a bit larger than the other two, I'm hoping that one is female. They love to play! It looks like a game of tag where they chase each other around, and almost do loop-de-loops in the water. My husband said last night, "If they could talk, they'd be saying *wheeeee*!"

The tank is now set up

Just waiting a little longer before the froglets are moved into their new home. I chose large and medium sized pebbles, leaving part of the bottom bare glass to make it easier to clean. Will probably add many more plants later this week, but we think it's pretty the way it is right now.
I piled the rocks up over the half-flowerpot hidey cave to give the tank another level. There is also a resin hollow log for them to hide inside, and I put a terra-cotta dish to make it easier to feed them (and clean up what food does not get eaten). The plants are suction-cupped to the sides, but they look very realistic for the cheapest plastic plants I could find at the petstore! Hobby Lobby was closed yesterday, Sunday, so I didn't get to check out what sort of artificial plants they had. I'm sure their prices would be much better than those at the petstore.

I'm continuing to do a fishless cycle. The old dirty filter from our guppy tank is inside the big filter on the frog tank, and I have been using the turkey baster to suck up the scum and gunk from the bottom of the tadpole jar and from the gravel in the guppy tank, doing small partial water changes every day, and putting all the dirty water and gunk in the new tank to give the good bacteria stuff to eat.

and then there were three

The third tadpole has very nearly completely absorbed its tail. That one is still slightly larger than the other two, and for now at least, is darker in color. It is not eating the frog pellets yet. The other two froglets have turned a yellowish-tan color, apparently to match the color of the sand in the bottom of their jar. One appears to have a line going down its back, which helps to tell the two apart. The other one is fatter and a more voracious eater, and I think that one is Buggy-Eyes. But we are still going to wait until they are bigger before we decide which one gets which name (DD is still adamant that their names are Buggy-Eyes, Spotty, and Zeyonda - we just don't know which one gets which name right now). Those two will gobble up all the pellets I can put in there with them, so I'm trying to be careful not to overfeed them. It's amazing how large their bellies will stretch! They look fat and happy, and don't seem so afraid of me anymore.

I did a partial water change in the tadpole jar as well as the guppy tank, and put the dirty water into the empty frog tank to help it cycle faster. I used my turkey baster (I finally found one at Kmart) to suck up the gunk from the bottom, so the beneficial bacteria would have more to eat. As soon as the bio-wheel in the filter looks like it has a good bacteria colony, I'm going to put the froglets in there. Tomorrow we are going shopping for greenery and maybe some rocks and sticks and things to decorate the tank. Right now it only has a hollow log and half of a plastic flower pot in there. I have decided it would probably be best to leave the bottom bare rather than put gravel/substrate down.

40 gallons is a lot of water!

The new tank is full and cycling now. I'm using a dirty filter from my fish tank to help cycle the new frog tank, and hope it works okay. I did a bunch of reading about fishless cycling online, but I might still put a guppy or two in there for a while, just to speed things up a bit.

The last tadpole is now starting to absorb its tail. The other two only have tiny black spots where their tails used to be. They are eating machines and will gobble up as much food as I put in there! I was worried about it a little bit when Buggy-Eyes was hogging all the food and Spotty wasn't getting as much, but I started breaking the pellets up into smaller pieces and not dropping them all in the same place. Now Spotty has a big fat belly, too!

Tiny thorn-tails

Buggy-Eyes and Spotty still have the tiniest remnants of their tails. Just a little black thorn-like protrusion on their backsides. They started eating frog food yesterday, stuffing the bites into their mouths with their hands. The room in which I plan to locate their permanent home now has one coat of yellow paint, and should be finished this evening so I can start cycling the tank soon. The frogs are so tiny! They are about half the size our full-grown dwarf frog was, about the size of a dime or maybe a nickel if you include their legs, and I no longer have reservations about keeping them in a one-gallon jar for a while. They actually seem a good bit smaller now than they were when they first arrived here as tadpoles!

almost froggy

Buggy Eyes' tail has turned black and is about as long as one of his toes. I beleive it will be completely gone later today. The other tadpoles are developing at the same rate. One has a tail about the same length as Buggy's tail was yesterday at this time. The other is still swimming head down and gulping water, and seems to be about at the stage the other two were at on Sunday or Monday. Next weekend I will have three tiny little frogs! It's very difficult to get decent photos of these little guys! Bear in mind that the glass jar has distorted the image of the tadpole in the background.

update

Buggy Eyes' tail is now shorter than his/her hind legs, and is acting like a frog now instead of a tadpole. DD has named the other two Spotty and Zeyonda (I have no idea where that name came from). She said we can wait until they are bigger before deciding which one is Zeyonda to make sure it's a female that gets the name. :) Both girls are now very excited about the froggies, and have been checking on them all day long. I have decided where the tank should go, but am waiting for DH to paint the walls first, because it won't be possible after there are 40 gallons of water and rocks in the way. Plus, I don't want the paint fumes (even though we are using low-fume latex indoor wall paint) to hurt my froggies, either. I hope I like yellow walls in here, because it will be another ten years before I can get him to paint again!

Buggy Eyes

DD has named the most developed of the pollywogs Buggy Eyes. It fits. That one is already absorbing its tail! The other "frogpole" has twice the tail that one has. Those two are breathing air from the surface now. And the third tadpole now has arms. I bought a 40 gallon aquarium yesterday, as well as a filter meant for a 75 gallon tank, and I also ordered a glass top for it. That ran me about $200 in total (including the top that I don't have yet). I went ahead and got a larger tank so to avoid the expense of having to buy another if they outgrew their first one. I can't imagine three frogs outgrowing such a large tank! As soon as I figure out exactly where I want it to be, I will start filling it to let the water cycle for a week or a month or so before introducing the frogs to their new home. Tank decorations will have to wait a while, I can't justify spending more money right now. I do have some decor for the tank, hidey holes and plastic plants, but not near enough for such a large aquarium.

shrinking heads, Oh my!

Now I realize why the less developed of the three tadpoles seemed a little larger and lighter in color than the other two! It was a gradual change, so I didn't notice until yesterday that as the tadpoles develop into frogs, their heads shrink and their skin loses transparency. The frogpoles' heads are half the size of that of the remaining tadpole. It appears the last one may develop arms today or tomorrow.

WOW! a "frogpole" already!

One of the tadpoles looks more like a frog now, just with a tail. It doesn't seem to be gulping as much water anymore, and spends its time horizontal more than vertical head-down like before. Its arms look like froggy front legs, too! The less-developed one does not seem to be changing as fast as the other two did, and still has very small hind legs. The middle one seems to be just a day or two behind the most frog-like one in development, its arms are still tiny and it still looks more like a tadpole than a frog. They look different every time I check on them! Gotta get that tank set up soon...

As always, click on any of the pictures to see a bigger image.