Floaty Frogs Love Water Hyacinths

J

Josh Feltman

Joined
Feb 12, 2001
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4,501
We had one in the tank, and all of Cthulhu's little minions loved it. Sadly, the hyacinth died, and I finally removed its soggy remains before they did evil things to the filter. Well, there was much weeping, wailing, moaning, and gnashing of teeth. Little tripod newt moped on the bottom of the tank, pouting. The floaties became...distant. The African dwarf frogs hid in the rocks, and Big Newt was all but invisible. It was awful. Well, finally, I broke down, and we made a drive down to where we'd seen some water hyacinths growing in a swampy area near the side of the road. We brought home a bunch of them, and they're doing great. All the white roots in the picture have grown in less than a week. All the critters were so happy to have water hyacinths in the tank again that I felt kinda bad that the other one had died.

floatywithhyacinthaw3.jpg
 
I guess its the undulating surfaces that attract them . Places to hide and places to pounce from . I,ve never gotten it to grow well and frankly gave up on plants in the aquarium .

I have a peace lily that likes wet feet . I have seen them as part of Eco-aquariums .

Hmmm , peace lilys and floaty Frog Gods ? Maybe not .
 
Josh Feltman said:
...and gnashing of teeth.
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The frogs have... teeth?

Ah. Yes, of course they do. In the course of the transformation, they.... nevermind.

___


Whenever I put stuff from the wild in my fishtanks, I remember there was a risk of microbes, or protozoans, or something. Had to treat it with blue dye medicine.


Mike
 
There is always the chance of parasites getting into the tank whwn introducing new inhabitants . I have had invasion of the snail monsters and a few other nasty intruders . I find sometimes that store bought creatures and those which have had to fend for themselves in the wild are not on a par .
 
Well, I'll keep my eye out. I don't really wanna dose the tank with anything if I don't have to. Frankly, I'm more worried about bringing parasites home from some of the pet stores. Those places give me the creeps. These Indonesian frogs seem pretty robust. They don't do well with air conditioning vents, but other than that, they're very sturdy.
 
Josh if I remember correctly my Invasion of the Escargot was from a pet store .
I read somewhere that a good rinsing of plant material before adding it to the aquarium helps . Of course its not the best thing for the plant itself . I would warrant your floaty frogs would make short work of any but the most dire intruders .

Grist for the mill of the Gods .
 
Cool!

I'm partial to live aquarium plants, but it's an extra challenge to keep them alive. A CO2 bubbler can help - basically just grow some yeast in sugar water, and rig up some tubing so the gas vents into the aquarium. As a bonus, every week or two you can harvest the sugar water and distil it to about 90 proof. :eek:

I think aquarium conditions tend to stress things out - wastes build up, etc. - so it's easier to throw off the balance and have nasty parasites invade. Hopefully the frogs are happy enough that no ill will come to them.
 
These new hyacinths seem to be thriving. The aquariums are on our bartop, which gets good natural light as well as the stuff from the hoods. The tinkerer in me wants to build a C02 bubbler tonight, lol, but I wonder how the extra carbon dioxide would affect the frogs and newts.
 
Now that you mention it . They are both air breathers so I don,t think its an issue . Admit it . Its the distilled alcohol angle that intrigues you . L:O:L

It almost makes me want to grow plants .
 
Kevin the grey said:
Now that you mention it . They are both air breathers so I don,t think its an issue ....
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amphibians do absorb some oxygen from the water thru their skins, so high co2 levels may have an effect on how long they can stay under. water with dissolved co2 is also slightly more acidic. the final topper is that the undissolved co2 is heavier than air and will settle in a layer above the water and below the rim of the tank, excluding any oxygen & everything not a plant will die.

there were a few thousand people, and untold animals that died near a volcanic lake in africa a few years ago. the lake had dissolved co2 from volcanic vents which bubbled thru it, one day after a small landslide dumped a few tons of dirt & sediment into the lake, it released the co2 which flowed downhill invisible and silent untill it pooled in the area of the villagers. people who slept a couple of meters off the ground woke to find every living thing below them dead. smothered in seconds. only six survivors i recall, along with a few tree nesting birds.
 
That was Lake Nyos. It's funny that you mention it; the reason why I knew it was because I'd remembered a National Geographic article about it that I'd read as a child during the mid 80's a few days ago and searched it down. Here's one link:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/africa/nyos.html

Before anyone starts worrying about their favorite fishing hole, only a few lakes in the world are like this and only one (Nyos) ever turned over that badly.

The skin was discolored on at least some of the victims, leading researchers to believe that there may have been acid or some other chemical present in the discharge. I'm not sure that carbonic acid could do that. The phenomenon is still not completely understood.

(Note the discharge picture. That's merely a tube running to a deeper area of the lake. There are no pumps involved -- CO2 coming out of solution is producing that geyser. Now imagine a substantial portion of the lake doing that.)

I don't expect to see anything like this in Josh's aquarium. The Deep Ones would not allow it.
 
Gentleman please . I haven,t had breakfast yet . L:O:L

As Dave mentioned there may be other factors involved and a question of degree is raised .

That is a valid point about the absorbtion of oxygen through the skin . I wasn,t aware of that . Even at lower levels increased co2 may lead to a comprimise of our floaty friends health . I still doubt it at the levels discussed .

I think our learned co-frere,s proffering of the bubbler would only lead to a slight increase in the health of the flora with no effect upon the fauna . (It may be our fierce froggy friends object to the term fauna) . Until I hear mad slitherings outside my door after midnite the term stands . L:O:L
 
Amazing update! The second largest floaty was amplexing the third largest floaty last night! So, in addition to the possibility of baby floaties, I now know the sex of two of the floaty frogs. No eggs that I can see this morning, so either they hide them, or they need more practice.
 
Ah amplex sex . How it brings back memories . L:O:L

You have me going with your live plants . They do add grace to an aquarium .
I think this winter I will try out the co2 bubbler and see what simple plants I can grow .

It may even jolt me back into my search for a true aquatic mint .

Keep the amourous floaty frog updates coming . It is also Sunday . Maybe one of the males had brunch . They are a rather cold hearted bunch when it comes to dining .

Is there any provision neceesary to ensure the eggs have a safe enviroment ?
 
Well, with the African dwarf frogs, we scooped the eggs out and placed them in separate fishbowls. Otherwise, they quickly become snacks. The one in the pic I posted is definitely a female though. I am so excited by the prospect of baby floaties that I can hardly contain myself! Four of our African frogs were born right there on the bar, but the floaties have never shown any inclination towards amorous activity before. If anybody wants to send up some smoke for good frogsex, go for it!


EDIT: They're back in amplexus!!! Whoever sent that smoke, thanks!!!!!!!!
 
Josh Feltman said:
Amazing update! The second largest floaty was amplexing the third largest floaty last night! So, in addition to the possibility of baby floaties, I now know the sex of two of the floaty frogs. No eggs that I can see this morning, so either they hide them, or they need more practice.
Click to expand...

in these modern times, to be politically correct and properly -touchy-feely liberal you may have to accept the reality of same sex liasons in the floaty frog world and live with the possibility they will not have descendants without assistance. adoption is always a possibilty. call 1-800-TADPOLE for help. many states now allow gay floaty frogs to marry and adopt, check your local state laws thru your friendly neighborhood attourney.
 
Ok, well, I've been hearing this sound that's kinda hard to describe. I thought it was the something wrong with the pump in the filter on the floaty tank--clack-clack-clack-clack-clack! Weird, hollow, resonant clacking noise. I thought maybe stuff was getting pulled through the siphon tube and clacking against the little impeller. The noise never happened when I was around the tank. Started driving me slightly batty. So, I took the filter apart, inspected it, cleaned it. Seemed to run fine. Then I'd hear the noise again. Well, last night, it was really bad, and loud enough that it was keeping me awake. So, I came down, turned the aquarium light on, and the guilty culprit was sitting on a water hyacinth with a big air bladder inflated on his neck! The floaties can sing! I'd heard the little "cherf" sound they make when they jump, but I had no idea they could sing. Great news. The bad news is that it sounds like an aquarium pump going bad.

The African dwarf frogs also sing, but they sing underwater, and sound like someone making little high-pitched motorcycle noises while playing with a toy motorcycle. Underwater. I need to get the floaties and the dwarf frogs to try some harmonies.
 
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