I’m thinking of a dedicated breeding set up with at least six or eight individuals . I would think that a twenty high filled halfway and choked with floating Water Sprite and other rooted plants would be ideal . I say halfway because my Granddaughter keeps ADF’s and she tells me they escape sometimes . With the floating plants they could hunt wingless fruit flies and be very well fed and also have an environment similar to what they come from . I’m trying to think like a frog here . I would then have a rearing aquarium that I could remove the eggs to when I found them and keep the adults from hunting down the tadpoles . I think having a good number of them might increase the chances of them breeding and stymie the fighting that
@Jamie D. reports .
I've never had an ADF escape, but I have lids on all my tanks, too. The six gallon bookshelf tank where my tadpoles are growing does have a decent open space at the back because I had to modify a regular glass lid to fit, but haven't had any jump out yet (I have lost a couple nerites from that tank, however). That said, I'd still keep the water lower in a 20 high, to make it easier for them to get air. Or use a 20 long, which would give them more space to spread out and less distance to the surface.
I do have frogbit floating, but I thin it out regularly, because the frogs like to float near the top at night, and just so they don't have to work too hard to find a place to get air.
From what I've seen on Youtube, most people remove the eggs to a "sterile" environment and then try to raise the tadpoles there. I think if I were going to remove the eggs to raise, I'd put them in a tank similar to my main one - well established, lots of plants and leaf litter to provide micro-foods for the youngest, and more natural instead of "easier for me to clean". But that's just because this seems to be working without me doing much to interfere.
I feed my adults almost exclusively thawed frozen brine shrimp, and I've been adding frozen daphnia and baby brine shrimp to that for the tadpoles/froglet. I think live food would be fantastic, but I don't know that they'd actually catch flightless flies - I've never seen mine take food from the top of the tank. Mine are spoiled, though - I target feed all five of them with tweezers just to make sure they all eat well.
I think you're in my neck of the woods, aren't you? If you decide to get a setup going and want to see my tanks, let me know, and I'll clean my office for a little show and tell.
