how many green tree frogs for a 10 gallon tank

Discussion in 'Treefrogs' started by ilovefroggy, Nov 19, 2005.

  1. ilovefroggy

    ilovefroggy Embryo

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    well thats my question!lol :)
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. mhwc56

    mhwc56 New Member

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    I have 15 GTFs in a 24"h(but it should be taller) x 30" w x 18" d plexiglas enclosure. I surely wouldn't pack them tighter than that. I would say that 1 male and 2 female adults would be the maximum for a 10 gallon tank. The thing is, is that that's really no where near tall enough to suit the GTFs I;ve known. They do like tall enclosures. Hope this helps.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. nuggular

    nuggular Well-Known Member

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    Holy crap mhwc56, thats way to many in that size tank! And 3 to a 10 gallon is a terrible idea! The rule of thumb is 10 gallons per frog, and some people go 5 gallons per frog. I would only put 1 GTFs in a 10 gallon, but you could fit 2 of them. But thats it man. Stress and compitition for food is just too great with overcrowed tanks.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. mhwc56

    mhwc56 New Member

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    Wow ,I'm sorry if I freaked you out nuggular. Mine seem very content the way they are . I read in one of my Tree Frog books that it was acceptable to house up to 5 American Green Tree Frogs in a 10 gallon tank. I did think that was too many ....
    However, I did previously seperate my gtfs into 2 "tanks " and they stopped eating- almost all of them and they kept yelling back and forth so after about 2-3 weeks of listening to them be upset and worrying that they'd starve ,I put them back together again. They all eat like crazy and I haven't had any unhealthy or thin ones so far....
    They have continuous access to lots of Fruit flies,They get dusted crix twice a week and just shed white mealworms once a week as well.
    What would you recommend ? What should I do if I seperate them and they refuse to eat again?
    Martha
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. nuggular

    nuggular Well-Known Member

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    I might have over reacted a bit. But still thats alot of frogs to keep in what, a 30 gallon tank or so. And that book is full of sh*t. Alot of books out there give bad info and bad ideas. I would say, if they are all doing fine, just keep them in there. But keep a close eye on them and if you see one not doing so well, seperate it for a bit in a quarantine tank. Can you post a pic of your tank? Is it fully planted or fake plants? I would love to see a pic of it.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. mhwc56

    mhwc56 New Member

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    Actually I'd say the tank would be about 45 gallons as it sits next to my 20 gallon long tank which is 12" h x 29"L x 12" d. The frog tank is 24"h x 30"L x 18"d .
    I realize that you have to use just plain old common sense after a certain point with creatures like these . I truely did my homework before acquiring the frogs .I was raised to never get an animal until you RESEARCH ! RESEARCH ! RESEARCH !
    If they were your gtfs what would you house them in for that number? I know I will have to set them up in something larger eventually as I have several females in there . I have asked on this site, checked on line sites and read whatever books I've been able to find and everyone is very vague on space requirements for this species. I don't like to seperate these guys from each other if I don't have to.
    The lady I got 10 of the frogs from had them in a 37 gallon tankwith something like 10 more.... All the frogs are captive bred she didn't even realize there were that many in there until she had to move and was breaking everything down for transporting.
    If at some point I can get pictures on I will. Maybe my son will figure it out for me...... when /if I do don't make fun of it for being more utilitarian than attractive.My tank is not particularly attractive to look at. It has about 4" of Cypress Mulch which is what I was told to use. There are 2 good-sized but shallow plastic water dishes,one on each side of the tank. A waxworm container is sitting in one corner that has a very active fruitfly culture going at all times for the frogs. I have a Pothos vine in there ,it's in a 8" pot that's fairly tall (10" tall I'd say ). That sits smack dab in the center of the area. I did have artificial vines in there along with slabs of cork bark ,live sphaghnum moss ,assorted Tillandsia plants a nice sized branch that I had baked in the oven to kill any parasites in it. Maybe my frogs are just weird but they didn't seem to care for it that way. So I adjusted a little every month or so until they seemed most pleased with what they had. I spray them with aged water every morning and evening.
    I seldom get a daily complete headcount but over a week's time every one's always accounted for . They are all fat and feisty. In fact I've worried that they would get fat ....
    but they don't appear to haver gone too far either way weight wise. I did have 1 that when I got him ,he was on the lean side but he's filled out since then. They sure do love jumping around from tank wall to plant ,chasing the flies mostly ( one of these days I'll get a flightless fly culture but the frogs seem to enjoy their catch- the- fly excercise so....)
    They are all active ,noisey (well when there's a weather change coming and when my little dog starts yipping in her sleep LOL) and eating well.
     
  12. nuggular

    nuggular Well-Known Member

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    Well thats a nice size tank. Mabye in the future, go with a 75 gallon tank of some kind. As far as the cypress mulch goes, get rid of it. The best thing for all frogs is to use those expanding bricks of coconut fiber. I use Eco-Earth. It holds humidity very well and if injested, it will cause no problems. It is safer for you frogs than that cypress mulch. I would also recommed not using wax worms as a staple food. They are very high in fat and should only be used as a treat once or twice a week. As for the Fruit Flys, I can believe they can eat them, FFs are so small and GTFs dont eat with there tongues like dart frogs do. I strongly recommend you get them feeding on crickets. Small crickets should be there staple diet. Just make sure the crickets are properly gutloaded and dusted with vitamins and calcium. Vitamins 2 times a week and calcium every other time. If you have anymore questions, just ask.
     
  13. mhwc56

    mhwc56 New Member

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    They LOVE the fruit flies and I do have some smaller frogs in there. A couple of my adults sit on top of the containers and as the ffs climb out through the holes in the tops they lap them up .Not a dumb frog to be found among my guys LOL. They also get crix and mealworms ,though I have to sit there and pick out the mealies that just shed which is a pain. I did give them waxworms a couple times but then I found out that they're the equivelent of Twinkies and also addicting ,I saved the containers from them though.
    I am going to get the cricketfood .com gutload for crix and mealworms . I'm hearing excellent things about this product. Do you by chance use it?
    Also, I am thinking about starting a roach colony, can the nymphs be fed to the gtfs do you know by chance?
     
  14. nuggular

    nuggular Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like you do a good job taking care of them. :D

    The only thing I can stress again is changing the substrate to those expanding bricks of coconut fiber. I use Eco-Earth. It holds humidity very well and if injested, it will cause no problems. It is safer for you frogs than that cypress mulch. Frogs have very sensative skin and ruff objects such as the mulch, might cause harm. Just an f.y.i.

    Other than that, sounds like they are very happy and healthy. Do they have tongues that can come out or do they just scoop the flies into there mought like a shovel?
     
  15. pullinapete

    pullinapete Member

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    526
    its a 55gal tank you have the formula for it is LxHxW / 231 which gives you 56.103 so I would say around a 55gal tank for the 15 is ok but ya (gives you about 3.6gals per frog) but you can't really look at it that way because they do have the whole space to move in (bigger is always better) a 75 tall would be nicer my GF has one in a 7gal shes happy and fat the frog not my GF she just put her on a diet only one cricket a day cause she was getting sooo fat and would eat about 4 a night now shes a good size and healthy and happy so if they are healthy and moving around alot I wouldent worry about it if they stop moving or start moving very little then keep an eye on that one or seperate that one and see what happenes
     
  16. nuggular

    nuggular Well-Known Member

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    1,373
    Just so you know pullinapete, most if types of treefrogs only need to eat everyother day. I would suggest trying that. Try like 3-4 crickets everyother day. That works great with my ornate treefrog. I dont know what kind of treefrog your GF has but I would say everyother day for feeding.
     

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