Catastrophe

Well, we started a frog blog and we no longer have any frogs. We tried several ways of maintaining the tank, we cleaned it, we didn't, we fed them, we didn't, we just don't know what happened. Mr. C is very disappointed, and would really like to try all over again, but the cost of the tadpoles and the season is mostly over. We will see if our hopes are answered and we are somehow able to acquire some tadpoles, or pollywogs before the end of the year.

We still have the damselfy nymph, but we will release it back into the wild soon, as well as the snails. We will continue to post anything we find out about frogs and other things.

Mr. C would like to thank any who were as interested as he was in watching the frogs develop.
Maybe next time.

A few bits of News

Over the last few weeks we have had a real rollercoaster ride with our tank, however we are finally seeing some dividends.

Just this week on close inspection we are seeing the beginnings of the back legs of our tadpole.

The lighter yellow coloured part coming out of the belly is not their legs, but the lines (they look more like legs close up) that are the same colour as the rest of the greenish skin is the start of the legs.  As you can see the nymph wanted to get in on the photo action as well.

We have also noticed a new organism in the water. There are many tiny fleck like spots that zip about in the water now. Mr. C believes this is one of the organisms that the tadpoles feed on, but we don't know for sure. We also don't know the name of these tiny creatures. (Picture posted at the bottom of the page)

We are going to try a less maintenance approach with the tank, as a friend who has successfully raised some tadpoles advised that she did not do much in the way of cleaning or feeding, she simply added pond water every other day or so. Seeing as how our methods have not proved very successful we will give it a try.

The Damselfly Nymph is still with us!

Yehhhhhhh! Good News!

Mr. C did a vigorous tank cleaning on Saturday trying to keep the remaining two tadpoles alive. He was not particularly careful to ensure the other smaller organisms were okay. However, the Damsel nymph has been spotted and is alright. We may get to view more than one lifecycle yet.

And then there was one

With the new environment we have not been any more successful. We are down to our final tadpole and from now on Mr. C will take it home for the weekends. He/She's our only hope to see the lifecyle.

After talking to others it does not seem uncommon for this to happen, however we are greatly disappointed in our results.

We hope our next posts will all be good news.

What our class would really like to know about frogs.

The class made a list of questions they would like to ask a frog expert. From that list we voted on which ones we liked the best. Here are the results.

1. What animals are predators of tadpoles?

2. How big is the brain of an average sized frog?

3. How can you tell when a tadpole is hungry?

4. Can frogs mate with toads?

5. How do frogs lose their tails?

6. What is the average lifespan of a frog?

We will begin our quest to find the answers to these questions and more, please stay tuned for the answers. If you have an answer please feel free to comment, but make sure you cite your sources. We want our blog to be reliable.

Awful News!

We are sorry to announce that this weekend was dismal for the tadpoles. We are down to five healthy tadpoles, the snail, the nymph and a few shrimp. This news was a real heartbreak to Mr. C who loves all animals. Our filter/aerator quit sometime during the weekend. We believe this had something to do with the downfall of our tank.

            Mr. C took out the aerator, put in gravel and filled the clay slope with rocks. Another teacher at our school let us in on the information that if the water is shallow it can help to speed along the lifecycle. We will be changing water more frequently and paying close attention to the health of our remaining friends.  

Action!

Today we had some exciting action in the tank. Mr. C has used real pond water, adding other natural organisms to the tank environment. He added some fresh water shrimp, nymphs, and a snail.

           
Today two fresh water shrimp had sadly perished overnight. The cause is still unknown. However, Mr. C noticed some activity around the fallen friends. Other tank members were cleaning them up, some tadpoles were having quite a feast, then some shrimp joined in, lastly the snail gave them a hand, NOW THAT’S TEAMWORK.

            We have noticed some benefits of having the shrimp in the tank, as they clean up any leftover food, this can be a major source of issues with cleanliness in a tank. The snail is also helping keep the tank clean.

 

Allow ourselves to introduce ... ourselves

We are a grade 3 class in Canada. We began our final science unit "Animal Lifecycles" this month. Our science teacher Mr. C ordered the class some tadpoles as a surprise. He setup an aquarium using natural materials. There is real grass, moss and soil, along with rocks for the frogs. He used clay soil to seal the water area of the tank so that the water did not spread all over. He purchased a filter/aerator and buried it in rocks, so that it was hidden and kept the tank looking nice and natural.

Right now we are trying to solve the problem of taking good pictures. Our camera has auto-focus and is not cooperating.

New arrivals

We have just received aprroximately 30 grass/leopard frog tadpoles. We have created this blog to share information about frogs and how to care for them. We hope you enjoy!