I caught one of my African Clawed Frogs shedding while doing a water change.

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Music:
Stevia Sphere – Mallsoft is Alive: https://youtu.be/5TNi24kM1pM

Comparing the two to see whether or not I want to change the intro to my edited videos. The old intro uses a public domain sound of frogs while the new one uses a recording of my own frogs. The visual portion remains unchanged.

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 135 - Quasi the Back-flipping Froglet

The tadpoles continue to develop their limbs and all currently seem to be progressing normally. I was concerned that the remaining tadpoles would have an especially high rate of developmental abnormalities after a couple of the hip issues that were present in a few of the last wave of froglets.

I have continued to feed 1.5ml of tadpole suspension to the tadpoles each day, though once the number of tadpoles drops to 10, I'll likely lower the daily feeding to 1ml of tadpole suspension. The 3ml pipette I use to feed them only measures in increments of 0.5ml. The suspension isn't the only thing the tadpoles seem to enjoy eating, much like in the later stages of the tadpoles being kept in the 20 gallon aquarium prior to the tank switch, they seem to be enjoying some of a small amount of algae that has grown inside of the 10 gallon tank.

There's a single froglet that really stands out to me currently, I call them 'Quasi,' short for Quasimodo, the humpback of Notre Dame. Now to be fair, I can't say for certain that Quasi actually is a hunchback but his hips are somewhat deformed. The hip issue seems to cause Quasi to rest at the bottom of the tank in a 'sitting' position. Aside from looking rather odd, this also causes Quasi to be significantly less steady and easy to tip over when a strong current hits. The hip issue also results in an extremely erratic swimming pattern that includes loops, end-over-end tumbling, and difficulty in swimming straight at times. I notice that Quasi is able to swim normally if there is a solid surface (or even my hand) along one side to use for support or if swimming straight up to the surface. I'm not sure if it's partially due to disorientation or if the current in the froglet section of the tank is slightly different on the way down. Regardless, eating doesn't seem to be impacted too much and Quasi's mobility is normal if swimming at the bottom.

Current Totals:

13 - 10 gallon (Tadpole Tank)
30 - 20 gallon (Frog Tank) [6 froglet, 24 juvenile]

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 125 - Less Than 20 Tadpoles Left

Finally have some good news on concerning the eggs main tank. All of the eggs and tadpoles are now gone, most likely all sucked into the filter. Hopefully no more eggs are laid by Tiny, from the look of it, the egg laying boom may be over, at least for now, since Tiny has shrunk down substantially after laying all of her eggs.

I moved 5 froglets out of the 10 gallon tank over to the 20 gallon aquarium before the feeding began tonight. I'm a bit concerned about some of the remaining froglets as they seem to be less hardy than the ones that came before. Several have a slight bend in their hips that unfortunately causes them to swim erratically. This is a result of faulty genetics and if properly cared for shouldn't be too much of an issue, they can live normal lifespans.

The vast majority of the juvenile frogs are able to swim perfectly normally and seem to have even developed an exercise for themselves. The juvenile frogs have taken a liking to swimming in the current generated by the outflow of the filter. Sometimes they beat it but most times they swim off to the side or get pushed back by the filter current after a minute or so of swimming. I'm considering moving the divider to give the juveniles more room since they are both larger and make up the majority of the population in the 20 gallon tank with 20 individual frogs. The juvenile section of the tank is roughly 60% of the tank, I may decide to make it 70 to 75% of the tank instead due to the small number and size of the froglets in the tank (it is unlikely that there will be another large batch of tadpoles turning into froglets now that there are only 15 tadpoles left in the 10 gallon tank).

Current Totals:

15 - 10 gallon (Tadpole Tank)
31 - 20 gallon (Frog Tank) [11 froglet, 20 juvenile]

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 109 - A Clever Froglet

I transferred 3 of the 4 froglets out of the tadpole tank during today's water change. This brings the total number in the tadpole tank down to 24 and the number in the froglet tank up to 23. This almost marks, for the first time ever, the majority of the population living in the froglet tank rather than the tadpole tank. Tomorrow, I'll try measuring out a spot for the filter near the 20 gallon tadpole aquarium along with what I want to put it on that will provide a stable surface since I'll be needing to alter the setup soon when the the tadpoles reach a low enough number to transfer into the 10 gallon tank.

It's always fun to watch the froglets figure out new ways to grab more food. One clever little froglet has figured out that if they float at the surface while I'm feeding, they can grab a few pellets that haven't sunk yet. It'll be interesting to see if they continue to do so tomorrow. Much like the older frogs, the froglets tend to show mimicry fairly quickly if they notice a strategy working, establishing an equilibrium.

Current Totals:

23 - 10 gallon (Froglet Tank)
24 - 20 gallon (Tadpole Tank) [1 near froglet, 23 tadpoles]

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 60 - I shifted the room around a bit and made space for the 10 gallon next to the 20 gallon aquarium. This will allow for easier transitioning from the tadpole tank to the froglet tank. Additionally, due to there being a space in between the two tanks, I can fit the lamp in the middle of the both of them, enabling simultaneous lighting of the tanks when I wish to take the day's photographs. I'll try to complete the set up of the 10 gallon tank tomorrow but with the daily 50% water changes for the tadpole tank and the weekly 30% water change for the main tank both being today, I won't have the water needed to actually fill up the tank fully until the next day.

I still need to hook up the old Fluval 206 filter and fill the tank with water. For the water in the 10 gallon, I'm also going to try out another Seachem product I've seen recommended, called Seachem Replenish, which should make maintaining the general hardness of the water quicker for roughly the same cost (I'll have to run the numbers). I'll just have to test the water before I put any of the froglets in there. Only annoyance is that the instruction label doesn't use parts per million (ppm), meaning I'll have to convert the numbers they give.

The froglets are significantly less jumpy now that they are essentially hand-fed with the pipette. They have no issues resting at the top of the tank to breathe while I walk around, so long as I walk lightly. If I approach the tank, they'll even more to the front and wait for more food.

It took a few days but the tree decor has finally been used! The day before yesterday, I walked over to the main tank and saw Tiny poking out of the front opening of the tree. I haven't seen Scout in it yet but I'm hoping to see him give it a try as well. I imagine they'd move in much quicker if I removed the other decor but there's no rush since the froglets are still small, though they're growing qui..

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 54 - The most advanced tadpole is now at stage 64, there will be barely any tail left by tomorrow, mostly a stump. At that point, I have our first froglet separated from the tadpoles due to both dietary and safety concerns. The froglets will be fed small pellets twice a day. During the final transition, the froglets used the energy from absorbing their tails to fully develop lungs, a solid food digestive tract to replace their mouth filters, and the removal of their gills. I'll be removing the froglet first thing in the morning and placing it into the five gallon tanks for temporary holding.After the daily water change, I noticed the froglet using its hands to try and dig around - the universal African Clawed Frog gesture for "food!" I decided to try feeding it a piece tonight and it was immediately eaten, along with a few others. The tail stump is mostly gone and it's time to separate the little froglet from the tadpoles as soon as possible.

In order to set up the holding tank, tomorrow, I'm going to change about 10% (about 2.6 gallons) of the water from the main tank and place 2.5 gallons into the five gallon holding tank, this way I wont have to worry about balancing the water parameters, since the water hardness levels in the main tank and tadpole tank are the same. I plan for the three/five gallon to be a temporary measure for a day or two until I set up and test the tank divider in the main tank. I may have to add a layer or two of screen to the divider to reduce the water flow in the divided off section since the froglets are still extremely small and will have great difficulty swimming in such a current.

The assembly of the divider was very simple. There are four bars, two for the top/bottom, two for the sides, eight suction cups that attach to the sides, and 16 pins that hold the rubber screen and bars together. I'll cut out a section or two of window screen that will fit..

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 51 - The most advanced tadpole (from this point on abbreviated as MAT) is now stage at NF stage 61 and will likely reach stage 62 well before tomorrow afternoon ends, While the MAT continues to use its tail to casually drift along, if at any point it decides it would like to swim quickly, the legs are now used the same way as adults and are the primary means of locomotion. When actually attempting to move, the MAT is significantly faster than any of the other tadpoles. Tail absorption and subsequent housing in the 5 gallon is imminent within the next few days.

The ammonia water tests today showed a stable result from yesterday, 0.5 - 1 ppm. Why a stable result is good, taking into consideration that yesterday the tank had a 50% water change in addition to the doubling of the zeolite, I'm less than impressed. Perhaps I may end up having to purchase more zeolite to replace the current batch, I'm not sure yet and will have to see what the test tomorrow says. I've added in one final bag of zeolite. Hopefully this will have the desired effect of lowering the ammonia level and allowing me to maintain the tank with the recommended 30% water changes as opposed to 50%..

Now that many of the tadpoles have advanced well into growing legs, it seems that the overall food consumption in the tank has declined somewhat. I may try out a new double 10 ml feeding schedule as opposed to the double 15 ml I've employed for the last few weeks. Soon ,once their limbs are grown, they're begin to absorb their tails and wont eat period. After around 3 days or so, they will have completed the transition into froglets and be ready for some froglet food (which is really just bite-sized adult frog food).

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 101 - Finally managed to bring 37 of the frogs to the wholesaler today. I had to get up early this morning and transfer the juvenile frogs into their respective holding cases. Since I had already placed the hand towels in each with water, I simply had to spend the next hour moving all 37 frogs that were leaving. By the time I was out the door, it was absolutely pouring out, the type of rain that makes you question whether you're walking or swimming. It took three trips between the house and the truck and my shoes, pants, and jacket were completely soaked through, by the end of the first...

In order to get to the city, there are three main routes, one involves the backroads and is usually the quickest, one involves the highways, and the third involves driving through the heart of two small towns along the way. I ruled out the first due to the high likelihood of flooding, but was then split between routes two and third, I made a snap decision and ruled out the third due to similar concerns about road flooding potential. A few minutes later, a tornado warning goes through to the phones stating that a tornado warning was now in effect (while I'm in a state that averages 2 to 3 tornadoes a year). After I returned from the wholesaler's an hour later, I checked the news and realized that there had been a second unannounced, "high-end EF-1", tornado that had hit not only the town but the exact street I would have been on had I decided to head that way at around the same time. Thankfully, there were no fatalities (injuries TBD) according to the national weather service.

To punctuate the day, after leaving the wholesaler's building, as I was attempting to open the truck door, the empty tanks slipped out of my hand and shattered. Replacing them would result in no longer being able to financially breakeven on this endeavor (somehow a 5 gallon plastic tank is $10 more expensive than a 10 gallo..

It turns out that both of the African Clawed Frogs I kept after raising them from eggs are males! Here's a brief clip of their singing.

I decided to clip this from the frog feeding video earlier today so I could turn it into a gif.

Feeding the adult African Clawed Frogs some night crawlers as treats.

I'm wearing the orange rubber gloves since it allows me to only have to wash my hands at the end of the feeding rather than multiple times throughout.

I decided to film a quick meal for my juvenile African Clawed Frogs. They get fed daily and are quite relaxing to watch swim around, particularly with some music. I had to color correct the video due to the yellow light of the lamp bleaching everything out.

"Music for Manatees" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

I finally had time to edit the sound comparison of my old and new PCs. It takes roughly a minute and thirty seconds to turn on the old PC vs thirty seconds for the new one. To shut down, it takes the old PC a little over a minute and only 8 for the new PC.

The next video I put up will be about feeding the frogs.

New Build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gpmsP3

Old Build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hfWRMZ

Decided to fix my father's old Panasonic microwave as a belated Christmas present, it finally stopped cooking a few months ago. I ordered a replacement magnetron and it finally arrived, hope to have time to fix it up tomorrow or the day after.

Here's the prep work for fixing the microwave.

Powering up the new PC I built for the first time

Build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gpmsP3

After finishing the wire management: https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/904588406835486720

Why use a Modular Power Supply?: https://www.minds.com/media/904942771876855808

(For some reason this didn't upload from youtube on the 2nd...)

Peach's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-RgBAYqMT0

References: https://reddit.com/r/RibbitingSources/comments/9b791z/references_for_response_to_peach_bailey_education/

Daily science posts at: https://www.minds.com/RibbitingScience

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 40 - The development of the tadpoles is overall going swimmingly, three have really begun to advance developmentally, you cannot only see the back limbs growing but the stubs of their front limbs. The next two weeks should really be a sight to behold for them as they continue their metamorphosis. The rest are beginning to grow their back legs, which are still too tiny to pick up in photos. The larger tadpoles, however, have fairly visible back legs growing in that are in my opinion, the cutest little things to see flapping about as they swim and occasionally kick to build up the muscles.

On a more culinary note, I've decided to test the new feeding schedule for the tadpoles starting today. In the past week or so, the feedings have gone from 22 ml to 29 ml of tadpole suspension, tadpole powder mixed with water. While the tadpoles seemed to appreciate the increased food, the increased amount of powder littering the bottom of the tank was hard to ignore. Clearly, a large amount of the food wasn't being consumed in time before it settled at the bottom, forcing the tadpoles to suck it up from there.

I've now decided to try a different feeding schedule, rather than feeding the tadpoles all of the suspension at once, perhaps it would be more efficient to give them two smaller, spaced out meals instead, I thought. Today, I started by feeding the tadpoles 15 ml first and then another 15 ml approximately 2 hours later. While it's too early to tell if there will be a significant impact, I feel that the initial results are promising, compared to yesterday's water change, there seemed to be a significant reduction in the amount of tadpole powder that had settled to the bottom of the tank. While requiring slightly more attention, I feel this will allow for more efficient feeding, which will result in not only more well-fed tadpoles but will also better maintain water quality, since excess food ..

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 39 - The tadpoles are certainly beginning to show their smarts. Every day, the tadpoles go up to the side of the tank facing me and swim around waiting for food at the same feeding time every day. I'm considering splitting up the feedings to twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, while increasing the feeding to 22 ml per feeding. To start, however, I think I'll split the schedule to two 15 ml feedings twice a day to see how the tadpoles react (I also need to find an empty milk gallon to figure out how much tadpole suspension (tadpole powder mixed into water) is in the jug. I've been eyeballing it so far but will need to accurately know if I have enough left to cover increasing the feedings - the sooner I know if I'll have to order more tadpole powder, the better.

Another issue has popped up that you may not be aware of unless you've actively maintained an aquarium before. Many foods for aquatic animals contain oils, whether for preservation or nutrition depends on the food. Xenopus.com's frog food, which I believe contains the same ingredients as the tadpole powder, includes fish oil. Due to a lack of surface agitation to prevent the oil from clumping, an oily film built up on the water's surface. Thankfully this is an extremely easy fix, just put on a pair of rubber gloves and run a clean paper towel over the surface to remove the film. I also tried using one of the sections of window screen I previously cut a when I first put the tadpoles into the 20 gallon tank and found similar results if folded. I'll have to keep testing to confirm, it does offer the benefit of being reusable. I'll have ample opportunity to try it out tomorrow since I ran out of paper towels yesterday (had to use one of the thick paper napkins I had on hand for today).

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 33 - Tadpoles are still growing on schedule and all are looking healthy, even Squiggly and the other developmentally stunted tadpole, whom I shall now refer to as Strangelove due to its surprising regaining of mobility (as well as for the sake of brevity), seem to be growing. One particularly pleasant side effect of the tadpoles growing larger is that they have become even stronger swimmers, which allows them to swim away from the gravel vac if they get too close, I haven't had a tadpole try to swim up the gravel vac in at least four days. African Clawed Frogs are naturally strong swimmers, which is one of the things that makes adults such escape risks, these little can jump much higher than you'd assume. Always make sure you have a cover for your tank, more than once I've heard a frog bounce off the lid while young and flighty.

Also as a side note, I should hopefully be able to get some better video footage now that I've figured out how to use my GoPro. Despite having the thing for nearly two months, I only just realized the Hero 5 had a touchscreen after youtuber, Ronn Rider, showed it in a video. In order to save money, I bought the camera off of eBay and it came with no instructions. None of the guides I looked up mentioned a touchscreen and, in fact, several mentioned the only way to change the settings as being to download the terrible phone application. As a result of this, I've been stuck with the default settings (obviously I'll be experimenting quite a bit now that I know how to change them!) I will say two things in my defense. Firstly, the screen smudges so incredibly easily that I thought it was a regular LCD display and spent most of my time trying to avoid touching it. Secondly, I haven't owned a non-phone camera since the 90s and the only other person with a digital camera in my immediate family is my mother, who bought her's before everything had a touchscreen slap..

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 30 - As the tadpoles reach the close of their first month, I cannot help but marvel at how much they have grown, from tiny eggs that could fit between the teeth of a comb to free swimming tadpoles well over an inch long. And there's still so much more to come! Currently, most of the tadpoles are at NF stage 54, with the most advanced around stage 55. The tadpoles won't transform from froglets to juvenile frogs until stage 66, in around 28 (some will of course take a bit longer to develop). This means that we're only about half way through our little journey before the tadpoles will be heading out to hopefully find wonderful owners that will take care of them for years to come.

Also, for anyone curious as to how Squiggly swims compared to the other special needs tadpole, you can see the attached (admittedly very poor quality) video. In all the excitement about the improved conditions of one of our malformed tadpoles (thinking on it, perhaps this one was actually stricken by a stroke? Not common but possible, particularly given the recovery.) I completely forgot to mention the other issue with the main tank where I keep my adults yesterday, which is the filter.

One issue with filters that arises from time to time is maintenance and I don't just mean the monthly cleaning that you should do. Over time, parts will breakdown, whether because they, reached the end of their life cycle, such as with the various filter media contained within or have suffered wear and tear due to being one of the few moving parts. Fluval is one of my favorite brands to use due in no small part to the large aftermarket parts market. Many fluvals within a filter series will use the same or similar parts, allowing for third party vendors to make fewer types of replacements. This gives them the ability to free up inventory space and incentivizes them due to the increased demand per part.

Over the past two days,..

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 14 - Watching the tadpoles' continue to develop is quite interesting, they've become much more active overall. While initially after feeding, the tadpoles like to press their faces into the sides of the tank and let the food come to them, they go back to swimming a few minutes later (once the food's less concentrated on the sides of the tank).

I feed them in the afternoon and clean at night, by the time morning comes around, you can see half of them swimming along the bottom to try and get whatever food has accumulated. They also tend to swim faster in between feedings, no doubt to try and pass more water over their mouths as they filter feed. There's no need for them to swim fast when there's plenty of food in the water. Remember, it's always better to err on the side of caution and underfeed if you aren't sure how much to feed them. My tadpoles have no issue clearing 15ml of the tadpole suspension (tadpole powder + water) but there's also 82 of them so you may want to take that into account when you are feeding your own.

I've also begun taking out 1.5 gallons (5.678 L) from the tank instead of the original 1.2 (4.543 L) in order to compensate for the current overstocked state of the tank and the growing size of the tadpoles. My top for the 20 gallon (75.708 L) arrives tomorrow and I'll be cleaning that tank out either then or the next day in preparation for the move, which I'm planning to happen in around a week or so depending on either tank parameters or their growth stage (currently Nieuwkoop and Faber stage 49 (http://www.xenbase.org/anatomy/alldev.do)). As soon as they start growing legs, they're going in the 20, although there's still a few stages left before it's time for leg day.

Day 1: https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 13 - One thing that any person who cares for African Clawed Frogs will tell is that they're surprisingly intelligent (in addition to their wide variety of personalities). My frog Thomas was always inquisitive, any time I put something new in the tank for them to figure out (such as a new resting place) he'd be the first to figure it out and the others would follow his example. Black Eyes was always a bit of a social recluse and Jesus was mellow. Of my two currently remaining, Scout's a bit jumpy, and Tiny is the most sociable, she'll sit in your hand if you put it in the water - waiting for you to give her food, of course!

You can see personality differences in the tadpoles already, some startle easily while others will swim right up to you. With 82 of them in the tank it's of course impossible to track long term personality changes, though given the the dramatic difference between Tiny's extreme shyness when I first got her 6 years ago (to the point that I had to bring food to the place she was hiding to get her to eat, she just refused to grow for the first few months) and the extroversion she shows now, I know whoever buys them will get to see plenty of social development.

The tadpoles seem to have a few "Thomases" in their midst. A few days ago, I noticed a few tadpoles liked to scrape along the sides to eat the tadpole powder that's stuck to the walls of the tank as if they were in a cafeteria; a day later, there were a few more doing it and now almost everyone does it! As soon as I start putting the food in, they started planting their faces on the glass waiting for the food to come to them, they really love to congregate in the corners for some reason.tadpoles don't utilize schooling behavior, so I imagine it's just the result of an aquatic traffic jam as they travel in opposite directions.

For info on the other days go here:
https://steemit.com/nature/@ribbitingscience/raising-tadpoles-days-0-2

Day 5 - We have our first swimmers! They're about a day early for me to be ready for them thanks to my 5 gallon disappearing. In the meantime, I'll be giving them a little bit of tadpole food to hold them over for the time being. Today, they began responding to light and late yesterday, I noticed they've began to swim in a straight line (as opposed to swimming in circles like falling maple seed pods).

Yesterday, I began daily 30% water changes to keep the water clean. I recommend using a cup to avoid taking out/putting in too much water at once (even slight disturbances can send the tadpoles flying while they're this small).

One issue I'm encountering has to due with my tap water being an African Clawed Frog (AFC) owner's worse case scenario while still being safe for human consumption. My water has 0.5 ppm ammonia straight out of the tap. On top of that, it has 0 general (GH) and carbonate (KH) hardness. AFCs require hard water to thrive and like all aquarium pets, ammonia burns them; their tadpoles are even more sensitive to water conditions.

First Video!

Daily Posts At: Minds.com/RibbitingScience