Dwarf Frog Tadpoles and Eggs 
I'm hoping you can help me, my dwarf frogs have been laying eggs for months, this time I actually have tadpoles swimming around in the aquarium. I'm fearful that the big ones will eat the tadpoles but I'm not sure which ones I should transfer into a new home and what to do.
<It is a good idea to move the adults and any other livestock other than the tadpoles, and raise them where they are currently>
I'm not prepared because I didn't think the eggs would actually do anything and by switching the big ones to a different tank I'm afraid I might shock them. Also what do the tadpoles need to eat?
<Do start preparing water to change that which is in the system (best to store it in a clean (no soap residue) container for a week or more... I would also add a sponge filter or two here... good for these animals who can be messy, and not a problem in terms of "sucking them up". You can feed them on a number of foods... blanched zucchini, fish flake foods, pellets... just take care to NOT overfeed. Bob Fenner>
HELP!!!! 
Is there anything I can do and if so what.

Re: Your Dwarf Frogs
Robert:
Sorry to bother you again but now I think I have another problem. My female frog the professional egg layer looks as if she is going to blow up. Since
I last e-mailed you she has laid two more batches of eggs. I did remove the adults from the one aquarium to another but that was prior to the two
additional batches.
The male appears to be fine and thin but I swear if I stuck her with a pin right now she would fly to the moon. Is there anything I can do or is this usual? 
<Hmm, likely not unusual... seasonal... hopefully not egg-bound>
I'm afraid she might die if I don't try and help her.
Sorry to be such a pest but I've had these guys for five years and I've become quite attached.
<I understand... most of what I might suggest is worse than waiting/seeing. Bob Fenner>
Thanks
Lea

Raising Tadpoles
Kind Sirs,
<Hi! Ananda here tonight...Bob must've guessed I tried raising tadpoles when I was a kid in northern Minnesota!>
Over the Easter break, the children and myself came across some frog eggs in the mountain run-off in the in-laws back yard. We decided to bring some eggs home to hatch them. I did this as a child and had much success with it, but I had the availability to change the water daily from the creek by the house.  
<I never had luck with tadpoles when I was a kid...then again, we didn't have a creek by the house, either.>
I set up a 10 gal tank, bare bottom, (for easy maintenance), some rocks and fired up an old whisper filter and added charcoal. The eggs have been developing into small tadpoles and they have begun twitching inside the egg occasionally. We've read that the next stage the tadpoles
will emerge from the egg and stick to the jelly enclosing the egg sack.
<So far so good...maybe....>
Then comes feeding time. First question, some recommend gold fish flakes, can marine flakes be substituted? Would vita-chem, Selcon and or DT's be worth adding?
<Maybe some vita-chem, but I'd skip the expensive Selcon and DT's phytoplankton.>
I've read that you can boil lettuce and then freeze, better way to go? Romaine? The article did mention something about tadpole food, I was going to check the LFS. Or if you know of anything better?
<I did a Google search on "tadpole food" and found all sorts of stuff.>
The article also recommended feeding only twice a week and performing water changes about 2 hours after feeding to reduce waste.
<Sounds like a good idea.>
Any other recommendations?
<In all honesty, I would not recommend this project unless you plan to keep the frogs long-term, in a pond at your house. You have not indicated that you know what species of frog your tadpoles will develop into. Some species take two years to go from egg to frog. Without the benefits of growing up in their native habitat, with all the assorted bugs and critters in the water there, the frogs will likely not have the same immunities that their wild cousins will, and are more likely to succumb to disease once they are released. You will also have taught the frogs that they will be fed; in the wild, they will not know how to hunt...or, for that matter, how to escape from the creatures that hunt them. There is also the fact that they may introduce some disease that is accidentally transferred from one of your other tanks. We keep telling people that they should never release a fish that has been in an aquarium into the wild. I believe the same holds true of frogs.>
and/or articles to research? As the tadpoles progress into froglets the plan is to reduce the water, remove the whisper, only use a air filter (?) And provide rocks so they can get out of the water. The long term goal is to release the frogs back at the mountain where they came from when ready and do it again next year. Thanks for your help...looking forward to Reef
Inverts at the end of the month.
<As are we all... heads up, though -- the book has acquired even more pages than planned, so the schedule is not carved in stone.  --Ananda>
As you can tell, I found something to busy myself with.
DaveK

Raising Tadpoles Revisited
Thanks Ananda,
<Hi again, and you're welcome...>
Happy to say I've found a pond interested in the tadpoles once they are further along.
<Yay!! Local species may well do better in ponds than some of the commercially-available ones.>
They hatched over the weekend (around 15 tadpoles) and seem to be doing well. There's a local creek nearby and I decided to go with changing 1 gallon of water every two days with creek water, and a 1 gallon RO water change (aerated) the alternating days.
<Sounds good. Do check the pH of the creek and adjust the RO water to the same pH!>
From what I can find the young tadpoles need to filter the water and since the 10 gal wasn't a established tank figured I'd better go to a source.
<Plus it should have stuff in the water that should be beneficial for the tadpoles...>
Can understand not releasing tank animals into the wild just wasn't thinking ahead at the time.
<That's always a danger in this hobby...glad it worked out this time.>
Thanks for your help,
DaveK
<You're welcome. --Ananda>

Frog Spawn
Hello again, Thank you Don for your help a little while ago, you majorly calmed me down, and everything is AWESOME.
I had acquired fish from a friend and a tank on Christmas. refer to "Suddenly Stocked Tank", WWM FAQs.) Well everything is going great, have done 6 water changes since I got the fish. All my levels are looking great (I think those
established bio-wheels really helped). I got some ghost shrimp today, just to clean a little.
Well my question is, I have noticed clear sacks with yellow dots in them in the bottom of one of my plants, kind of weaved through it. Quite a lot of it probably 50-80 little yellow dots(1mm) all in a single sack. And than there's like yellow brownish flecks and pieces of what look like clear egg sack all over my plant leaves. My plants are fake.
Well I don't know who laid them, could it have been my Plecos? My Plecos are almost a year old and 1 is 9" and the other 6", one is obviously smaller, are they male and female? Or one is it that the one is more aggressive and
gets all the food (which routinely happens, I put algae wafers in his\her little spot so he\she can eat)?
How do you tell the difference? Is that what their egg looks like and where they lay them? I also have a 4" gourami, 1" orange tetra, 1" clown loach, a frog (who seems to be in the eggs a lot), 6" black ghost knife (he's my buddy now, I got him frozen bloodworms and feed them to him on the end of a skewer). I don't think anything else could have laid them. I plan on getting 2 fire green tetras in a week, I finally found a place that will BUY my Plecos. I'm quite happy, after I have been trying to give them away. What should I do with the eggs? I'm not really too concerned about propagating, but something small in my tank might serve as a nice snack for my black ghost knife. Or the frog. Or anything. What do you think? Again thank you for all your help in my beginning worries. And the rest of the WWM staff for the amazing website you guys keep up.
James
<First thought was snail eggs. Very common. They are laid in a jelly like mass. But on re-reading the part about "weaving though" the plant leaves I now think they may be frog eggs. I never kept frogs, but do recall that some species lay long strings of eggs in a protective jelly. Snail eggs would be in a single round clump. Either way I would remove them. If they're frog eggs they will be infertile without a male and will decay. If they're snail eggs you're looking at a population explosion. Your gourami and tetra would both lay single eggs, not in a mass. I don't think Clown Loaches have ever been breed in captivity and would need to be much larger. (BTW, will grow slow, but can hit 8" to a foot. Be aware) Plecos are cave breeders. They would spawn in a protected area that the male would be defending. So that leaves the frog and snails. To sex your plecs look at the trailing edges of the fins and gill covers. Mature males will have frilly tassels decorating these areas. Also, when viewed from above the male will appear thinner and more tapered than the female. The larger fish may be getting mature enough to sex. At 6" the smaller is still to young. And another BTW, they may eat the ghost shrimp. Don>      

Teratogens and Salamanders
Hello Mr. (Dr?) Fenner -
<Just Bob please>
I came across your article "Treating Tap/Source-water for Marine Aquarium Use" while trying to track down chloramine test kits.  I found your article very interesting.  I work with tiger salamander larvae - which are obviously freshwater! - <Yes... Ambystoma tigrinum?> but many of the things you mention are applicable to amphibian larvae as well.  I was wondering if we could chat on the phone so I could get your advise/opinions on some of the aquarium chemicals I have use/ plan to use.
I realize you don't want to be seen as promoting one brand or another but I'd like to avoid any pitfalls you or your colleagues have encountered.
<Better to just hash out on the Net.>
I can be reached at the number below; alternatively I would be happy to pick up the $ if you send me a number and time to call.  Thanks in advance for your time.
Danna Schock
<Do you have specific questions, concerns? For the sake of sharing with others who might use this information, let's try keying this out. Bob Fenner>