Frog spur: maintenance, reproduction, care

The most common frogs for an aquarium are spurs. But beginners need to know how to properly care for these animals. Unfortunately, many people buy them impulsively, and this often results in the death of a frog or aquarium fish.

Description

This species of frogs native to southern Africa can reach a length of up to 12 cm. This amphibian has a small head. The muzzle is rounded, with small eyes at the top. The front legs are movable, turned inwards. The hind legs are well developed, with webs between the fingers and strong claws.

The frog owes its name to three pairs of strong claws resembling spurs. They serve to protect and cut food. Caught in the claws of a predator, the animal pulls its powerful hind legs upwards, to the head itself, and sharply unbends them. The impact is strong enough, and sharp claws can seriously injure.

Along the trunk, the spurgea frog has small indentations, in which short hairs grow. Thanks to these hairs, the animal is able to feel even slight fluctuations in water. The purpose of these hairs is that the frog can quickly understand which side is the other animal - prey or predator.

In nature, the amphibian has a brown color with dark spots on its sides. In artificial breeding, a white albino frog with red eyes and pink body color is more common.

Content

Why such popularity was acquired exactly by a spur frog? The content of these animals is not difficult. They are undemanding to the volume of the aquarium. To keep one pair enough and five-liter, but can you observe the habits of a fairly large animal in such a small space? Therefore, it is better to choose a capacity of at least 20 liters. Some species of spur frogs can be quite large and reach 15 cm in length, which must also be taken into account.

Note that the white frog refers exclusively to aquatic species. And this means that the animal can not do without water for a long time. You can not hold such a pet in your arms and you will not let it out for a walk, but the shportsev frog is great for keeping in an aquarium.

These amphibians are not thermophilic and do not need additional heating. The frog will feel comfortable at room temperature. Poorly tolerates chlorinated water.

You can not just run the animal into the aquarium, even if it's an undemanding spur frog. The content of these animals is associated with some difficulties. Frogs are very fond of digging in the ground, so it is better to choose a large soil. Plants should be strong, with dense leaves and a strong root system. Many amateurs plant plants in small ceramic pots. What protects them from destruction. Fragile plants with weak roots will be damaged, excavated and quickly killed.

The spurge frog strongly pollutes water and emits many organic substances. Therefore, in the aquarium you need to install a filter. In nature, these animals live in stagnant water, so filtration should not create a strong current.

White frog, like brown, breathes air, so aeration in the aquarium is not needed. Shportsevye frogs are pretty quick, so to avoid escape, the aquarium should be covered with a cover slip. In order for fresh air to flow in sufficient quantity, it is necessary to leave a small gap.

Food

Shportsevye frogs prefer live food. This can be rain and flour worms, bloodworms, tadpoles, crickets or small fishes. Using tweezers, the frog can be fed with small pieces of fish, meat, shrimp, liver.

Shportsevye frogs are gluttonous and prone to obesity, so they can not be overfed. We must avoid fatty foods - pork, fatty beef, pipe-man. A healthy frog should remain thin, flat.

These amphibians have a good sense of smell, they perfectly capture the smells and vibrations of the water. Frogs in the aquarium very quickly find food and greedily eat it, helping themselves with the front paws. Feed young frogs every 2 days, adults - 2 times a week.

Behavior

Frog shportsevaya differs insolent, active and shameless behavior. These animals devour all the living things that can fit in your mouth, constantly dig up and tear out aquarium plants, pick up mud, move stones, driftwood, decorations, constantly dig up the soil.

It's interesting to watch them, they do not hide. Their muzzles are incredibly expressive, and they like to take the original poses, to hang in pictures in the water column. Animals are impressionable, but quickly get used to the owner and recognize him.

Compatibility

So, having learned about the peculiarities of the behavior of this frog, you can already make a conclusion that it is extremely undesirable to populate it in a common aquarium. It is not only dangerous for small fish, which will be eaten very quickly because of its gluttony, but will also permanently cause confusion in the aquarium, destroy plants, move scenery, dig up soil and muddy water. In addition, this frog prefers to live in a swamp, in stagnant water, which the fish will not like, and the amphibian will not have to taste fresh water with a strong current.

Some amateurs believe that frogs are best kept together with labyrinthine fishes - lalius and gourami. These fish also breathe air and do not like strong currents. Neighbors frogs should be non-aggressive and fairly large, so that the amphibian can not swallow them. When buying a two-centimeter kid, consider that the animal will grow.

Sexual differences

When buying a small frog, sex can not be determined. Sexual maturation in frogs occurs in 10 months. In adult individuals it is quite easy to distinguish a female from a male. The female is larger than the male and has 3 folds covering the cloaca. They are a bit like a ponytail. A male (even a frog whose color does not occur in nature - an albino) has black palms and stripes on the paws. The behavior of heterozygous amphibians also has differences. Adult males sing at night. Well think, do you need such noisy animals as shportsevye frogs.

Reproduction

It is not recommended to mating frogs under 15 months of age to mating. In nature, the breeding season falls on autumn, but in captivity, mating can occur at any time of the year after appropriate preparation.

Female and male are divided into different capacities and lower the temperature to 18 degrees, after a while they are placed together and raise the temperature to 20 ° C. During mating, the smaller male crawls onto the back of the female and tightly clasps it with the paws. The female lays several eggs on the plants or glass of the aquarium every time the male presses his head on her back. Mating lasts about 6 hours, all this time the male uses only dermal breathing, and the female periodically pops up behind a breath of atmospheric air.

Care for the offspring

The optimum temperature for the development of eggs and larvae is 25 ° C. Until the tadpoles begin to breathe air, aeration is required. Feed the larvae can begin on the fifth day. As a food you can use dry nettles. She is insisted in boiling water for 2 hours, then filtered through gauze and the resulting water is poured into an aquarium with tadpoles. The liquid in the container should acquire a greenish tinge.