# My Grandsons fish - frog tanks - Wabi-Kusa



## Greenfinger2 (10 Aug 2015)

Hi All, My Grandson 8 years old.And is into bugs and things big time.
So a couple of months back we brought him his first two little tanks One we set up as a planted tank No fish yet the other as a frog tank with two baby frogs that he grew from tadpoles 

He does the water changes and the cleaning of both tanksHe really enjoys feeding and watching his frogs
We will be getting a couple of small male Guppys for the planted tank soon .

Some photos


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## 5678 (10 Aug 2015)

What do frogs need in terms of environment and upkeep? I think my kids might like a frog tank!


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## Sarpijk (10 Aug 2015)

Cool grandpa Roy! Pretty imaginative frog setup!


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## Greenfinger2 (10 Aug 2015)

5678 said:


> What do frogs need in terms of environment and upkeep? I think my kids might like a frog tank!



Hi 5678, Quite easy to look after so long as they have a damp environment with places to hide. I just collected the rotting wood from over the park. Put it in a bucket to get most of the tannins out then planted up with odd bits of aquatic plants Added some substrate not the ones that give off ammonia at the start up.Or you could use some old washed substrate.Then place a little bowl for there food in one corner At the start we fed them bloodworms Tubifex worms then mealworms and Flying ants when they were about the other week Now small crickets.

They seem to only like live food that moves. Funny how fast they are when there's food about 

Then at the Weekend we do the water change and a little tidy round that's about it Shaun loves them to bits there great fun to watch


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## Martin in Holland (11 Aug 2015)

This is really cool....bringing nature from your backyard into your home


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## Jaap (11 Aug 2015)

Nice setups!

Is the frog tank completely sealed on top?



Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi 5678, Quite easy to look after so long as they have a damp environment with places to hide. I just collected the rotting wood from over the park. Put it in a bucket to get most of the tannins out then planted up with odd bits of aquatic plants Added some substrate not the ones that give off ammonia at the start up.Or you could use some old washed substrate.Then place a little bowl for there food in one corner At the start we fed them bloodworms Tubifex worms then mealworms and Flying ants when they were about the other week Now small crickets.
> 
> They seem to only like live food that moves. Funny how fast they are when there's food about
> 
> Then at the Weekend we do the water change and a little tidy round that's about it Shaun loves them to bits there great fun to watch


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## Greenfinger2 (11 Aug 2015)

Jaap said:


> Nice setups!
> 
> Is the frog tank completely sealed on top?



Hi Jaap, Yes it has a plastic cover that I made to fit the tank  As the lid that comes with the tank has cut outs that the frogs would exscape from


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## Jaap (11 Aug 2015)

Does it have high humidity? 

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## Andy D (11 Aug 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> They seem to only like live food that moves. Funny how fast they are when there's food about



They can only 'see' the food if it moves. Amphibians can be encouraged to take food - for example you could feed a large bullfrog on dead mice - but you have to wiggle them about a bit.


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## Edvet (11 Aug 2015)

Frogs: if it's smaller: eat it
           if it's larger: flee from it
           if it's your size: mate with it


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## roadmaster (11 Aug 2015)

Have had frog's try and attack/breed ? with artificial frog's I use for luring black Bass from under weed bed's,lilly pad's.
This activity is usually interrupted by explosive strikes from the bass which sometimes hit my frog,, or the real thing.
Get a young person interested in nature,and far fewer problem's when they hit their teen's.IMHO


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## Greenfinger2 (11 Aug 2015)

Jaap said:


> Does it have high humidity?
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


Hi There is no heating.. Just the little led light above the tank its keeps the tank warm but not to humid


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## Greenfinger2 (11 Aug 2015)

roadmaster said:


> Have had frog's try and attack/breed ? with artificial frog's I use for luring black Bass from under weed bed's,lilly pad's.
> This activity is usually interrupted by explosive strikes from the bass which sometimes hit my frog,, or the real thing.
> Get a young person interested in nature,and far fewer problem's when they hit their teen's.IMHO



Hi  Another Fisherman on the forum  I love fishing don't get out as often as I used to  

Really exiting when you get a hit and the water just erupts into a white foam and all hell breaks lose

I love floating baits for carp in the summer under the trees great to see a big pair of lips sucking in a bait  Just thinking about it makes me want to get my rods out the loft and go fishing


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## roadmaster (11 Aug 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi  Another Fisherman on the forum  I love fishing don't get out as often as I used to
> 
> Really exiting when you get a hit and the water just erupts into a white foam and all hell breaks lose
> 
> I love floating baits for carp in the summer under the trees great to see a big pair of lips sucking in a bait  Just thinking about it makes me want to get my rods out the loft and go fishing




Yes! have caught some big grass carp floating mulberry's picked from the tree under a bobber near same tree.
Nothing like the sound of your drag squealing as the fish take a hundred yard's of line or more before you can turn em.


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## nicpapa (11 Aug 2015)

He have a good teacher.


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## Tim Harrison (11 Aug 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi  Another Fisherman on the forum  I love fishing don't get out as often as I used to
> 
> Really exiting when you get a hit and the water just erupts into a white foam and all hell breaks lose
> 
> I love floating baits for carp in the summer under the trees great to see a big pair of lips sucking in a bait  Just thinking about it makes me want to get my rods out the loft and go fishing


We know......nice mirror carp...I used to do a lot of fishing too...somehow I don't any more...should tho'...for me it was all about the connection with nature, and all that...I didn't even mind if I caught anything


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## Tim Harrison (11 Aug 2015)

Nice tanks by the way...


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## Greenfinger2 (12 Aug 2015)

Troi said:


> Nice tanks by the way...



Hi Troi, Thank you  The love of nature and fishing go hand in hand together  Even now that I do not fish as much.The Grandson and me love going on long walks to see what we can find in the forest or park.

A few weeks ago we went to the forest about 8 miles away from home. I wanted to show him some newts and frogs walked round for hours looking in all the ponds. not a thing??? 
The next day we went to a local park just up the road and in the little pond there were about 30 newts 30 --40 frogs snails dragon fly's. Shaun said we should of come here yesterday we would not had to walk so far 

Ps I forgot that I posted the carp photo  Though's were the days


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## Tim Harrison (12 Aug 2015)

Haha...that's so typical of nature, go looking for it and it hides, mind your own business and it's amazing what you stumble across
I distinctly remember the photo 'cause that's one impressive looking fish...
Anyway, it's great to see someone passing on their love of nature to another generation and bringing it so close to home with those two super tanks.


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## Greenfinger2 (12 Aug 2015)

Hi All, Shaun and me went to the LFS to get him a couple of fish for his tank 

He did not want guppy's he had a look round and liked the neon tetras so 6 neons came home plus 5 assassin snails 

A couple of photos


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## Lindy (12 Aug 2015)

Gorgeous frogs. I used to raise them when I was a kid but once they got proper frog like I let them go. They don't live on wet ground all year round. We have lots in our garden and have no standing water but they love the log piles I made for bugs. The funniest thing to watch them eat is house spider (i don't like them I'm sorry) They use their 'hands' to keep tucking the legs in their mouth. Then they just sit there with legs sticking out


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## Greenfinger2 (13 Aug 2015)

ldcgroomer said:


> Gorgeous frogs. I used to raise them when I was a kid but once they got proper frog like I let them go. They don't live on wet ground all year round. We have lots in our garden and have no standing water but they love the log piles I made for bugs. The funniest thing to watch them eat is house spider (i don't like them I'm sorry) They use their 'hands' to keep tucking the legs in their mouth. Then they just sit there with legs sticking out



Hi Idcgoomer, Thank you  We were thinking of letting them go in the spring of next year ?? Just doing a bit of research on there hibernation period Lots to read  But all part of the fun too. Or we could let them go in September before winter comes ??? They are doing very well there twice the size of the wild frogs. We collected the tadpoles At my mates mums pond so the two we have are the same age as the wild ones. Looks like our ones have been on steroids and pumping iron 

What is your advice let them go or sort things out so they can Hibernate in the tank ??? 

""""""They use their 'hands' to keep tucking the legs in their mouth. Then they just sit there with legs sticking out """  I nearly fell on the floor reading that

We watched one of the frogs eating a mealworm the other night It took ages for it to eat it all  It looked like the frog had a wagging tail hanging out of its mouth 
I must admit I felt sorry for the mealworm but the frog was happy


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## Lindy (13 Aug 2015)

If they are that big I'd let them go now. I'd take them back to where you got them so they can find that body of water again for breeding next year. Or take them somewhere that you think would be a good place. I think it would be hard to hibernate them as you'd need to put the tank somewhere cold. You could dig a small pond and release them there of course, and have your own population? My brother in law has a small pond ( no fish) and it is always bursting with frogs come breeding time.

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## Greenfinger2 (13 Aug 2015)

ldcgroomer said:


> If they are that big I'd let them go now. I'd take them back to where you got them so they can find that body of water again for breeding next year. Or take them somewhere that you think would be a good place. I think it would be hard to hibernate them as you'd need to put the tank somewhere cold. You could dig a small pond and release them there of course, and have your own population? My brother in law has a small pond ( no fish) and it is always bursting with frogs come breeding time.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk




Hi Idcgroomer, Thank you  When I mentioned letting them go too Shaun he got really upset Bless him.
Well there bigger than the wild ones but not too big. So could keep them ??  

We do not have a garden As we live in a flat. There is an enclosed balcony that gets cold in the winter but safe from frost I could set up the tank for winter so the frogs can
Hibernate for this winter.

I read that frogs will travel miles to get back to the pond where they were born. So if I do let them go? I will take them back to the pond where they came from 

Thank you for the info Will update at a later stage


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## Lindy (13 Aug 2015)

You could maybe make them a larger enclosure then as the tank seem small for a permanent home. Ours live in the shadey side of our garden and always found on the barkchip around the logs.

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## Greenfinger2 (2 Sep 2015)

Hi All, A Video Of my Grandsons fish tank


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## leap (3 Sep 2015)

Love the tank - it looks beautiful and the fish seem very content and brightly coloured. Did your grandson create the tank by himself?
It's amazing... it looks really natural and is so well balanced. 
He is one lucky kid to have a grandad like you who encourages his evident love and observation of nature.


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## zozo (3 Sep 2015)

Hi Roy.. Lovely frog tank..  They travel allright..  i find them in my garden pond all the time.. I live on top of a hill smack dab in the middle of some waters and still some choose my little pond to play around in. If i take the distances between the waters they have to travel 1 or 2 miles.  I used to have a small ditch under the bathroom window in the garden. Don't know how it's called in english. Dig a hole, place bricks around, tadaa plantpot. Something like that..It is like 90x30x40cm Anyway did put pond foil in it, water and swamp plants. every spring i did clean it and also took the foil out and regularly found frogs and even salamanders under the foil hybebernating.  No idea why they would travel about a mile up hill to hybernate at my place. 

No idea if the could survive hybernation on a balkoni. tho in my garden they did 40cm deep under the pond foil filled with water.. i guess that also freezes rock solid when cold enough. Anyway they dig in to hybernate, so you would need to give 'm something like that. Dirt and old leaves.. Something with straw insulation might do, what many people use to make sensitive plants survive the freezing winters.


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## Greenfinger2 (3 Sep 2015)

leap said:


> Love the tank - it looks beautiful and the fish seem very content and brightly coloured. Did your grandson create the tank by himself?
> It's amazing... it looks really natural and is so well balanced.
> He is one lucky kid to have a grandad like you who encourages his evident love and observation of nature.




Hi Leap, Thank You  The DW was out of an old tank so were the plants The Grandson sort of helped 
He loves feeding the fish and watching them swim about chasing the food


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## Greenfinger2 (3 Sep 2015)

zozo said:


> Hi Roy.. Lovely frog tank..  They travel allright..  i find them in my garden pond all the time.. I live on top of a hill smack dab in the middle of some waters and still some choose my little pond to play around in. If i take the distances between the waters they have to travel 1 or 2 miles.  I used to have a small ditch under the bathroom window in the garden. Don't know how it's called in english. Dig a hole, place bricks around, tadaa plantpot. Something like that..It is like 90x30x40cm Anyway did put pond foil in it, water and swamp plants. every spring i did clean it and also took the foil out and regularly found frogs and even salamanders under the foil hybebernating.  No idea why they would travel about a mile up hill to hybernate at my place.
> 
> No idea if the could survive hybernation on a balkoni. tho in my garden they did 40cm deep under the pond foil filled with water.. i guess that also freezes rock solid when cold enough. Anyway they dig in to hybernate, so you would need to give 'm something like that. Dirt and old leaves.. Something with straw insulation might do, what many people use to make sensitive plants survive the freezing winters.



Hi Marcel, Thank you  Yes they can travel for miles to get back to the pond where they were born each year. Maybe that's why they come back to your garden?
Will be sorting the tank out so they can hibernate as you said leaves bark and things


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## zozo (3 Sep 2015)

Hi Roy  Comming to think of it i searched a bit because the question intersts me somewhat. But regarding some found info, pet frogs kept indoors do not hibernate and it isn't a problem for them. Tho some spieces only need hiberbation to reproduce. Maybe a good thing to find out which exact frog you have.. Maybe not necessary to those you have, if even necesarry at all if you don't want tadpoles next year..


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## Greenfinger2 (3 Sep 2015)

Hi Marcel, Thank you  There English Common frogs. 
Will do some Googling


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## zozo (3 Sep 2015)

If they are common frogs they probably hibernate deep under water.. breathing trough their skin.. They have several strategies of hibernation depends on the spieces..


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## Greenfinger2 (9 Nov 2015)

Hi All, The fish are fine .One frog died  The other one is doing well 

This Is his new project Wabi-Kusa.

I was breaking up some Dragon stone for a scape Idea.The Grandson said I want thoughts bits for a W-K So I Found a dish some spare plants substrate mixed with some cat litter.

And off he went and came up with this. I think its Great


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## zozo (9 Nov 2015)

It is great!! Also the plant choise..  Very interesting, would love to see it in a few weeks. Nice color that rusty look in the rocks.. 

When will Shaun make his first W-K on it's own? Wont be long anymore i guess..


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## Martin in Holland (9 Nov 2015)

Young talent.....great


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## Greenfinger2 (9 Nov 2015)

Hi Manu, Shaun said thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (10 Nov 2015)

Hi Banthaman, Shaun said thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Feb 2016)

Hi All, My Grandsons fish tank is doing well coming up for 6 months old  Out of the 5 Neons we got only one survived  Think I will get some easy fish for him to look after 
So this little tank is at an end.
Good news is we are setting up a 30cm Cube soon "" My old one "" Will update as we go along. He will be using the old DW and planting as he likes that. And this time he wants to use some sand around the front as he likes the look 

Last couple of photos of this one


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## woodster (18 Feb 2016)

Nice, the neons look ace when shoaling, liking the frog tank as well.


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Feb 2016)

Hi Marcel, DW , Hogan, Shaun said Thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Feb 2016)

Hi All, Well Shaun is on school hols And wanted to crack on with his new set up 

First we cut some strips of plastic and along the edge we put silicone then dipped this it into the sand. Hope this will hide the plastic edge to the strip.
Then put a silicone line in the tank and Shaun placed the strip into this. Added some sand and the DW to see what it looked like Shaun was happy with the result.

Now time to let it dry Updates coming soon 

Some photos of Shaun's work  I am very proud of the little fella


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## zozo (18 Feb 2016)

Well Shuan no thanks! You deserve all the likes you get.. Looking realy good..  Very good idea by the way, kitting that devider to the bottom. Now i learned something again as well..


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Feb 2016)

Hi Manu, Shaun said Thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Feb 2016)

Hi Sarpijk, Shaun said thank you


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## Ryan Thang To (19 Feb 2016)

great ideal with the silicone and sand. you are full of surprises aren't you


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Feb 2016)

legytt said:


> great ideal with the silicone and sand. you are full of surprises aren't you



Hi Ryan, Not my idea I see it somewhere so nicked the idea


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Feb 2016)

Hi Rowly, Shaun said Thank you


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## woodster (19 Feb 2016)

Looks good, love to see the young uns getting involved, my 18 month old granddaughter as soon as she gets to my house she wants to go see the fishies lol


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## zozo (19 Feb 2016)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Ryan, Not my idea I see it somewhere so nicked the idea



Better to nick something good then to invent something bad.


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## banthaman.jm (24 Feb 2016)

Great design, he should feel really proud of his tank, can't wait for the updates 
Jim


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## Greenfinger2 (22 Mar 2016)

Hi All, A couple of photos of Shaun's Frog its getting big now  We will be setting the 30cm Cube up in the Easter School hols.


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## Greenfinger2 (23 Mar 2016)

Hi All, Shaun said thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (26 Mar 2016)

Shaun said Hello all 
Some update photos on his W-K its just coming up to up to 5 months old. He has looked after this one really well


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## tim (26 Mar 2016)

I see Shaun is showing off his green thumb in the last picture  great wabi kusa


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## Greenfinger2 (27 Mar 2016)

Hi All, Shaun said thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (7 Apr 2016)

Hi All, Shaun and me have been working on his Cube the last couple of days. We decided to go with Slate and DW for the hardscape there will be a little area of sand at the front.R/H side
Shaun still has to smash up some more slate into little piece's for the front L/ H side.
Couple of photos


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## zozo (7 Apr 2016)

Realy nice use of the slate..  Well done Shaun and Grandpa.


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## Greenfinger2 (8 Apr 2016)

Hi Manu, Shaun said thank you


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## Sarpijk (8 Apr 2016)

Great contrast between driftwood and substrate achieved! Nice one!


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## Nelson (8 Apr 2016)

That looks great .


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## Greenfinger2 (9 Apr 2016)

Hi LondonDragon, Shaun said thank you


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## Greenfinger2 (9 Apr 2016)

Hi Gill , Shaun said thank you


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