Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep PDFs, but recently, I was given a FBT from someone who could not keep him. He was a lone toad living in a pretty dirty planted 20 gallon tank that appeared to be 1/3 land, 2/3 water. He is a very dark brown color, almost black when stressed out.

I now have him in a clean 10 gallon tank that's about 1/4 land, 3/4 water. There are a couple of pieces of driftwood, some cork bark, 2 pothos cuttings, an unidentified aquatatic plant, a dish full of Bed-a-Beast and some moss. I also decided to get him a tankmate, since these guys are usually communal.

Apparently the tankmate I bought is male, as he keeps chirping and mounting the other toad. I heard chirping in the middle of the night, checked on them, and saw that even in the dark of night, the new toad keeps making advances. The other toad just keeps trying to get away. At one point, the new toad was even holding the other toad under the water, so I broke them up.

Does this sound like mating behavior or dominance behavior? It's hard to tell, and I assumed at first that it was mating behavior, since there was so much calling going on. But this morning, my dark-colored toad was looking dark black again and his little paramour was still making advances. Should I worry? Or will they work this out?

Also, I currently am not using a filter for the tank, as I assumed that there is no way to keep such a small amount of water truly stable . . . plus, the toads do have toxins in their skin which the filter wouldn't get rid of. So I thought I'd just change the water once or twice a week. Will this be adequate?

That is definately mating behavior. The new frog is a male and is attempting to breed with the dark-colored one. It remains to be seen whether the dark-colored one is male or female. If it is a male it will likely try to breed as well. If it is a female it may not be ready to breed. Either way, you can expect this to cause stress for the frog. If you are very concerned, or if the frog stops eating or seems to act introverted or cautious, separate them.

The dark coloration probably means you have a European fire-belly, but getting even darker probably means it is stressed, as you suspected.

A filter will definately make your life easier. a small filter will work perfectly for a 10g, just find one that says it will work in a 10g at the pet store. It will help to reduce toxins in the water, and will keep other junk out as well.