A TADPOLE paddling pool has been created by keepers at Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire Oaks, as part of a captive breeding programme for a species of poison dart frog.
Found in Peru and Ecuador, the phantasmal frog is considered to be ‘near threatened’ in the wild by the World Conservation Union due to habitat loss.
Keepers at the aquarium have constructed a semi-aquatic habitat filled with damp moss and hidey-holes which will enable the tadpoles to complete their change into baby frogs.
Adam Mitchell of the aquarium said: “The phantasmal frog has a fascinating, and highly complex, lifecycle which is difficult to successfully replicate in captivity and completely unlike our native frog species.
“The females lay anywhere between 15 to 40 eggs on a leaf, which are then fertilised by the male. He then guards the eggs for up to two weeks until the developing tadpoles begin to wriggle free of their jelly-like egg cases; at which point he pulls them on to his back using his back legs and carries them to a nearby pond or puddle.
“They can then take anything up to two months to develop into tiny replicas of their parents; first growing their back legs, then their front legs and finally reabsorbing their tail.”
Phantasmal frogs are one of the few poison frog species that can be raised in large groups, so the aquarium is able to put groups of tadpoles together in the pool.
“We use a special tadpole diet to feed them and ensure they get the correct balance of nutrition and vitamins so they fully metamorphose into adults,” added Adam.
