Considering a 'nano' viv - tiny frogs?

[9Red]

I'm just looking at my nano tropical aquarium on my desk and considering whether to relocate its current occupants (a male betta and four green neons) to the larger aquarium in the lounge and use the tank to set up a mini planted viv for some type of frog.

Only thing is it's a pretty teeny tank - 12 inches square with a 28L volume, and I'm reluctant to start messing around with it unless I can realistically hope to house one or two tiny frogs in it without them being cramped or suffering through lack of space. Lighting wouldn't be a problem and I suppose I would be looking to use a heatmat if extra heat was needed. I have experience with keeping various frogs as I used to work in an exotics shop, but it's been a couple of years since I played around with the really fun species like darts and RETFs, but I'm drawing a bit of a blank at the moment about what species would do well in a tank this small.

What do you guys think? Like I said, I'm just throwing ideas around at the moment.

Here's a quick pic of the tank at the moment.

[dinan]

you could keep some african dwarf clawed frogs as they stay quite small

[9Red]

Had thought about that but seems a bit of a waste as I'd rather set up a planted terrestrial or semi-aquatic viv and the dwarf clawed frogs are an aquatic species.

I wonder what the tiniest species of dart frog is?

Or can anyone recommend a tiny but attractive species of reed frog?

[Ron Magpie]

Yep, Dinan, that would be my 'recommendation' too. Or maybe, if you found some REALLY tiny treefrogs. To be honest, while I find a lot of people are over-worried about available space, I'm not sure I'm even comfortable with nano aquaria, let alone viveria. As it goes, the bigger the space, the less stress/pollution/territory/decor problems you'll find. That tank would make a good quarentine area, but I personally wouldn't use it as the final living space of most amphibians.

[adamntitch]

not much help but can i ask what are green neons never heard of them

[Ron Magpie]

Originally Posted by adamntitch

not much help but can i ask what are green neons never heard of them

Me neither- but I'm assuming VERY small fish.

[9Red]

Originally Posted by adamntitch

not much help but can i ask what are green neons never heard of them

I bought them as green neons but am not actually 100% convinced they are Paracheirodon simulans as bought them as imported juvenilles from South America at 0.5cm and they've never grown past 1cm in 18 months (they were in my large main aquarium previously to being moved into the nano, so are not stunted). Physically they're the same body shape as your typical neon tetra, but have a bright turqouise/green band along the full length of the body where the neon has blue/red. Very attractive little fish, and they don't nip fins like other characins tend to either.

[Ron Magpie]

Originally Posted by 9Red

I bought them as green neons but am not actually 100% convinced they are Paracheirodon simulans as bought them as imported juvenilles from South America at 0.5cm and they've never grown past 1cm in 18 months (they were in my large main aquarium previously to being moved into the nano, so are not stunted). Physically they're the same body shape as your typical neon tetra, but have a bright turqouise/green band along the full length of the body where the neon has blue/red. Very attractive little fish, and they don't nip fins like other characins tend to either.

In themselves, they sound llike cool fish- but that doesn't answer the question. I appreciate that they weren't stunted, but I still have questions about nanos, even for for fish- but i have no question it won't work for frogs- especially anything bigger than a dwarf African frog.

[9Red]

Originally Posted by Ron Magpie

In themselves, they sound llike cool fish- but that doesn't answer the question. I appreciate that they weren't stunted, but I still have questions about nanos, even for for fish- but i have no question it won't work for frogs- especially anything bigger than a dwarf African frog.

I know this doesn't answer the question - I was posting the info about the neons for Adamntitch. I am aware that this is a very small tank which was why I questioned whether the setup would work at all - the idea of a mini planted vivarium sounds nice but the logistics of kitting it out and, more importantly, being able to house frogs without compromising their welfare was my main concern, but before giving up on the idea altogether I was interested to see if anyone had suggestions (other than dwarf clawed frogs) for species that could *possibly* work in a setup this small. So far the consensus seems to be as I expected - that this tank just isn't big enough to permenantly house even a very small terrestrial frog species. Still, my betta seems more than happy so he may as well stay put for the time being.

[mustang100893]

Monte Iberia Eleuth- currently the world's smallest frog as far as i know but they are critically endangered in wild so probably not very widely available in pet trade although this has never stopped people.
Second to this i think is the Brazilian gold frog, i know nothing of these species in captivity though just what i have read (Yes Wikipedia and google thought i'd have a gander as i was curious myself). So just to forewarn you some extra research may have to be done to back up what i have suggested. Hope something can some out of this otherwhise pretty useless info lol.