Pacific chorus frog ~ 08/29/13 ~ at home

Pacific chorus frog and tadpole, bladder snails, and duckweed
Pseudacris sierra, Physa spp. (aka Physella spp.), and Lemna sp.

Araceae

Look!  Find the frog.  This is the first one to crawl from my 2013 spring hatch.  I've enjoyed having them again this year.  Instead of obsessing over whether their water was clean enough, I let the water stand all summer to create a more natural environment.  I'm guessing this may help explain why I have frogs this early, compared to the 6-14 months it eventually took last time.

Considering my various aquatic plants have come from different sources, I've also had additional bladder snail stowaways.  I'm starting to think I have a couple different species, some with white lines and others with a more translucent, lacquered tortoiseshell appearance.

Also, I finally looked up duckweed.  Had no idea they're native.  I always thought they were introduced and problematic.  Guess not.

ps - As I was searching for embedded links, I came across a relatively new United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) online offering called ID Tools.  My favorite so far is the Terrestrial Mollusc Tool, especially considering my sister-in-law (aka garden slug hunter extraordinaire) and I searched high and low for approachable slug experts to little avail.  This site is my first online ID resource recommendation listed under gastropods.  Awesome.

Pacific chorus frog ~ 06/30/11 ~ at home

Pacific chorus frog tadpole with bladder snail
Pseudacris sierra with Physa acuta

I've thoroughly enjoyed watching my tadpoles. Almost all of them were released from their egg sacs the day after I first posted pictures on 05/30/11 making them 1 month old. Most of the time they simply rest on the bottom of the aquarium, not too exciting. Around mid-morning and mid-afternoon they get more active. They eat duckweed roots as shown above and algae off the sides and bottom of the aquarium like miniature vacuums. Amazingly, they can float up without moving their tails. How do they regulate their buoyancy? I had to fiddle with the pictures above to show the details; it's really difficult to get clear pictures through glass and murky water. I have over 15 tadpoles and numerous snails which have already mated, laid eggs, and hatched young since I've had them. Does anyone know what kind of snail commonly comes with purchased pond plants? Speaking of which, the oxygenating plant (shown in the second pic) is not milfoil, but I forgot what it is.

ps 07/11/11 - The frilly plant floating in the second pic is rigid hornwort, aka coon's-tail (Ceratophyllum demersum). While this is a native plant in CA and elsewhere, I will be careful about how I dispose of this plant's parts as it can be considered invasive and easily propagates from fragments. As for the snail, I believe it is a bladder snail (Physa acuta, aka Physella acuta). It has a left-sided aperture (all Physa spp. have this), pointed spire (sharper than the other common aquarium tadpole snail), thin shell (I accidentally crushed one while taking a closer look), and small size of 3-12 mm (generally smaller than Physa gyrina). For now I'm going to keep the snails; they may end up being a good food source for when the tadpoles metamorphose.

pss 08/09/11 - For a much better picture of a pacific chorus frog tadpole, check out John Wall's Natural California.

pss 08/13/11 - For nice pictures of pacific chorus frogs out in the wild, check out Cindy at Bug Safari. She's quite a bit south from where I'm at. I don't know if I'll have any adults this year.