I have my little 5 gallon tank all cycled and awaiting my ADFs. I bought a little decoration last Thursday for the tank so the frogs would have somewhere to hide. It's a small log with the bottom half cut off so it's like a tunnel. (It's not plastic, but not glass. Not sure what the decoration is made of) It has 3 spots with little fake plants on it which is where I have my question.....

I was rinsing it off in hot water and going to put it in my tank today and I started smelling something nasty coming from it. Mom said it smelt like burnt plastic. I soaked it in a pot of warm water for an hour but it was still really bad so I did it for another 90 minutes or so and it still stinks. I started looking at it more closely and I noticed that the plants were secured to the decoration by using a hot glue gun which is causing the smell.

Is this safe for the fish? I had planned to take the plants off anyways, but I don't think I can get the glue out from 2 spots because the "stems" of the plants are glued in little tiny holes -_- Any help or suggestions are appreciated!

I bought this from the Aquarium section at Wal-Mart ($8 -_-) and we no longer have the reciept. I won't be able to get anything else for the frogs to hide in/under. Mom (my only source of money since I cannot get a ride to get a job *sniff*) isn't very happy that I am not putting it in my tank unless I know it's safe. I looked for the PVC pipes, but they are only sold with kits around here and it costs way way to much to buy the kit -_-

Oh, also, if anybody has one of the Mainland Eclipse aquariums with the filter inside the hood, do you have to turn the filter completely off when you do a water change? I don't know if that was normal or not -_- My filter won't pull in water if the water level goes down to the spot where the impeller is hooked inside above the intake tube... I have to turn the entire filter off to change the water and I worry about the bacteria that has built up on the bio wheel and such. I made sure everything was put together tight and there are no leaks as far as I've seen. It's way to late to return it. I didn't notice the problem until almost 3 weeks after I got it setup and running -_-

Heh, one more question too about the tank How in the world do you clean the larger "river rock" like pebbles? LoL The syphon opening won't fit around most of the rocks so I had to stir things around and that still didn't get half of what is down there -_-

adf = african dwarf frogs?

All I can tell you is that I've bought their aquarium ornaments before and have used them.I don't think that regular Hot glue would hold up in tank water,so I'm hoping that it would be more like Marine Epoxy. I also turn off the filter when I'm doing water changes. Do you have directions that came with it? I've had mine for enough of years,that I'm not sure what they say to do. The river rocks being that big, may cause problems if you can't clean it correctly.My ADF tank has sand in it.(Which is also a pain until it all ages & sets)DOn't know if you've owned these guys before,but they like to dive down into whatever.That's one reason that I used sand.Small soft gravel is good too. Right now,there's 4 of them in the tank,and I have the hardest time finding them!

Raith: Yep

Thanks devs. Hmm, I hope that's what it is... It just stinks really really bad and I didn't know if it's normal or not

Hmm, odd about the filter. On my 10 gallon, I always leave it on and only take out the water to just above the slotted spot on the intake tube *forgets the name* LoL

I looked for sand, but not one store sells it here I kept hearing that smaller gravel wasn't a good idea because the frogs tend to try and swallow it sometimes. There was no gravel small enough that could easily be swallowed by such a small frog around here so I had to go with the larger pebbles Right now it's just so nasty down there because I didn't have a syphon for that tank and thursday was my first chance to get one. (There's only 1 little male guppy in there right now and he's been eating all the food, so it's just his poo and whatever it is that drifts off from my plant now and then LoL) I had to cut almost 5" off the end so I could lift the tube up while underwater to get the air bubbles out and start syphoning -_- LoL I'm going to syphon it once or twice a day each day for a few days this week to get it nice and clean and ready

Sorry for the double-post, but I missed the Edit feature *sigh*

I looked back through everything the tank came with and it did not say anything about turning the filter off during water changes. It really didn't say anything at all. The "instruction booklet" listed the parts for the tank and a few precautions about finding a good place to put the tank, having the drip loop and stuff like that. Some instructions!

What sort of sand do you use in an aquarium, how much on average is it and how long does it take to set? I've heard of it being used, but like I said, I've never seen any being sold around town....

Oh, and should I try and add the decoration to the tank and hope it's the aquarium safe glue stuff? The smell made me wonder I guess. The only decorations I've had, aside for plants, didn't have anything glued to them so I wasn't sure LoL

The sand I used was sold at the LFS as just plain Aquarium sand.A 5lb. bag was 3.99 or 4.99? You have to watch with sand as with everything else you use.Pockets of aeromonas can form unless you swish it around on occasion. Before using it,it's a good idea to soak it in water because when you add water to the tank,alot of particles of sand come up to the top and float.For the first couple weeks that you vac,you kind of have to swish the vac aroun to get the particles to lift and not the sand.It takes practice to get good at it,but it's no big deal. What if you tried a Turkey Baster to get down in the rocks? You can alot of the times pick up one of those at the dollar store.

Hmm, thanks for the info! I'll keep an eye out for the sand Perhaps I can switch it eventually if I ever find some!

I don't know if we have a dollar store around here -_- LoL I'll see if I can get a turkey baster though... The syphon works fine, it's just some of the rocks are a bit larger than others.. The syphon just doesn't like to fit down around the rocks like it does with smaller ones LoL I'll make sure the bottom is nice and clean before I get the froggies

About the decoration, should I go ahead and put it in the tank and hope it's the aquarium glue?

I personally would probably try it. Do you know that even in Pet stores,some of the things that they sell for aquariums aren't always safe either.I guess there's always a risk with everything.

Yeah *sigh* -_- I'll go ahead and add it in after I'm done online and check on my little guppy in the morning. Hopefully it'll be safe! I don't want to start that cycle and everything over -_-

Does that aquarium glue smell? LoL

I added the decoration last night and my guppy is still alive this morning I'll keep an eye on things for a few days though anyways... Just wanted to post the update!

Hopefully mom will wait until thursday at least to go uptown Not much time, but it's my only chance for another month or two *sniff*

My little guppy is still hanging in there and the water hasn't started smelling like that glue stuff yet (it did the other day when I rinsed it in hot water o.0). I have the gravel cleaned up pretty good now too and the intake tube covered with a bit of cheese cloth. I get to go uptown tomorrow and Petco better have the froggies in stock! LoL I'll start with 2 for now If a friend comes up again soon, I'll see if she can bring her digital camera for a few pictures

Oh, unless Wal-Mart is out, I'll be getting a 10 gallon QT tank as well *wonders where I'll put it* I'll have to keep up with water changes on it once it's cycled until I can get a small filter for it... Hmm -_- LoL At least it's a start!

Just wanted to update everybody I'm really excited about the ADFs!

I got my little ADFs today (2 of them... ) and I have a question about feeding

After I got them home, floated the bag and got them used to the water, I wated about 3 hours until I noticed they were a bit more active and added a couple frozen bloodworms (yucky, those are nasty little things! LoL). Anyways, I heard if they haven't been eaten in about 10 minutes, to remove them. I didn't see them looking around for the food at all, so I was taking one of the bloodworms out with a pair of tweezers I use for the tank now and then and the frog jumped at the worm LoL. One of them ate 3 bloodworms this way and the other would only eat 1. So, now that all the worms are out, one of them is hunting for food (at least that's what it seems like) and the other froggie that would only eat 1 is laying around on a leaf...

I have the larger pebbles for gravel, not huge, but larger than normal stuff so the worms just sank right through them to the bottom (I had to dig them out -_-). When i feed the frogs, should I feed them with the tweezers like I was doing or is there another way I can make sure they find the food? I tried placing a little lid down there with the bloodworms on it. When I removed the small container holding the bloodworms i till I got the lid anchored down with a few pebbles, the worms just drifted off anyways -_- Any ideas? These are my first froggies...

I used the larger gravel in the tank because so many places recommended something large enough so they couldn't get them in their mouths -_- Apparently it causes problems when trying to feed them though *sigh*

Oh, I also bought 6 little tiny feeder guppies for my current 10 gallon and I have a new 10 gallon tank that will be used for QT, if I can find something strong enough to hold the tank. I know whe have lots of stuff that would work, but most is being used. I'll figure something out though