Do fire-belly toads really need 50/50 water?

[CelaenaSardothien]

I have a 54litre tank, about 15 gallons, that I'm going to renovate for Fire Bellied Toads. It previously was an all-aquarium guppy tank. I'm thinking, so cleaning will be easier, if I have an all-water (about 1-2 inches) bottom and have really big pieces of driftwood or stones or something large for land. I'd make holes in the 'land' and fill it with soil (or maybe something else) for a live plant or two. It'd be an about 60/40 water-land ratio, with some land parts dipping underwater so they can be resting in water. Is that OK for Fire Belly Toads?

[Hill111]

I think 60/40 water-land ratio would be fine for FBTs. I have three of them and my tank is mostly land with a large water dish that's about 1/3 of the tank, and they spend 95% of the time in the water unless they're eating! I think in the wild they spend most of their time in ponds or mud puddles anyway

[CelaenaSardothien]

Okay, I was worried since somewhere I saw someone go crazy on a person who had an island-ish setup, like I'm going to have, saying that FBT's just took 'dips in the water'. Thanks for your info. Also do they climb? I'm thinking of having a big log stretching from one side to the other and ending in the water. Some people seem to say that they do (climb) while others say they absolutely don't.

[Hill111]

I think it maybe depends on the frog? One of mine really likes to climb and will climb up the sides of the tank and sit at the top, which I don’t think is typical behavior for these guys. But I have some fake plants and such in the tank and all three of them have climbed onto the plants and other things in the tank at one point or another so I would say go for it, they might like it! Editing this post to add that in my experience FBTs are pretty easy to keep as they don’t require such high temps and humidity because they’re so aquatic. I’ve had mine for 5 years, one died of an infection several years ago when I had a different set up and no filter for the water, so one is newer than the other 2. As long as you have a good filter to keep the water clean and make sure you do frequent water changes and clean out any poop or dead crickets regularly you shouldn’t have any issues with them. They’re pretty hardy animals in my experience. I’ve been trying to keep a Pacman frog recently and have had bad luck buying those from pet stores and getting sick ones. I got my FBTs from Petco and had no problems....so who knows.