Grey Tree Frog tadpoles (I hope!) and some questions

[dfreas]

A couple of weeks ago when I was filling my pool the local frog community decided to descend in force! So the next day as I was skimming off all of the eggs I thought, "I bet the kids would enjoy watching some tadpoles turn into frogs..." So I took a handful of eggs and dropped them in a mason jar with some water not really expecting much.

Two days later I had tadpoles. Luckily I've been keeping aquariums for years so I had pretty much everything I needed. I set up the tadpoles in a 5.5 gallon tank with a sponge filter and a ton of java moss and started researching the types of frogs in my area to figure out what I had. My state's department of game and inland fisheries lists 28 species of frog/toad known to live in my state, of those only 13 have been observed in my county. I was able to further eliminate everything that requires a permanent large body of water (bullfrogs for instance) since the nearest water is a creek you can jump over 1/4 mile from the house, that left 8 possibilities. I eliminated 1 more because it lays eggs in strings not clumps, and two more whose tadpoles have dorsal rather than lateral eyes and another one that does not have a visible intestinal coil. That left only three possibilities (well, two really) either a Grey Tree frog (or the similar Cope's Grey), or an Upland Chorus Frog. Unfortunately the easiest identifying attribute for both of these tadpoles (red tails for the Grey, and a black tail tip for the Chorus) only develop in the presence of predators which obviously they don't have in my current setup. Still, based on the pictures I've seen online I suspect that what I have is a Grey Tree Frog. It also helps that I have seen several adult Grey Tree Frogs on my property this spring, so I know they are around.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone with experience raising these guys if they think my identification is accurate or not. Hopefully I attached the pictures correctly.

They love feeding on the java moss (or more accurately the algae that grows on it's surface) and I've been supplementing that with spirulina algae pellets. I've also offered them some sinking aquatic frog pellets, but they just ignore those. They are developing quickly though so the spirulina + java moss/algae seem to be sufficient.

I've also started cultures of Hydei fruit flies and bean beetles to have for them once they turn into froglets. That also hasn't been much of a challenge since it is similar to raising live food for my aquariums (and is actually where the surplus fruit flies are going for now). I'd like to avoid crickets and I'd be interested in the opinions of other owners on if that is possible or not. Raising crickets is a pain - I tried it once about a decade ago, they stink, they escape, they are annoyingly loud. I just don't want them. I'm happy to raise the flies and the beetles, and am considering also raising isopods, worms, and spring tails. Will this be enough variety to maintain a few Grey Tree Frogs or am I going to have to deal with crickets?

Anyway, happy to hear opinions and suggestions. I'll also probably be posting my progress in a separate thread as I convert my 56 gallon tall aquarium (24hx30wx18d) into a palludarium to house these guys in the future.