Encyclopaedia
AmphibianTerrestrialAdvanced
©AI Generated·Proprietary
Fleischmann's Glass Frog
Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni
A remarkable tropical amphibian featuring a translucent green body and a completely transparent belly that reveals its beating heart and internal organs.
Class:Amphibia
Order:Anura
Family:Centrolenidae
Subfamily:Centroleninae
Genus:Hyalinobatrachium
Species:Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni
Share
Check out Fleischmann's Glass Frog on Atlarium
Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
80 - 100 %
Day temperature
23 °C
Night temperature
19 °C
Ambient temperature
23 °C
Minimum enclosure
>= 45 L
UVB
Low
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Fleischmann's glass frog is native to Central and northern South America. Its geographic distribution extends from southern Mexico through Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, down into Colombia and Ecuador. It strictly inhabits humid tropical rainforests, subtropical montane forests, and riparian corridors, living high in the canopy near fast-flowing streams where breeding takes place.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Belonging to the family Centrolenidae and classified under the genus Hyalinobatrachium. The family is celebrated for the transparent ventral skin of many of its species. Genetic populations show regional stability across Central America, though taxonomic research is ongoing. The transparent underbelly is an evolutionary camouflage adaptation to match leaf venation from below.
Behavior and Habits: Strictly nocturnal and arboreal. During the day, they remain completely inactive, sleeping flat against the undersides of green leaves, blending in perfectly. At night, they emerge to forage for tiny insects. Males are territorial and will call loudly from leaves overhanging streams to attract mates and defend their nesting sites.
Morphology: A small frog, reaching an adult size of only 2 to 3.2 centimeters in length. The dorsal skin is a light green dotted with small yellow spots, mimicking moss or leaf textures. The most remarkable feature is the skin of the abdomen, which is transparent and lacks pigment, allowing the beating heart, liver, and digestive tract to be seen clearly.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: Requires a vertically oriented terrarium with minimum dimensions of 45x45x60 cm. Establish a bio-active setup using live large-leafed tropical plants (such as Philodendron, Bromeliads, and Pothos) and thin climbing branches. Use a drainage layer of clay balls covered by a soil barrier and sterile tropical soil topped with damp sphagnum moss.
Lighting and Heating: Requires moderate temperatures: 22-26 °C during the day, dropping to 18-20 °C at night. Temperatures exceeding 28 °C can be fatal. Install LED grow lights for the live plants and a low-intensity UVB bulb (2.0) on a 12-hour cycle to support the frog's metabolism. Use digital thermostats to monitor conditions.
Humidity and Hydration: Maintain high humidity levels between 80% and 90%. Daily misting using reverse osmosis or distilled water is critical to keep the frog's skin moist. A shallow water feature or dish with clean, dechlorinated water should be provided at the bottom, although the frogs absorb moisture directly through their skin from leaves.
Feeding and Supplementation: Insectivorous. Must be fed tiny live insects such as flightless fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster and hydei), pinhead crickets, and springtails. Dust all prey items with high-quality calcium powder at every feeding, and supplement with calcium + vitamin D3 and a multivitamin once a week.
Compatibility: Can be kept in small groups of the same species in a sufficiently large, heavily planted terrarium. Males may establish calling territories and engage in harmless wrestling matches over optimal leaves, but injuries are rare. Do not house with larger frog species or predatory reptiles.
Health and Common Diseases: Highly sensitive to chemical contaminants, pesticides, and tap water impurities. The main health risks include dehydration, bacterial skin infections (such as red leg disease) due to stagnant air or poor sanitation, and chytrid fungus. Ensure excellent ventilation via mesh screen tops.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Fleischmann's glass frog is native to Central and northern South America. Its geographic distribution extends from southern Mexico through Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, down into Colombia and Ecuador. It strictly inhabits humid tropical rainforests, subtropical montane forests, and riparian corridors, living high in the canopy near fast-flowing streams where breeding takes place.
Origin
Extra-Amazon South AmericaCentral America and CaribbeanEast Asia
Amphibian profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 3.2 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Toxicity
- No verified data available
- Life stage
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 3.2 cm. The AmphiBIO v1 source reports a maximum adult measurement of 3.2 cm for this species, recorded as snout–vent length (SVL). These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
Related species
Recommendations grouped by close relatives, companion choices, and similar care.
