African Dwarf Frog Questions

[MickieFish]

Hi! I bought an ADF about 2 weeks ago. He's a cool lil guy, and in a 29 gallon tank with 9 tetras and 2 guppies. The first 2 days home from LFS, he was swimmin all over the place. Now, he just kinda hides all the time. Today I even caught him clinging to the back of my heater against the tank glass. From what I have read, they are shy guys.
A few times a day I see him dart to the top of the tank and back down again. I never see him eat, but I'm sure he does, or he'd be dead. I feed him frog pellets and frozen worms. The LFS was out of bloodworms, so I got Mysis shrimp. Well, crap.. I just realized as I typed that, that they're supposed to eat worms, not shrimp. Anyway, I have a couple of questions..

1) Is he hiding b/c he is intimidated or sick? Or is that just a trait of this kind of frog? The fish pay him no attention.
2) Would he do better with a buddy or two? Or do ADF's prefer to be alone?
3)Are frozen bloodworms better than dried? The lady at the LFS said she had had dried BW's come back to life 8O ,, can that happen (EWW!!)
4) My tank is set at 80 degrees.. is that ok for ADF's??

Thanks in advance! I'm so glad I found this board, and I hope to soon be able to answer questions instead of asking so many!!

 

[Zagz]

IMO ADF's do better with a buddy. They can be difficult to feed. I used a turkey baster and gently placed the blood worms right in front of them so they could eat. Frozen bloodworms are better than dried. I would slowly adjust the temp to 77-78. My ADF's were shy and hid quite often. How tall is your tank? They need a shallow tank so they can go to the surface and get air. Also make sure the tank is well covered as they are escape artists.

 

[lovemybarbs]

back to life??? I think I'll throw mine away. Is that true?? I'll be washing my hands.

 

[Guest]

ADF do better with friends I keep 3 in my tank. They will hide alot even after there use to the tank. They relly perfur blood worms over brine shrimp. They hate flke food,want touch it. They also like the temp better at 78oF better.
Like zags said make sure the tank is well covered as they can get out and will. They like planted tanks to a bare tank ass they will hide alot. Also they DO NIP AT FINS OF THE OTHER FISH!!! Also on the dried Blood worms coming to live the ladie who told you that is off her rocker. LOL There's no way that can happen.
IMO it dosn't matter the deepth of the tank either they will go from top to bottom off and on all day long.

 

[lovemybarbs]

So you thaw them and put them in a turkey baster and shoot them at him? That could work.

 

[MickieFish]

Thanks guys! I just lowered my heater a smidge. My tank, while not bare, is not full of plants either. I have only been keeping an aquarium for about 6 weeks. I almost bought him a buddy at LFS this week, but they had just got the shipment in (they were still opening the boxes), and I didn't want to get one while they were freaked out. I think I'll get 2 more.. and get another rock and 1 plant for now. Man.. this is an EXPENSIVE hobby!! I love the tank, tho. Already addicted LOL..

oh, and BTW.. I kinna thought the lady was a lil nutso when she told me about he worms coming back to life. BUt she has 4 tanks herself, and answered lots of other questions, so I didn't know what to think!!

 

[Guest]

Trust me I've been feeding BLOOW WORMS every night for the last 5 yrs and have never heard or seen aone come back and be a zombie. LOL Once dead always dead. LOL

 

[lovemybarbs]

That's just freaking me out. I'm going to go tighten my lid.

I think the dried ones are worthless. I just bought some. They float and the frog generally doesn't. The barbs would rather have something else.

 

[tracygh]

I have come up with a way to feed worms (and other frozen/thawed foods) that's a bit more precise and gives you alot more control than a turkey baster.
I use a syringe (I have lots from the kids medicines) you can get them at the pharmacy for under a dollar, and cut a length or airline hose, and pushed it over the nozzle of the syringe. This allows me to place the food literally at their mouths if I need to. We have a couple of finnicky eaters that practically need to be spoon fed, this is the perfect solution. You have alot more control than a turkey baster.

HTH,
Tracy

 

[Guest]

One quick note on the dwarf frogs. They have to have the chlorian removed from the water as it will kill them. If you don't remve it from the water they will shed there skin more then normal. They normally shed there skin every 2 to 3 weeks til they reach full size. But if there's chlorian in the tank they will shed there skin every other day. Nothing looks nastyer then seeing a complete skin from one of them floating in the water. LOL I use the same method tracygh. It works grea til one getts cloged in the line. But that only happens once in a while.

 

[Johnmc]

ADFs don’t have to eat that much or often, but if you never see him eat, and his food doesn’t reach the bottom, he will starve.

The key to feeding ADFs in a community tank is to find foods that their tankmates won’t eat. How big/what kind of tetras do you have? Do they not attack the blood worms long before they reach the bottom? You may be better off feeding frozen brine or mysis shrimp, as it may be too big for small to medium tetras to handle. But whatever the food, it generally needs to sit on the bottom to give the ADF time to discover it. (Sand substrate is preferable to gravel, as food sits on top and doesn't get lost in the gravel.)

If not from tetra aggression, I would imagine the frog is hiding behind the heater due to a lack of cover. I would try a tangle of broad leafed plants, real or fake.

Good Luck.