African Dwarf Frog Attacks

[fishy_love]

I have had 5 adf in my tank since December, well, 4 now that one disappeared one weekend. None of the little guys have shown signs of aggression but recently, we noticed our 2 plecos were beginning to have torn fins/tails as well as a couple of our mollies. After paying very close attention we saw our adfs jumping onto the backs of our fish and biting them! The fish heal overnight luckily but is there anyway I can stop this behavior? All of the creatures are fed well and no one else is aggressive, just the mean little frogs. I keep reading that adfs aren't aggressive but clawed are, mine however are not clawed. I'm at a loss, I think the little frogs are so cute but I like my 2 plecos better.

 

[Fresh N Salt guy]

How bigs your tank? My adf messes with my plecos but nothing violent like house describing. You say its healed by the morning but is there visible damage that night. We laugh and say they are playing tag at my house. It will stalk the pleco and then strike the pleco, no open mouth or anything, just a head butt. Then the pleco will take off and sometimes turn around and start chasing the frog. Neither of them have ever hurt each other though

 

[fishy_love]

20gal and the frogs have a big flat driftwood chunk they burrow under all the time. I have 1 bn pleco about 2inches long and 1 highfin spotted pleco baby about 2inches as well, maybe a bit smaller. I also have a couple different Molly fish swimming about and 2 baby clown loach, each also about 2inches. It's a recent development and usually happens right after feeding time. But yes, the little frogs hop on the backs of my fish and bite their fins, my lyretail Molly still has scaring on the bottom of her tail from one of the attacks... My highfin and bn heal overnight and there aren't ever any scars but the mollies seem to take a day and have scaring. I have a separate tank with cichlids I am going to eventually move my highfin and possibly my clowns to when they outgrow this tank.
Is there anything I can do to stop this or will separation probably be the only fix? I have a little 3.5 gal cube I could set up for the frogs if that is big enough. However their wood will definitely not fit in there...

 

[Fresh N Salt guy]

You have a heavy bottom level load in your tank for its size. This could be a result of competition in your tank for food. 2 things to try. First if your feeding 1 time a day break it up into 2-3 smaller feedings and its possible they can set up a feeding schedule per fish that some will feed first feeding, weaker fish 2nd feeding and lastly weakest fish that night. It might be in relation to that. Also, watch your frogs closely and try and distinguish the alpha frog. Usually the aggressive one that protects his territory intently. Removing the alpha from the equation can bring peace to your tank and keeping all your frogs but 1. Lastly, like I mentioned earlier, it is a heavy bottom loaded tank with not enough room for each animal to have it own territory without the. Overlapping. Removing the loaches and plecos when they outgrow the tank will almost definitely alleviate the problem. If possible moving earlier can help if your new tank isn't a overly aggressive tank and not put your smaller fish in danger. I would try these steps in order to see if any of those suggestion can resolve your problem

 

[Fresh N Salt guy]

When feeding, maybe even try to throw a frozen bllodworm brick in and wait til it sinks to the bottom. Then throw your flakes in for the mollie, then drop algae pellets in for the plecos at night. That will separate the frogs feeding while the mollie eats up top and the plecos and frogs won't fight over the algae pellets because the frogs won't want the algae. It would require a pretty big piece of driftwood to house all these frogs and plecos and I'm guessing In a 20 gal you didn't cram it to the brim with wood. Also try adding a few smaller piced of driftwood to create some more hiding places to spread out everyone. Boil or soak before you add them so you don't turn your water yellow for a few weeks.

 

[JadeGreen]

Are you positive that they're African Dwarf Frogs and not African Clawed Frogs? They often get mislabeled at pet stores, and the clawed frogs are a lot more aggressive, and grow to be a lot larger. Easiest way to know for sure is to check out their front hands. If they're webbed, they're dwarf frogs, if they're individual digits, then you were accidentally sold clawed frogs.