African Dwarf Frog coming up for air every 30 seconds

[sleepyapricot]

Hello!

I'm new to this forum and relatively new to fish-keeping as I've had fish (mainly bettas) for about 3 years. I just recently learned about the nitrogen cycle and have had a fully cycled planted tank with a betta and snail for about 6 months. Recently I fully cycled a new planted 10 gallon tank I had laying around in preparation for a new 15 gallon sump filter tank arriving on Monday 4/27 where I'll be adding 2 ADF's, 6 pygmy corys, and some nano schooling fish. After cycling this new tank I got 2 African Dwarf Frogs to put in the 10 gallon, one happened to be male and the other female. I've had them for about 5-6 days.

The female is calm and comes up for air about every 10ish minutes depending. She eats normally and seems fine with the water parameters. But the male seems ever-so-slightly bloated in the abdomen (not enough to look like dropsy and he isn't bulging anywhere, he just seems a little fatter than I remember but normal). His swimming is very fast up and down, sometimes not even reaching the top to breathe, and he nose-dives into the pebble substrate hard enough for me to hear it. It almost looks like he's having difficulty getting air, poking his nose out multiple times before getting a breath. Sometimes he'll stop for a time too, and at night he still croaks normally.

I'm wondering why he does this when the female frog is calm and seems to not mind the water or food. Could he have swallowed a small rock? I know that causes bloating pretty quickly but he's been like this for days since I got them without bloating or not eating.

Any advice? Are males just more active?

 

[CDGQY]

Hello and welcome to the forum. If you have the ADFs in a 10 gallon tank, I assume the depth is 12 inches or less so that healthy frogs can make it to the surface easily. I think that ADFs normally surface for air a few times everyday. It seems that your frogs aren’t getting enough oxygen, so I would be sure the tank is well cycled (ie no ammonia). Is the water temperature within normal parameters? Does the skin look healthy or is it pale or reddish which are unfortunately signs of a disease. Be sure to keep something in your tank that would allow the ADFs a resting place nearer the water surface such as a wood branch, plants, or floating dock that rests just beneath the surface so the frog is fully submerged but easily able to get air. I’ve never had a frog jump out of the tank, but it can happen so make sure the tank is securely covered. I’m not sure about your frog “croaking” though they do hum. Good luck with your frogs. I find ADFs to be absolutely delightful.