Warning about African Dwarf Frogs

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Try this! It's what works for me

Buy a 5.5 gallon tank, it's very cheap. Buy 2 dwarf frogs and a dwarf pleco, let them settle in for a week or two. the first few days they will be less active because they should be adjusting to the environment. Dwarf frogs are bottom feaders, but like bettas they require swimming to the surface to get oxygen. My frogs eat the food that floats to the bottom after feeding my betta. When I feed them pellets every now and then; they have to be target fed. The reason for a smaller tank is because the dwarf frogs actually are not the best swimmers, and it is a struggle for them to swim upward for more then 20 in. The smaller the tank, the easier it is on the frogs. When there is many other fish, they swim to the top less frequently; therefor, less oxygen.I added a betta in with them and things have been great.
 
munoza said:
Buy a 5.5 gallon tank, it's very cheap. Buy 2 dwarf frogs and a dwarf pleco, let them settle in for a week or two. the first few days they will be less active because they should be adjusting to the environment. Dwarf frogs are bottom feaders, but like bettas they require swimming to the surface to get oxygen. My frogs eat the food that floats to the bottom after feeding my betta. When I feed them pellets every now and then; they have to be target fed. The reason for a smaller tank is because the dwarf frogs actually are not the best swimmers, and it is a struggle for them to swim upward for more then 20 in. The smaller the tank, the easier it is on the frogs. When there is many other fish, they swim to the top less frequently; therefor, less oxygen.I added a betta in with them and things have been great.
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Two adf, a pleco, and a betta is way overstocked.
 
What can someone tell me about dropsy? My daughters 2 frogs ADF's are bloated and this has us very worried!
They are in a 20 long with 3 snails, a shubunkin goldfish, 2 rasboras and 3 ballon belly mollies.
Becca noticed one of them looked pregnant 2 days ago. She looked up pics of dropsy and pics of pregnant ones. She said it fit the prego look.
But now the other has become bloated as well.
I found 1 place online that suggested taking them to the vet, but that if it's dropsy, they should be euthanized.
These 2 are the most awesome members of her tank!
Oh, this tank has sand substrate, a Aqueon hob filter, numerous live plants. She admits that she missed this last water change, so it had been 2 was since, but is doing it now.
Can anyone tell us anything?
 
I've never heard of a frog getting dropsy before, but they are quite prone to "bloat"... Sometimes this is genetic, other times it is due to the foods you're giving them. Bloodworms and freeze dried food both tend to cause bloat and should be used very sparingly. I wouldn't euthanize them as long as they appear to be eating and swimming normally. I had a VERY bloated frog (was that way from nearly day 1) lovingly referred to as "Squishy" who lived for 3 years happily like this...
 

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Wow! Absolutely the right name!
Great pic, by the way.
The plant behind and next to him? Can you tell me it's name?
I got some recently and forgot to write down the name (or as I usually do, photograph the tag!).
 
Oh, and thanks for the info.
Looking at your pic and what hers look like, I think hers are maybe a little overweight, but not bloated.
 
Normalnot1 said:
Wow! Absolutely the right name!
Great pic, by the way.
The plant behind and next to him? Can you tell me it's name?
I got some recently and forgot to write down the name (or as I usually do, photograph the tag!).
Click to expand...

Hehe, thanks :)

The plant behind him is Green Cambomba.
 
Thanks everyone, for letting us know about the dwarf frogs. It is greatly appreciated.
 
Luananeko said:
This is an old thread, but in light of there being so many negative outcomes posted so far, I wanted to add a success story :)



I've had ADFs in several community tanks over the last 5 years or so with zero problems whatsoever. It is totally doable, but it takes some extra care. Here's the factors that I think will give you the best success:



1) Don't expect them to eat pellets, flakes, or sinking tablets. It is a very rare frog that will eat them. Frozen and live foods they will eat with gusto and will be fat and happy frogs in no time.



2) You absolutely have to target feed them. They have horrible eyesight and find their food mostly by smell. My fish are constantly stealing food from right in front of the frog's faces if I don't distract the rest of the tank first with their own food before feeding the frogs. I put the frozen cubes (chopped in half if they're too big) into a turkey baster, suck up some tank water into the tube, put my finger over the end and shake till the cube thaws out. Then I hold the end of the tube in front of the frog's face and squeeze the food out so it just barely hangs out the end and dangles just in front of the frogs nose. They'll grab it within a few seconds. I usually tap the front of the tank a couple times before putting in the turkey baster so the frogs have an audio cue to connect with feeding time. Once they hear it they come right to the front if they're hungry.



3) Don't keep them in big tanks. I had my frogs in my 75 gallon tank for a while and usually the only time I saw them was at feeding time because they would hide from all the activity. They also have to work harder to get to the surface to breathe in the taller tanks. Worn out frogs that are nervous from all the larger community (both in number of fish and fish size) = hiding frogs.



4) Keep a few of them, not just a single frog. Frogs seem to like company, and if you have both males and females they'll tend to grapple and sing to each other. Having company tends to make them more bold about not hiding all the time.



5) Consider ways to give them dimmer lighting, whether this is in the form of having floating plants, tall plants, or using moonlights. They tend to shy away from the bright lighting used in planted tanks. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have live plants, quite the contrary. They do appreciate having live plants to either climb to the surface or to hang out under and will be more active and social if you offer these things rather than keep them in an unplanted tank.



Given the right care and tank, frogs can add quite a bit of comedy and interest to a community. I love my frogs, and am constantly laughing at the odd poses I find them in when they're front and center begging for food. They're very comedic klutzes and I'll hear them singing to each other on most nights. Don't be discouraged!
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I'm having a awful time feeding my ADF. I'm planning in picking up a turkey baster, but do you recommend I buy for food. I'm working on a right budget too.

I have 1 frog in a 2.5 gallon tank with a 5-10 gallon filter I've attempted to modify. I have small river stones not gravel and the pet store guy said to go to gravel so the food doesn't fall between the stones and cause tank chemistry off.

I would like to give him some company once I get these issues resolved, but is adding another ADF to a 2.5 tank a sound idea.

I'm wishing I had bought the 5 gallon tank. Any insight would be appreciated (by me and my frog).
 
CRexy said:
I'm having a awful time feeding my ADF. I'm planning in picking up a turkey baster, but do you recommend I buy for food. I'm working on a right budget too.

I have 1 frog in a 2.5 gallon tank with a 5-10 gallon filter I've attempted to modify. I have small river stones not gravel and the pet store guy said to go to gravel so the food doesn't fall between the stones and cause tank chemistry off.

I would like to give him some company once I get these issues resolved, but is adding another ADF to a 2.5 tank a sound idea.

I'm wishing I had bought the 5 gallon tank. Any insight would be appreciated (by me and my frog).
Click to expand...

Agreed with 54seaweed, 2.5g is too small for a frog. They're very messy eaters and will easily throw your water parameters out of whack in such a small space. A 5g can work if you're very careful about cleaning it regularly and not letting uneaten food rot, but the 10g would be much better and would give you more space for additional frogs.

River stones are ok as long as you lift them up and clean under them every time you do a water change. Moderately sized gravel is fine too as long as you do a thorough gravel vac regularly. I've had good success with fine-grained sand since it keeps all the leftover food on top and is easier to clean. Avoid small sized gravel types, as the frogs can sometimes gulp down the gravel pieces when feeding.

Food-wise, mysis shrimp and brine shrimp (either frozen or live, but they're a bit clumsy at hunting the live ones) are good staples, but bloodworms are greedily accepted as a treat. Just don't feed those constantly since they tend to cause bloat and aren't as nutritious. You can also look at the "Freshwater variety" frozen packs that Petco and Petsmart sell. I've never had a frog turn down any frozen foods.
 
I'm no expert, but I currently have three ADFs. They are hilarious! They act like little drunken men half the time. I have them in a 60-70 gallon tank, with a male Beta, 3 glow tetras(was not aware these poor guys were genetically altered when I bought em, that's messed up imo), 5 neon tetras, and a peco. They are hard to feed, kind of. At times I do worry when I toss a frozen cube of brine shrimp or blood worms in and I only see two show up to eat, but I haven't lost one yet and have had all three of them for just short of 18 months. I used to use a turkey Baster to put their food in a clay dish, and sometimes I still do but for the most part they let me know when they are hungry, and although they do seem to have terrible vision often missing the food I put right in front of them they always seem to run into the food eventually. Also just today one of them was hanging out at the surface, kind of following me around as I was feeding them so diced night crawlers, and he did let me hand feed him. I never tried before
 
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