African Dwarf Frogs

starryeyedtiger

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Anyone own one of these cute little frogss?
I am considering adopting one, but want to research as much as i can before i make a final decision to make sure it's a good fit for us!
I've already done a good deal of research so far but would be interested to hear what others think/recommend about them??? Pros/Cons to caring for them/etc?? Best foods/habitats. Also- i'm looking at keeping one in a community tank. I plan to have a female betta and small fish like tetras that might do well together.Nothing aggressive or that might injure the frog or seem like appealing food for the frog I will likely let the tank run for a few weeks and establish the temp/ph levels before i add anything to it. From what i understand you have to be careful with the filters because the frogs can get injured? Would it be best to go sans filter? Any ideas?
 

strange_wings

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Don't mix species, this is the general rule when keeping herps. Especially if this is your first herp of any kind, as a novice you don't need to complicate things for yourself. ...I've also witnessed even female bettas being a bit a aggressive so that wouldn't be the best tank mate either.

Find yourself a very good frog or herp forum - as a gecko and turtle keeper I can't think of any right off the top of my head, however this may be one place to start. http://forums.kingsnake.com/index.php

Make sure you have a place already that can be safe from your cats. You'll want to make sure you have a very secure cage with locking lid or doors that cannot be knocked over.
Look for information on picking out a healthy frog (I could do it in person but probably wouldn't be able to describe everything right for you).
 

sharky

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I lost two out of two within two weeks of them coming to me... by contrast my bettas saw yrs with me ...
 

vixen16

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Oooh I saw ADF just the other day at Wal-Mart! lol they kinda creeped me out

I had seen them in a tank with a couple types of Tetras.. so I would think it'd be fine.. but then idk much about Herps so dont listen to me


Good luck with you decision StarryEyedTiGeR.
 

buzbyjlc10

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I don't have experience with African dwarfs, but I do own an African clawed frog and she's awesome... I got her from the grow a frog site years ago and she's so much fun... I have her in her own tank, as was suggested by the site - she's in a 2.5 bow front tank with a small desktop filter in it (as she got bigger and laid eggs, her tank got a little messier and the filter I got works like a charm!)... my cat loves her btw haha, her tank is on the bottom shelf below my fish tank and he can watch her and I swear they play games with each other! She swims around a lot when he comes by the tank and then he paws the outside of the tank - it's cute... anyway, I could give you some advice if you decide to go the clawed route instead of the dwarf route - feel free to PM

I have a few good pics of her as well, but I think they're too big to upload - I could dump them in photobucket right quick though...

Edit:
Here's her new photobucket album
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ess10/Froglet/

The pics were right after a good tank cleaning and addition of new substrate... she has a few small pieces of decor, but those and the filter intake were still soaking to get un-icky at the time of the pictures
 

kaylacat

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My friend got one..was really excited about it and had read alot about it before getting it...then it died like a month later. She waited a few weeks and read some more...and then it died in a few weeks too. They seem to be very sensitive and hard to keep. They are cute though.
 

buzbyjlc10

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Originally Posted by Kaylacat

My friend got one..was really excited about it and had read alot about it before getting it...then it died like a month later. She waited a few weeks and read some more...and then it died in a few weeks too. They seem to be very sensitive and hard to keep. They are cute though.
My African claw has been quite a hardy little girl - she even escaped her tank once (I filled it too high) and had no problems after that... so if you're worried about the dwarfs being fragile, maybe go with a claw (like I said, I don't really know about the dwarfs, but seems that they are kind of fragile...?)
 

lindsey88

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I have one! They are great little critters. They need a diet of frozen bloodworms or frog pellets (petco). I keep mine with my female bettas and they get along just fine. You just have to make sure that the frog gets some food and the other fish don't take it all. I have had my little guy for about 5 months now and really like them. They are fun to watch. They are pretty sensitive so the tank needs to be fully cycled before they are added and be sure to plug all holes in the top of your tank or they can escape and they won't live very long after that...
 

vixen16

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

I don't have experience with African dwarfs, but I do own an African clawed frog and she's awesome... I got her from the grow a frog site years ago and she's so much fun... I have her in her own tank, as was suggested by the site - she's in a 2.5 bow front tank with a small desktop filter in it (as she got bigger and laid eggs, her tank got a little messier and the filter I got works like a charm!)... my cat loves her btw haha, her tank is on the bottom shelf below my fish tank and he can watch her and I swear they play games with each other! She swims around a lot when he comes by the tank and then he paws the outside of the tank - it's cute... anyway, I could give you some advice if you decide to go the clawed route instead of the dwarf route - feel free to PM

I have a few good pics of her as well, but I think they're too big to upload - I could dump them in photobucket right quick though...

Edit:
Here's her new photobucket album
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ess10/Froglet/

The pics were right after a good tank cleaning and addition of new substrate... she has a few small pieces of decor, but those and the filter intake were still soaking to get un-icky at the time of the pictures
Wow cute lil thing!...
but I would think she'd need something to rest on every now and then... ?? but idk much about frogs, soo... yea.
 

lindsey88

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

I don't have experience with African dwarfs, but I do own an African clawed frog and she's awesome... I got her from the grow a frog site years ago and she's so much fun... I have her in her own tank, as was suggested by the site - she's in a 2.5 bow front tank with a small desktop filter in it (as she got bigger and laid eggs, her tank got a little messier and the filter I got works like a charm!)... my cat loves her btw haha, her tank is on the bottom shelf below my fish tank and he can watch her and I swear they play games with each other! She swims around a lot when he comes by the tank and then he paws the outside of the tank - it's cute... anyway, I could give you some advice if you decide to go the clawed route instead of the dwarf route - feel free to PM

I have a few good pics of her as well, but I think they're too big to upload - I could dump them in photobucket right quick though...

Edit:
Here's her new photobucket album
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ess10/Froglet/

The pics were right after a good tank cleaning and addition of new substrate... she has a few small pieces of decor, but those and the filter intake were still soaking to get un-icky at the time of the pictures
woah that tank is WAAYY too small. African clawed frogs need at least 10-20 gallons..
 

buzbyjlc10

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Originally Posted by Lindsey88

woah that tank is WAAYY too small. African clawed frogs need at least 10-20 gallons..
Strange cuz the tank I have is at least 3 times the size of the ones they "recommend" for their full-grown frogs... she seems to be very happy by all accounts

She's definitely not always standing up on her back feet either, she just does that sometimes... she has plenty of room to rest on the bottom, which she does, and she swims around a lot... I doubt they ever will, but if my 2 goldfish ever tank, my plan is to transport the frog into the 10 gallon (the goldies were gifts to me - they're gorgeous, just messy... although I do love having them, so I just clean the tank a lot)... If I had the money, I'd upgrade her set-up, but I'm unemployed right now and she's in good health and appears happy, so I will have to hold off
 

lindsey88

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2-3 african dwarf frogs could live very happily in your tank but it isn't suitable for an african clawed frog.

He might appear happy but honestly there is no room for him to swim at all without running into the side.

There are many variations in recommendations for tank size for these critters, but being a fairly large frog they will need a good sized tank. Approximately 10 gallons per frog is a good rule of thumb.
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/frogs...icanclawed.htm
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

If I had the money, I'd upgrade her set-up, but I'm unemployed right now and she's in good health and appears happy, so I will have to hold off
If you can't afford a larger aquarium right now ask friends and family. A lot of people have spare 10s packed away somewhere (I have 3 and a 5 gal
). Then just get little stuff to go in it as you can afford it. I bet your frog would love real plants.
 

nekochan

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I have owned quite a few African Dwarf Frogs and several African Clawed Frogs. The ADFs are really nice little pets. I have found they do well in a tank with a few (fake) plants to hide in, and mine did better in a tank with no gravel on the bottom because it made it easier for them to find and scoop up their food and easier to clean.
The ones I had liked the bloodworms in gel that they sell at many pet stores better than the frozen bloodworms, and did really well on frozen beef heart. As a treat they LOVED live brine shrimp! I rinsed the shrimp so they wouldn't add too much salt to the water.
If you feed them pellets be sure that they are the sinking type.

If you get male ADFs, they may sing for you! It's a very small sound and underwater so you can usually only hear it when the room is quiet but it is really neat!
 

keith p

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I've had them, 2 of mine lived to be 5 and I got them at a Genovese.

The smaller tanks arent so good mainly because these little guys zip around the tank and bump into things alot. 5 gallons could hold 2 nicely by themselves with no other animals in the tank, 10 gallons probably 4 frogs since they dont get that big and offcourse shouldnt have to exhaust themselves to reach the surface to breath, they are little!

And yes, I have seen them somehow scale the sides of the tank and try to climb out, and out of water they can hop! But they will die once they dry out, so have a good cover!

A calm flowing filter is good because they do make a mess searching for food turning up rocks and small plants. They will spend hours searching for food,and when you do put food in be prepared for alot of excitement. They like to hunt in the dark rather than light,and there great sense of smell allows them to do this.

They like to hide in caves most of the time, so do provide a hiding space, and dont have sharp objects, there skin easily damages and then you have to worry about infection. If you can do without gravel that will make it easier for them
to find the food.

I personally didnt have any other animal with them. Fish too small would be eaten, but fish too big will injure or even kill the frogs. And the difference between them and there larger cousin the african clawed frog is these guys stay small, and the african clawed frogs will eat them, so dont mix them under any circumstances!

I fed mine mostly live food. Live blackworms,tubifex worms, small brine shrimp. They also eat frozen bloodworms and sinking tadpole pellets. But the pellets should not be the only thing in there diet, they need variety.

They also will over-eat, so there feeding schedule needs to be monitered. They are also succeptable to Bloat disease, where they balloon up and float to the surface and cant swim.

If you have a mature male, they will call to females by making a loud humming sound. It's really bizarre sounding!

Here are the pellets to look for, since these are the only ones that will fit in there mouth! There called Frog & Tadpole bites.


And heres how to tell african clawed from african dwarf.

Dwarf (eyes on side of head)

Clawed (eyes on top of head, when they are small they can easily be confused with there dwarf cousins)


Good site on there care.
http://davidcecere.pipidae.org/
 

lindsey88

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Also Dwarfs have webbing between the front toes and clawed frogs do not.
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Wow! Thanks for the great advice everyone!
I went to the store tonight and looked around at some of the ADF's they had. They are sooo cute in person!

I ordered the new tank tonight and it should be in tomorrow.
I picked up the gravel (made sure it wasn't too large or too small) and some other things as well (plants - wide leafed so they can climb them if they want) and a few other things. I'm going to filter the tank for a week or two and try to get the ph just right before i add any to it.
I've called the guy i normally get my fish from (he's amazing- he owns this small fish shop he's had for ages- only person i trust to get fish from for my tanks
I've also researched their nutrition, ideal tank environment, and what is safe to add/not add with them so hopefully i'll be well prepared when we finally do get one!


(also, i decided against the female betta after researching a bit more since some are saying they can be aggressive. instead, we're looking at a few neon tetras and some guppies for a community tank.) Thanks for all the advice everyone! I appreciate it!
 

lindsey88

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IMO bettas and adfs can make good tankmates. I have my little female in with my adf and they are so cute together. lol The frog actually sometimes chases the betta and they will have stare downs. I really need to take pictures. lol
 

nekochan

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I had tetras in with some of my ADFs before. I used them to cycle the tank and then decided to just let them stay... They did like the chase the tetras around!
I haven't seen it as much with the dwarf frogs, but the clawed frogs will eat anything (fish) they can get into their mouths and will TRY to eat things too big to fit in their mouths!
 
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starryeyedtiger

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So i'm thinking about having Guppies, Neon Tetras, and the ADF together- does that sound like a good community tank? I will use the guppies to cycle with first for several weeks then add the neons (they don't stand up well to cycling from what i understand so i want to add them later on) and then the frog several weeks later once the ph is established and the tank is fully cycled. I've been doing a bit of research and it sounds like those would do well together. Also, in the pet store i visited today- they had their ADF's in tanks with both guppies and tetras and all seemed to do very well. Any comments or experience with that mix guys?
 
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