Care for an African Dwarf Frog?

Question

Hi -

I added an African Dwarf frog to my 29 gallon tropical aquarium about 3-4 weeks ago. He was an active little frog and appeared to be getting bigger when all of a sudden he died.

I was feeding him according to the instructions from the fish store (1/2 piece of tubeworm cubes every other day and a pinch of bloodworms about 2-3 times per week). It's a fresh water, tropical tank. I keep it at about 74-76F. It has live plants, a filter, lots of gravel and natural rocks.

The other fish in the tank are neon tetras, velvet swords and 2 plecostamus (sp?). He didn't look like he'd been attacked or nibbled on.

Any idea what I might have done wrong? Did I not feed enough? Too much? Wrong water temp?

I'd like to know before I get another one.

Thanks!

Answer 1

First of all, you need to be wary of any new frogs you pick up from now on. More often than not, you're going to get one with chytrid fungus - chytrid will most likely not affect your fish, but your frogs may very well die from it, as the only medications that are successful in treating it are not usually sold in stores. Read more about quarantining, treating, and symptoms of chytrid at the following link: http://p076.ezboard.com/fflippersnfinsfrm8.showMessage?topicID=1122.topic

Secondly, that tank is a little on the cooler side for most of your fish. Frogs tend to get sick at temps below 78 degrees. In fact, red leg is very prominent in tanks where the temp is consistently at around 74 degrees. I'd up your temp over the next couple of days to at least 78 degrees. All of your fish will appreciate it (though, depending on what kind of pleco you have, they tend to like lower temps).

Also, cut back on feeding the frogs. They will scavenge for and eat fish food on days you don't feed them. Not only that, but half a block of worms is quite a bit for every other day for only one frog. I tend to feed mine half a block every third day, but there's three of them to split that half block. Also, if these are freeze-dried, consider soaking them (including your bloodworms) in tank water for about fifteen minutes before feeding. This allows the worms to expand in the water before the frogs/fish eat them, rather than allowing them to expand in their stomachs.

Keep in mind that if this frog did have chytrid, even if you get a healthy frog at this point, he will be exposed to the fungus in your tank. If your frog did not show any of the symptoms listed on the website I provided, I wouldn't worry too much. But if he did, I'd hold off on getting another frog until you can nuke the tank.

Answer 2

The 1.5 gallons should be ok, but the more space, the better. I would feed blood worms to them, and I also found it useful to get an aquarium tweezers to feed them with (you can get them in the reptile section of a pet store, such as Pet Smart). You might want things in the tank like gravel, a filter, plants, a cave(mine love their cave! lol), and a heater if it gets cold. Feed them every other day or so and chang the water every 1-1.5 months. Make sure that they have a lid to the tank, but some air holes so they can breathe or else they might jump out. If you want some companions, I would suggest at least a 2.5 gallon. Some fish are a betta, guppies, and tetras. Snails are ok as well, and the frogs get along with each other. I hope this helps!

Answer 3

I had my dwarf frogs for 3 years, and I fed them frog pellets (little brown ones) 2-3 times a day (1 at a time)or I would just wait until he didn't eat them as fast, then I knew I was done feeding him until I got home from school. it worked out great. I fed them like 3-5 pellets twice a day pretty much, but I had 2 frogs, so i had to feed them more

Answer 4

i dont know but be careful with your pleco. If they eat all the algae then they will both starve. This happened to my clown pleco but i had more algae eating fish besides him so that could of been the problem