Tankmates for African Dwarf Frog?

pisces70

AC Members
Feb 18, 2012
166
0
0
The tank is a 10 gallon long and there's just one lonely little African dwarf frog in the tank at the moment. It has a sandy substrate, silk plants, plastic logs, ceramic cave, etc.
How many of these little frogs could I keep in this size of tank and what other tankmates (fish, inverts) would be suitable? I was thinking of keeping at least two albino frogs and two normal frogs.
I want to keep the bio-load on the lighter side due to the fact that I have to use a smallish, slim filter due to where the tank is located on the kitchen counter.

Thank you for any ideas you may have for this tank.
 
Hmm. I didn't know there were albino dwarf frogs? Are you sure you aren't talking about the albino clawed frog? Different critters, different needs. An Albino clawed frog will eventually grow and eat your dwarf frogs and fish. They are really awesome frogs, but get really big, as in the size of your hand.

If you mean dwarf...I am surprised. I've never seen them in the albino mutation.

To answer your question. The dwarf ones you could keep I would say 3-5 in your 10g. and just have it as a species tank. They can be shy at eating, so it would give them no competition to worry about when it comes to food. Or maybe 3 dwarfs and a mystery snail or two to help a bit as clean up crew. Or 3 frogs and a small school of neons for color.

We kept 3 dwarfs in a 10g in my daughters room when she was a baby. She loved them. They had some snail friends and a lone male guppy as a tank mate. It was a very sweet, peaceful tank. AND...the cool thing, when the frogs were happy, usually during feeding, they would "chirp". You could hear it!! :D I also trained the frogs to come to a wee tiny ceramic plate from one of my daughters tea sets to eat. It made keeping track of their food and what they eat/didn't eat easier. They would sit and even beg at the plate when they thought it was chow time. We really enjoyed that tank!
 
:dance2:I was going to answer maybe a guppy or two and another 2-3 frogs. Mykidslife beat me to it and put it far more eloquently than i.
 
Just a little FYI. African dwarf frogs have webbed front feet, clawed frogs do not. Just look carefully for webbing on the front feet to make sure you are getting the dwarf species. (both have webbing on their back feet) Also, the dwarfs eyes are more on the side of their heads where as the clawed frogs are more on top. I don't know how many times I've seen clawed frogs being sold as dwarf by un-knowing pet store employees. It often happens to people and then their little frogs grow into these frog monsters that eat their fish! I do love the clawed variety as well but totally different from the dwarf species. The dwarf species theoretically *can* also eat fish, but usually if they are well fed, they rarely do or give the effort to.

I also meant to say your filter will probably do quite well as long as you keep up with your water changes regularly. They need to breathe air so a strong current can make it difficult for them to get to the surface. They are prone to fungal infections, especially when you first get them so look at the ones your purchasing closely, especially around the leg areas, for any fuzzy white or "slimy" looking areas. As long as you do your weekly water changes and keep their water healthy, it wouldn't be a problem after that.
 
Sorry, my mistake! I could have sworn we saw some albino dwarf frogs...oh well. I do know that the clawed frogs get huge and are eating machines and I don't want them. Anyway, maybe the dwarf frogs we saw were just a lighter color, the one we have is just slightly darker than the natural sand in the tank. The guy at Petsmart said that these little dwarf frogs are good at escaping the tank, so I only purchased one to try out. No problems at all so far and it's been about 3 weeks. He eats just fine, I've seen him eat shrimp pellets and frozen bloodworms, I think he's even tried out the fish flakes when they sink to the bottom.

The filter is a nice gentle flowing one that is very quiet, too. It's an Aqua Top 3D hob, very slim, it's rated for up to a 20g.

I actually tried some guppies recently, but lost all 3 due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning. I had kept the 2 goldfish in the 10gL for a few days before the 30gxh was set up. Had the guppies in the 40b during that time. Once I got everyone moved back to their proper tanks, I somehow didn't think to change out all the water in the 10gL before placing the guppies back in it, stupid, stupid. The tank was toxic after the goldfish being in there for just a few days! :( By the time I realized there was a problem, I had lost the bamboo shrimp and a guppy, I did major water changes for the 2 remaining guppies but it was too late and they both died as well. That small filter just wasn't enough to keep up with 2 goldfish in the tank. I'm done with guppies for the time being. I know it wasn't their fault, it was totally mine for not thinking the water needed to be changed out from the goldfish.

I was considering a nice little shoal of regular neons and black neons, that would look nice in the 10gL and they are hardy little fish that I've always liked.
So, three more ADF's and some neons will probably be it for that tank.

Thank you for the info on the frogs! :)
 
AquariaCentral.com