African Dwarf Frog Care and Breeding Guide

The hobby of frog keeping is not as old as that of fish keeping but since it was first discovered that frogs could be kept as well as fish, it is one hobby that many aquarists truly enjoy. One of the most popular aquarium frogs amongst aquarium enthusiasts is the African Dwarf Frog. Before its discovery as an aquarium favorite, the frog was not easy to find out of its native home of Africa. Now, the frog is readily available in pet stores and local fish stores. Children are particularly attracted to this frog and for this you can easily find it placed in kid’s rooms. As such here is an article on African Dwarf Frog Care.

Habitat

The African Dwarf Frog is mostly found in a number of small streams and ponds throughout much of Africa. The frog likes to hide in the bottom most part of the water, taking advantage of its distinct coloration to help it camouflage with the litter of leaves and other detritus found at the bottom. The frog is known to spend almost all of its time fully submerged in water only coming to the surface in a few moments to take in air or gobble food. The frog basically lives in fresh water where it spends most of its lifetime.

Appearance of African Dwarf Frog

The African Dwarf Frog has webbing between its fingers on its front hands to make it easier for it to move about in water. If you take a close look at the African dwarf frog you will notice that it has the eyes on the sides of the head unlike most other frogs that usually have eyes on the top of their heads. The nose of the frog is also usually pointier as in elongated compared to other varieties of frogs that you will find in the hobby market today.

Tank Requirements

African dwarf frog care is quite easy as long as you follow the basic requirements set out for keeping frogs in aquariums everything will just be good to go. Providing a tank that is not too big for the frog is advised. In fact a tank that is at least 5 gallons can do. Here below is a sneak peek at some to the basic tank requirements:

• A five gallon tank for a single frog but a larger tank will be needed if you need to keep a group of the frogs is a single tank.
• It is best to keep them in groups because they are highly sociable.
• They are notorious hoppers/jumpers so ensure that the tank has got a lid over it. Just ensure that there is enough space between the water surface and the lid for the frog to emerge when it need to breathe in some air.
• For filtration of the tank, a small hang on back filter can do the job perfectly well. A sponge filter can also do the job, so you can use either.
• The frog doesn’t prefer waters with lots of current and therefore you shouldn’t do much filtration.
• Always ensure the quality of water in the tank is great because the frogs are very sensitive and will get opportunistic infections easily in unclean environments.
• The substrate should not contain any sharp gravel and this can easily injure the delicate frogs. Also when placing plastic plants in the tank please never place those with sharp edges because this can be a source of injury for the frogs.
• When keeping the frog in captivity, ensure that you provide for them what is referred to as day and night. This therefore calls on the keeper to use aquarium UV lights that will act like artificial sunshine for the frogs.
• As for the water temperature one that is controlled between 75 and 78°F is advised to help keep the frog comfortable in the tank. To be able to achieve this ideal temperature in the tank you can use an aquarium heater.

Feeding

One important aspect of African dwarf frog care is feeding. Feeding the frog may not be much of a hustle for you because the frog will generally eat anything that is provided to so long as it is edible. Below are some of the common foods that you can successfully use to feed the frog while keeping it in captivity:

• Frog food
• Shrimp pellets
• Frozen and live food
• Frozen daphnia
• Brine shrimp
• Blood worms
• Mosquito larvae
• Black worms

Feeding frogs that are kept in a community tank needs lots of attention due to the fact they have poor eyesight. This therefore calls on the keeper to extend a little bit of courtesy to the frogs when feeding them. Using a turkey Baster or tongs is advised to help you lower food to the frogs when it is meal time. Mostly, if you simply just insert food in the tank without caring much, they may not even realize that you provide them with food and they will not find the food to eat.

How compatible are they with other tank mates?

The African Dwarf Frogs are usually readily compatible with other peaceful fish and therefore they can be kept with such fish easily. You should never house the frog with highly aggressive fish as this will cause the lots of harassment that is uncalled for. Fish like cichlids that are aggressive should not be kept in a similar tank with these frogs as they will harass them a lot. The other fish that should not be kept in the same tank with the frog are Oscar due to their aggressive nature.

Breeding

The male and female of the African Dwarf Frog usually reach sexual maturity when they are at least nine months of age. The females are usually slightly larger than the males when they have eggs on them. During mating he male will mount the female on the top and then the pair will start to move about in the water in a somewhat bizarre occurrence. The female will then lay eggs as the male releases his sperm to fertilize them.

Conclusion for African Dwarf Frog Care

In conclusion, as you can read above, caring for African dwarf frog is not as hard as you might think. In fact, if you follow all the tank setup and requirement, it is very much manageable. So if you already have an aquarium or even better a terrarium, go and get yourself some African dwarf frog.