Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A couple of months ago my son and I decided to get some African Dwarf frogs. We have lots of experience with goldfish but these little guys are so cute we wanted to try them. So we took our clean 10 gal tank (hasn't had an occupant for over a year) and set it up for the froggies: undergravel filter, heater set to 78 degrees, small epoxy-coated gravel for the bottom (big enough so they won't eat it), gro-lite and natural plants (Amazon sword, cobamba, and jungle something-or-other (it's long and skinny). We let the aquarium cycle for 2 weeks without the animals and then added an apple snail and 3 ADFs, which we bought at the best pet store we know of. We are feeding them frozen bloodworms which we spread around the tank so they won't fight over them. The snail also eats shrimp pellets and algae wafers, but I've never seen the frogs touch those.

After 4 days, we lost one of the ADFs. Before he died, he spent more and more time sitting on top of the heater, half out of the water. We took the pet store up on their guarantee and replaced him. But within another 3 days, all of the frogs were dead. They didn't look like anything was wrong with them. I was concerned that the whole batch had been sick when we got them, so we left the tank for another 2 weeks with just the snail happily puttering around, did lots of water changes and added a dose of Melafix just in case bacteria was a problem.

We got 3 new frogs from another pet store and for the first couple of weeks they were fine. Then 2 days ago we lost one: again, he spent his last days sitting on the heater. His chest looked like his heart had exploded, but he wasn't bloated. Today it looks like we're going to lose another one, as he was laying upside down on the bottom when I rescued him to a small container where he can't drown. He's very lethargic. The 3rd one seems normal for now but considering the past, I don't give him long.

I vacuum the gravel once a week and do a 20% water change with clean, dechlorinated water at room temperature.

What are we doing wrong? I want to get more frogs but we can't keep having funerals! This is too heartbreaking.

The heater might be set at 78F but have you checked the actual water temperature? It's never safe to rely on the heater's calibration setting. The other thing is that you say you change 20% of the water at room temperature. The replacement water should be the same temperature as the water in the tank. If it's significantly cooler the shock might be killing the frogs.

Well, I have to admit that we've been wondering about whether the water temperature was causing stress... Does anyone else have an opinion? Does anyone actually heat the water before they clean their aquarium? I've never done this with tropical fish. How would you heat it, if you were going to do this?

We have a thermometer on the aquarium (the stick-on kind) that says that the water's at 75 degrees, and the heater is set to 79, but I'm going to borrow a "floater" today and double check the numbers. I would assume the difference is because the outside thermometer is sensing through the glass and I'd' expect it to be colder out there.

It's really weird: my son's school has 2 ADFs in one of those tall "tube" aquariums with a plant at the top and no heater: and they're fine.

We did lose our remaining 2 froggies... the last 2 were a lot more typical in that they bloated and floated at the end. There was some red on their underbellies so I suspect a bacterial infection - red leg?

Besides tempterature my other chief suspect is the frozen bloodworms. They seem to "choke" on them sometimes and the frog that lasted the longest is the one who ate the least. Can you have a bad batch? Is there anything else I can feed these guys as a staple diet?

Hey!

I have kept ADF's for many years. Right now I have 4 in a 10 gallon tank. I don't use a heater!!! I have never used a heater and they've been living great for 2 years now. I just try to keep the temperature between 70-75. I feed them frozen bloods worms twice a day, don't overfeed!! And about the snail, I would personally take it out. I once had a snail in my tank and it killed one of my frogs. Make sure the tank has a lot of hiding spots. Good luck!! I hope this helps you.

It does sound like redleg. I had an experience with it once when my pacman frog had it. We had to have him put to sleep. Perhaps they were very stressed and stress can cause redleg. I am pretty sure that stress gave our frog redleg, although we left him alone most of the time.

Snails and ADF get along fine. The 'attack' you saw was probably a case of dead frog, snail doing it job and cleaning up.