Check the feet, not the face
An african dwarf frog is sold in the same tanks as a fish, in a shop that also sells the African clawed frog, and Wikipedia says the two get mixed up: it is often mistaken for the African clawed frog, a similar-looking frog in the same family. The clawed frog is larger and more aggressive, so buying the wrong one means the tank on this page is the wrong tank.
Two of our sources explain how to tell them apart and they contradict each other on one of the three features. Both agree on the other two, and those two are the ones to use.
| Feature | African dwarf frog | African clawed frog | Agreed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front feet | Webbed, all four feet | Independent digits, no webbing | yes |
| Eyes | On the sides of the head | On top of the head | yes |
| Snout | Pointed, says one source. Curved, says the other | Pointed, says one source. Nothing, says the other | no |
| Size and temper | 1 to 3 in, and it cannot handle aggression | Larger and more aggressive, says Wikipedia | yes |
The snout row is the one to ignore. Modest Fish gives the dwarf frog a pointed snout; FrogPets gives the dwarf frog a curved snout and the clawed frog a pointed one. Station 04 prints both quotes. Check the feet and the eyes, which both of them agree on, and never mind the face. Two frogs that look alike in a shop tank do not stay alike: these frogs top out at three inches and the other one keeps going.
Aquarium Breeder names the species in the shops, Hymenochirus boettgeri, and FrogPets lists all four in the genus: the Zaire or Congo H. boettgeri, the Eastern H. boulengeri, the Western H. curtipes and the Gaboon H. feae. Nothing our sources publish separates the care of one from another.
Why this record was written now
- The gap
- Twenty thousand searches a month and nothing on this site to answer any of it. It is the second amphibian here, after the axolotl, and the two are nothing alike.
- What it changes
- It ties the betta and the pea puffer for the smallest minimum tank in the fish silo at five gallons, and it is the first record where three sources put a limit on how deep the water can be.
- What it does not
- Two figures are refused. A confident adult size, because five sources span a factor of three, and a feeding frequency, because a retailer says twice a day and a specialist says every other day or less.
How big, and for how long
Two of the four figures a buyer wants are the two our sources are furthest apart on.
| Source | Adult size | Lifespan | Temperature | pH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 1 to 1.5 in | Average 5 years, known over 20 | not stated | not stated |
| Aquarium Breeder | 2 to 2.5 in | Up to 8, reports of 10 plus | 73 to 79 °F | 6.5 to 7.5 |
| FrogPets | Up to 2 in | not stated | 72 to 82 °F | not stated |
| Modest Fish | 3 in | not stated | 68 to 82 °F | 6.5 to 7.5 |
| PetSmart | Up to 3 in | 5 to 7 years | 70 to 82 °F | not stated |
Read the size column and the encyclopedia is alone. Wikipedia gives 1 to 1.5 inches and adds that they do not weigh more than a few grams. The four care sources cluster at 2 to 3. None of the five says whether it is measuring the body or the body with the legs stretched out, which on a frog is most of the difference. The row prints the whole published span, 1 to 3 inches, because that is what our sources support and averaging them would invent a figure none of them states.
The lifespan column has the outlier of the record. Wikipedia: the average life expectancy of these frogs is five years, but they have been known to live longer than 20 years. Aquarium Breeder gives up to 8 with reports of 10 plus, PetSmart gives 5 to 7. The row prints 5 to 8, which is what the averages support, and the twenty year figure is recorded here rather than in the row because no case is attached to it.
On temperature the four bands overlap at 73 to 79 °F, which is what the record carries. Aquarium Breeder adds the one temperature figure that is not about comfort: eggs will not hatch at temperatures below 22 C, which is 72 °F, so the bottom of two of these bands sits below the point at which the animal can reproduce.
Both sources that publish a pH publish the same one, 6.5 to 7.5, and the same general hardness, 5 to 20 dGH. They differ only on the carbonate ceiling, 15 against 12, and neither explains the difference. That makes this one of the widest hardness rows on this site at 89 to 358 ppm, behind only the guppy.
African dwarf frog food: twice a day, or every other day
Our sources agree completely on what to feed and disagree by a factor of six on how often. The retailer is on the high side.
- PetSmart. Frog food pellets that sink to the bottom, given once in the morning and once at night, with frozen or freeze-dried brine shrimp, bloodworms and tubifex worms as occasional treats.
- FrogPets. Feeding them every two to three days is usually enough.
- Aquarium Breeder. Adult african dwarf frogs typically only eat every other day or slightly less, and juveniles should be fed daily or 4 to 6 times a week. If food is uneaten within like 30 minutes to an hour you should remove it.
- Modest Fish. Gives no frequency and gives a quantity instead: feed your frogs as much as they can eat in 10 to 20 minutes.
Twice a day against every other day is roughly six times the food going into a five gallon tank, and nothing on any of the four pages reconciles it. What Aquarium Breeder adds is the only warning anybody attaches to a specific food: bloodworms no more than 1 to 2 times a week, only as a treat, because these worms are high in fat and can cause major bloat or obesity. Read beside the retailer's schedule, that is a source saying the treat list is where the harm is.
Two sources agree on the part that is not a frequency at all. Modest Fish and PetSmart both ask for a feeding station, a dish or plate with food in the same spot every day, and the reason is in the next paragraph.
It cannot see the food
Wikipedia: to find food, they use their sensitive fingers, sense of smell, and lateral line system. It also files the animal as a scavenger that will eat anything living, dying, or dead and any type of organic detritus, and says they prefer eating near the bottom where their coloration blends with the mud and leaf litter.
Aquarium Breeder is blunter: they do not have good eyesight, they mostly rely on their smell and water vibrations, and because of their poor eyesight they are super clumsy. Wikipedia adds that all species of Pipidae are tongueless, toothless, and completely aquatic, and that they lack true ears but have lateral lines. A frog with no tongue, no teeth and poor eyes is not going to chase a flake across the tank. That is the whole argument for the dish.
The full record
| Field | Recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum tank | 5 gal per frog | Three sources give the same figure and the fourth gives it a decimal. Modest Fish: minimum tank size 5 gallons, 19 liters, and one frog per 5 gallons. Aquarium Breeder: a 5-gallon, 20 liter, tank minimum, and it rejects the smaller rule of thumb by name, calling the one gallon a frog guideline complete nonsense. FrogPets: a great start is 5 gallons per frog or more. PetSmart: a 5.5-gallon, 21-liter, aquarium can comfortably house 1 or 2, and if you keep them with community fish you need to increase it to at least a 20-gallon, 75-liter, fish tank. The volume is the easy part of this row and station 05 is about the part that is not: three of our sources put a limit on how deep the water can be, which no other record on this site does. |
| Temperature | 73 to 79 °F | Four published bands and 73 to 79 °F is the only span every one of them contains. Aquarium Breeder is the narrowest at 23 to 26 C, 73 to 79 F. FrogPets gives 72 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit and adds the only single figure anybody offers, that around 78 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. PetSmart gives an ideal 70 to 82 °F, 21 to 28 C. Modest Fish is the widest at 68 to 82 °F, 20 to 28 C. Aquarium Breeder also gives the one temperature figure that is not about comfort: eggs will not hatch at temperatures below 22 C, which is 72 °F, so the bottom of two of these bands is below the point at which the animal can reproduce. |
| pH | 6.5 to 7.5 | Two sources publish a band and they publish the same one. Modest Fish: pH 6.5 to 7.5, GH 5 to 20, KH 4 to 15, with ammonia and nitrite at 0 and nitrate under 20 ppm. Aquarium Breeder: pH levels at least 6.5 to 7.5, KH 4 to 12 and GH 5 to 20, with nitrate less than 20 ppm. The two agree on pH and on general hardness and differ only on the carbonate ceiling, 15 against 12. FrogPets and PetSmart publish no pH at all, and Wikipedia publishes no water figures for the captive animal. |
| Hardness | 89 to 358 ppm | Two sources give the same general hardness band, 5 to 20 dGH, which converts to about 89 to 358 ppm. It is one of the widest hardness rows on this site, behind the guppy at 143 to 536 ppm, and it is wide because both sources state it as a tolerance rather than a target. Modest Fish gives KH 4 to 15 and Aquarium Breeder KH 4 to 12, and neither explains the difference. |
| Adult size | 1 to 3 in | Five figures spanning a factor of three, on an animal small enough to sit in a spoon. Wikipedia is alone at the bottom: they are small and do not weigh more than a few grams, and can grow from 1 to 1.5 inches, 2.5 to 3.8 cm. Aquarium Breeder gives 5 to 7 cm, 2 to 2.5 inches, at maturity. FrogPets: African dwarf frogs can get up to 2 inches in length, and females are bigger than males in both length and weight. Modest Fish gives a flat 3 inches, 7.5 centimeters. PetSmart: they can grow up to 3 inches long. Four sources cluster at 2 to 3 and the encyclopedia says half that, and none of the five says whether it is measuring the body or the body with the legs extended. On sexing, Wikipedia says females are 40% larger than males when fully mature and Aquarium Breeder says 30 to 40% larger. |
| Diet | Carnivore, and it will eat anything under an inch | Wikipedia describes a scavenger: they are scavengers and will eat anything living, dying, or dead and any type of organic detritus, and they prefer eating near the bottom where their coloration blends with the mud and leaf litter. It also explains how a frog with poor eyesight manages it: to find food, they use their sensitive fingers, sense of smell, and lateral line system. Aquarium Breeder agrees and is blunter, that they do not have good eyesight, they mostly rely on their smell and water vibrations, and because of their poor eyesight they are super clumsy. On food our four care sources name the same things, sinking pellets, frozen or live bloodworms, brine shrimp, blackworms and tubifex, and Aquarium Breeder adds the only warning any of them attaches to a food: bloodworms no more than 1 to 2 times a week, only as a treat, because these worms are high in fat and can cause major bloat or obesity. Modest Fish and PetSmart both recommend a feeding station, a dish in the same spot every day, because the animal hunts by smell and touch rather than by sight. |
| Water column | Bottom, and it surfaces to breathe | Wikipedia: they live their entire lives underwater but need to rise to the surface to breathe air as they have lungs and not gills. Aquarium Breeder says the same and adds what it looks like: from time to time you can also see them floating motionless on the surface of the water, and while this might seem strange, it is absolutely normal. That single sentence answers the most alarming thing a new owner sees. On the bottom, Wikipedia says they prefer eating near the bottom where their coloration blends with the mud and leaf litter, and Aquarium Breeder says they are mostly nocturnal, sleeping for long periods of up to 12 hours and usually active during the night. It is the fifth record here filed at the bottom and the second whose awake field reads Night, after the bristlenose pleco. |
| Lifespan | 5 to 8 years | Three sources publish a figure and one of them carries an outlier that dwarfs the rest. Wikipedia: the average life expectancy of these frogs is five years, but they have been known to live longer than 20 years. PetSmart: African dwarf frogs live 5 to 7 years on average. Aquarium Breeder: up to 8 years, with reported cases of them living as long as 10 plus years. The row prints 5 to 8 because that is what the published averages support, and the twenty year figure is recorded here rather than in the row because one source states it without a case attached. |
| Growth rate | Mature at about 9 months | One source gives a developmental figure and it is the only growth number on this record. Aquarium Breeder: they reach sexual maturity at roughly 9 months of age. Nobody publishes a rate in inches or centimeters per month, which on an animal our sources cannot agree the adult size of would be a figure built on a figure. |
The same nine fields for every animal on this site are in the A to Z index.
Where our sources disagree
Every record here names a disagreement. On this one it is about the single feature a buyer would use to check they are not buying the wrong animal, and the two sources that explain how to check contradict each other.
Modest Fish
Four webbed feet (clawed frogs don't have webbing on their front feet), Eyes on the sides of their heads (clawed frogs have eyes on top of their heads), Pointed snout
FrogPets
ADFs have all webbed feet, eyes on the side of their head, and have a curved snout. ACFs only have webbed back feet; their front feet are independent digits. Also, their eyes are on top of their head and they have pointed snouts.
What we record: we carry the two features they agree on and drop the one they do not. Both sources say an African dwarf frog has webbing on all four feet and eyes on the sides of its head, and that an African clawed frog has unwebbed front feet and eyes on top.
On the snout they are exactly opposed: Modest Fish gives the dwarf frog a pointed snout, and FrogPets gives the dwarf frog a curved snout and the clawed frog a pointed one. So check the feet and the eyes, and ignore the face.
This is not a pedantic distinction. Wikipedia says the clawed frogs are larger and more aggressive than the dwarf, and a tank bought on the figures in this record would be the wrong tank for one.
African dwarf frog tank size: five gallons, and not too deep
The volume our sources agree on
Three of the four give the same number. Modest Fish: minimum tank size 5 gallons, 19 liters, and one frog per 5 gallons. FrogPets: a great start is 5 gallons per frog or more. Aquarium Breeder: a 5-gallon, 20 liter, tank minimum, and it rejects the smaller rule of thumb by name, calling the one gallon a frog guideline complete nonsense.
PetSmart gives the decimal version, that a 5.5-gallon, 21-liter, aquarium can comfortably house 1 or 2, and adds the figure for a mixed tank: if you keep them with community fish you need to increase it to at least a 20-gallon, 75-liter, fish tank.
Five gallons ties the smallest minimum tank in our fish silo, shared with the betta and the pea puffer. Only the nerite snail asks for less anywhere on the site, at two to three gallons.
The figure no other record here has: depth
Three sources cap the water depth, and they do not agree on the cap. Aquarium Breeder: it should not be more than 10 to 12 inches, 25 to 30 cm, because they are not the best swimmers. FrogPets: the height should be 12 inches. Modest Fish is the loosest: it's generally recommended that their tank be no more than 2 feet, 61 centimeters, deep.
The reason is the animal's lungs. Wikipedia: they live their entire lives underwater but need to rise to the surface to breathe air as they have lungs and not gills. A poor swimmer that has to reach the surface to breathe is a poor swimmer in a deep tank, and this is the only record on this site where the shape of the water matters more than the amount.
Two other pieces of equipment follow from the same fact. Aquarium Breeder asks for a lid, because they can really be escape artists, and FrogPets asks for a screen lid to prevent them from escaping. On filtration, Aquarium Breeder says these frogs prefer relatively still or slow-moving water and that sponge filters prevent harm since african dwarf frogs can get stuck in intakes. Modest Fish agrees: they are not the strongest swimmers, so they do best with a low flow filter, and its number one recommendation is a sponge filter.
An african dwarf frog planted tank is the easiest one on this site
Our sources say almost nothing about plants for this animal, so this is our arithmetic rather than their advice, and for once it comes out simple. All three of the plant records we hold have temperature bands that contain 73 to 79 °F: java fern at 72 to 82, java moss and hornwort at 59 to 86. Nothing else on this site can say that.
Two of the three also need no substrate at all, which matters given the argument below, and one of them is the plant our own records name most often. Java moss sits on the floor in a mat, which is where this frog spends its day, and our java moss record carries a source describing loose tangles of it in breeding tanks. What no source on this record says is whether a frog benefits from cover, so we are not claiming it does.
Substrate, and a source that refuses to pick
Modest Fish sets out both camps and then declines to choose, which is worth quoting because it is the same thing this site does: some people think that if you use sand, the frogs will accidentally swallow sand and the sand will get impacted in their intestines, killing them. Then there are people who argue the exact opposite, that sand is better and that frogs will swallow pieces of gravel, get impacted and die. Its own position is one sentence: I haven't seen any actual evidence one way or the other.
Aquarium Breeder takes the size approach instead of the material approach: use a smooth substrate, and make sure that it is large enough that it will not be swallowed accidentally during feeding, because swallowing gravel will lead to intestinal blockage and death. FrogPets simply suggests medium-sized aquarium gravel. That is the same reasoning our axolotl record arrived at from a laboratory guide: either too small to matter or too big to swallow, and the danger is the middle.
African dwarf frog and betta: the question our sources will not close
The african dwarf frog betta pairing is the most asked thing about this animal after its name, and the honest answer is that the one source willing to address it directly says it depends on the individual fish.
Aquarium Breeder: there is a possible chance depending on your betta, with countless reports where african dwarf frogs make great companions with bettas, and, unfortunately, also many negative ones. That is a source declining to generalize from anecdote, and we are not going to generalize on its behalf.
What the other three give is a rule that contains the answer without naming the fish. Modest Fish: they really cannot handle any kind of aggression from tank mates. Aquarium Breeder: avoid big, aggressive, or nippy fish, and it names goldfish, cichlids and puffers. PetSmart is the permissive one: they can live alone or with similar-sized tropical community fish.
Our own betta record is where this gets interesting, because that record carries a disagreement of exactly the same shape: one source says never keep a betta in a community tank and another lists five tank mates. A question whose answer is it depends on the individual on both records is not a question either record can settle. Our betta tank mates guide is the page that collects what our sources will commit to, and the frog is not on it.
The water is not the obstacle. A betta record runs 72 to 86 °F and this one 73 to 79, so they overlap on 73 to 79, six degrees of genuine agreement. Everything at issue is behavior, and behavior is the thing our sources measure least.
What it will definitely eat
Aquarium Breeder gives a size rule that settles a whole category of question: any fish that is less than 1 inch, 2.5 cm, in length can be or will be eaten. On invertebrates it is unambiguous: african dwarf frogs will eat all your dwarf shrimp, it is simply inevitable. Our cherry shrimp record is a dwarf shrimp and its whole page is about breeding a colony.
The same source gives two of our records a chance: amano shrimp and ghost shrimp can grow up to 2 inches, 5 cm, so they do have a chance to survive. Two inches is the size of the frog. Modest Fish advises against mixing cherry shrimp with younger specimens, which is the same finding from the other direction.
Floating, shedding, sleeping: the three things that look like a dead frog
People search for a dead african dwarf frog more than for almost anything else about the species, and our sources describe three entirely normal behaviors that look exactly like one.
- Floating motionless at the surface. Aquarium Breeder: from time to time you can also see them floating motionless on the surface of the water, and while this might seem strange, it is absolutely normal. It follows from the lungs: Wikipedia says they need to rise to the surface to breathe air as they have lungs and not gills.
- Sleeping for half a day. Aquarium Breeder: they are mostly nocturnal, they sleep for long periods of time, up to 12 hours, and are usually active during the night. A frog that has not moved since breakfast is a frog on schedule.
- Shedding its skin, and eating it. Aquarium Breeder: they shed their skin every two to three weeks, and they will eat their shed skin. It adds the one piece of housekeeping that comes with it: if the old skin is still in the tank after 24 hours, you need to remove it. A loose translucent sheet in the tank is not a dead frog and not a sick one.
None of the other four sources mentions any of the three. A new owner reading a retailer care sheet gets a temperature, a tank size and a feeding schedule, and none of the three normal behaviors that will frighten them in the first month. That is the gap this station exists to fill, and every sentence in it comes from one source.
What is actually wrong, when something is
Aquarium Breeder is the only source on this record that names illnesses, and it names four.
- Bloat and dropsy. It separates them: internal bacterial infections are almost always fatal, while an abnormal accumulation of bodily fluids due to improper body metabolism is not lethal. The same page's feeding advice about high fat bloodworms belongs beside this.
- Red leg. Caused by the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila, with red lesions that sometimes form on the hind legs and swellings, and once it gets into the blood, the animal will not survive.
- Fungal infection. Caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the chytrid fungus, and it is usually fatal. The source names a commercial antifungal treatment; we print the pathogen rather than the product, because a fungus named in a genus this consequential is worth looking up.
Two warnings on that page are about the keeper rather than the frog. Do not take them out of the aquarium: their porous skin can result in fatal dehydration within 15 to 20 minutes. Do not touch them with bare hands unless there is no option, and then only clean and wet ones. And the one a pet shop rarely leads with: african dwarf frogs are a potential source of Salmonella. PetSmart's version of the same instruction is to thoroughly wash your hands with warm, soapy water before and after contact with any pet or its habitat.
They will breed, and then eat the eggs
How it happens
African dwarf frog mating happens at the surface, and Wikipedia describes the mechanics: they mate in amplexus, during which the male grabs the female around the abdomen, the female swims, laying eggs on the surface of the water one at a time, and the male fertilizes the eggs during this time by releasing sperm into the water. It also records the sound, that males are known to sing or hum during mating or when excited.
Aquarium Breeder gives the numbers. Sexual maturity at roughly 9 months. Each spawning releases only a dozen eggs, and depending on the size of the female they can produce between 150 and 700 eggs. Eggs hatch within 1 to 2 days, and the tadpoles take around a month to transform into frogs.
And then the part that decides whether you get any: african dwarf frogs are also cannibalistic, and they usually eat all of their eggs before they even hatch. Modest Fish agrees about where the difficulty lies: breeding african dwarf frogs is easy, it's raising the tadpoles that's the real challenge, and it gives a slower hatch, that the eggs will hatch after 2 to 7 days and be free swimming 5 days after that.
Telling males from females
Aquarium Breeder: males are slim and smaller than females, and the females are often 30 to 40% larger. Females have a small little tail in between the legs. Males have a red or whitish bump near their armpit, and males can sing or hum. Wikipedia puts the size difference at 40% and FrogPets says only that females are bigger than males in both length and weight.
That is a clearer set of sexing features than most of the fish on this site have, and it costs nothing to check before buying two.
The temperature floor nobody mentions twice
Aquarium Breeder: eggs will not hatch at temperatures below 22 C, which is 72 °F. Two of the four published bands on this record start below that. A tank held at 70 is inside two of our sources' recommendations and outside the only figure anybody gives for reproduction, which is the kind of thing our breeding page exists to collect.
What this record will not answer
How big it gets
One to three inches, from five sources, and the encyclopedia is at half the figure the care sources give. Nobody says whether they are measuring the body or the legs. The row prints the whole span rather than an average nobody published.
How often to feed it
Twice a day from a retailer, every other day or less from a specialist, every two to three days from a third, and a quantity rather than a frequency from the fourth. That is a sixfold spread into a five gallon tank and the record will not average it.
Whether it can live with a betta
The one source that addresses it says it depends on the individual fish and reports both outcomes. Our own betta record carries a disagreement of the same shape. Two unsettled questions do not make a settled one.
How long it can go without food
Not one of the five sources publishes a figure, which is worth stating because it is a question people search before a holiday. What our sources do give is the feeding frequency argument above, and a specialist saying an adult eats every other day or slightly less. That is not the same as a maximum and we are not turning it into one.
How long it survives out of water
One figure, from one source, and it is a warning rather than a specification. Aquarium Breeder: their porous skin can result in fatal dehydration within 15 to 20 minutes. Nothing else we read gives any figure, and nobody describes an african dwarf frog that left the water on purpose and came back.
Which of the four species you own
Aquarium Breeder says H. boettgeri is the most common in aquariums and FrogPets lists all four. No source we hold describes a way to tell them apart in a shop tank, or any difference in their care.
African dwarf frog questions, answered from the record
What tank size does an african dwarf frog need?
Five gallons per frog. Three of our four care sources give exactly that, and Aquarium Breeder rejects the smaller version by name, calling the one gallon a frog guideline complete nonsense. PetSmart gives 5.5 gallons for one or two, and at least 20 if you add community fish. The depth matters as much as the volume: three sources cap it, at 10 to 12 inches, at 12 inches, and at 2 feet.
What is the african dwarf frog care temperature?
73 to 79 °F, which is the span all four published bands contain. FrogPets is the only source with a single figure, that around 78 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Aquarium Breeder adds the figure that is not about comfort: eggs will not hatch below 22 C, which is 72 °F.
What african dwarf frog ph should I aim for?
6.5 to 7.5. Two of our sources publish a pH and both publish that same band, along with the same general hardness of 5 to 20 dGH, about 89 to 358 ppm. They differ only on carbonate hardness, 4 to 15 against 4 to 12. Both also ask for ammonia and nitrite at 0 and nitrate under 20 ppm.
What is the best african dwarf frog food?
Anything meaty that sinks. Our sources name sinking frog and tadpole pellets, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, blackworms and tubifex worms. Aquarium Breeder attaches the only warning: bloodworms no more than 1 to 2 times a week, only as a treat, because they are high in fat and can cause major bloat or obesity. Two sources ask for a feeding dish in the same spot every day, because the frog hunts by smell and touch rather than sight.
How often should I feed african dwarf frogs?
Our sources disagree by a factor of six and this record does not pick. PetSmart says once in the morning and once at night. FrogPets says every two to three days. Aquarium Breeder says adults typically only eat every other day or slightly less, with juveniles daily or 4 to 6 times a week, and that uneaten food should come out within 30 minutes to an hour. Modest Fish gives a quantity instead: as much as they can eat in 10 to 20 minutes.
Can african dwarf frogs live with betta fish?
The one source that answers directly says it depends on the fish. Aquarium Breeder: there is a possible chance depending on your betta, with countless reports where they make great companions and, unfortunately, also many negative ones. The water is not the problem, since the two bands overlap from 73 to 79 °F. Our own betta record carries a disagreement of the same shape about community tanks, so neither page can settle it.
Can african dwarf frogs live with fish?
With small peaceful ones, and there is a hard size rule. Aquarium Breeder: any fish that is less than 1 inch in length can be or will be eaten, and avoid big, aggressive or nippy fish, naming goldfish, cichlids and puffers. Modest Fish: they really cannot handle any kind of aggression from tank mates. PetSmart allows similar-sized tropical community fish and asks for at least a 20 gallon tank if you mix them.
Will an african dwarf frog eat my shrimp?
Yes, if they are dwarf shrimp. Aquarium Breeder: african dwarf frogs will eat all your dwarf shrimp, it is simply inevitable. Our cherry shrimp is a dwarf shrimp. The same source gives amano and ghost shrimp a chance because they can grow up to 2 inches, which is the size of the frog.
My african dwarf frog is not moving. Is it dead?
Three normal behaviors look like it. Aquarium Breeder says you can see them floating motionless on the surface of the water and that it is absolutely normal, because they have lungs and must surface to breathe. It also says they are mostly nocturnal and sleep for long periods of up to 12 hours. And they shed their skin every two to three weeks and eat it, so a translucent sheet in the tank is not a body. If the shed skin is still there after 24 hours, that source says to remove it.
What is an african dwarf frog fungal infection?
Aquarium Breeder names the pathogen: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the chytrid fungus, and says it is usually fatal. It is the only source on this record that names any illness, and it names three others: bloat and dropsy, which it separates into a fatal bacterial version and a non-lethal metabolic one, and red leg, caused by Aeromonas hydrophila, where once it gets into the blood the animal will not survive.
How long can an african dwarf frog be out of water?
An african dwarf frog out of water has fifteen to twenty minutes, from the one source that gives a figure, and it is a warning rather than a specification. Aquarium Breeder: do not take them out of the aquarium, their porous skin can result in fatal dehydration within 15 to 20 minutes. It also asks that you do not touch them with bare hands unless there is no option, and then only with clean, wet ones.
How long can african dwarf frogs go without food?
No source on this record publishes a figure, and we are not going to derive one from a feeding schedule our sources cannot agree on. The nearest thing anybody states is Aquarium Breeder's observation that an adult typically only eats every other day or slightly less, which describes a normal week rather than a limit.
How do you tell an african dwarf frog from an african clawed frog?
The feet and the eyes. Both of our sources that address it agree that a dwarf frog has webbing on all four feet and eyes on the sides of its head, while a clawed frog has independent front digits and eyes on top. They contradict each other on the snout, so ignore it. Wikipedia says the clawed frogs are larger and more aggressive, which is why the check is worth making in the shop.
How do african dwarf frogs breed?
In amplexus, at the surface, and then they eat the eggs. Wikipedia: the male grabs the female around the abdomen, the female swims and lays eggs on the surface one at a time, and the male fertilizes them by releasing sperm into the water. Aquarium Breeder: sexual maturity at roughly 9 months, a dozen eggs per spawning and 150 to 700 in total, hatching in 1 to 2 days, tadpoles taking about a month to transform, and the adults usually eating all of their eggs before they even hatch.
Are african dwarf frogs safe to handle?
No, on two counts. Aquarium Breeder: do not take them out of the aquarium because their porous skin can result in fatal dehydration within 15 to 20 minutes, and do not touch them with bare hands unless there is no option. It also states that african dwarf frogs are a potential source of Salmonella. PetSmart's version is to thoroughly wash your hands with warm, soapy water before and after contact with any pet or its habitat.
What an african dwarf frog needs that a fish does not
Three things our sources ask for, and one of them is a lid.
- A lid, because they climb outone source calls them escape artists
- A sponge filter, and shallow waterthey get stuck in intakes and they must reach the surface
- A feeding dish, in the same place every daythe animal hunts by smell and touch
Every item our records ask for is gathered on the tank setup topic.
Nothing here is a paid link. It is the shortfall between what this record asks for and what a boxed kit contains.
How this record was compiled
- By
- Verified
- Sources
Wikipedia, African dwarf frog, Aquarium Breeder, Modest Fish, FrogPets and PetSmart
- Conflicts
Printed above: two sources give opposite descriptions of the snout that tells this frog from the African clawed frog
- Not recorded
An adult size this record is confident in, because five sources span a factor of three and none of them says what it is measuring; and a feeding frequency, because a retailer says twice a day and a specialist says every other day or less, which is a six fold difference in what goes into a five gallon tank