African Dwarf Frogs

Welcome to the wonderful world of African Dwarf frogs!  African Dwarf frogs are completely aquatic, and they can live in a heated fish tank!

Although African Dwarf frogs appreciate some frozen and thawed, or live bloodworms every now and then, you don't have to worry about feeding them live foods all the time!

If your squeamish like me this is a very good thing! African Dwarf frogs can make your dreams of having a frog come true, with out making the nightmare of crickets running rampant all over the house come true at the same time.

Unfortunately, even though African Dwarf frogs are aquatic, they should not only eat flake fish food!

The frogs in the bag are starving! 

I rescued them from a pet store that was only feeding them fish flakes, and they weren't getting enough to eat, or enough nutrition.

Unfortunately, one of the frogs, Tabitha, died two days after I brought her home.  The rest of them are doing fine, and are healthy, happy, and nowhere near as skinnny.

I feed my frogs HBH frog and tadpole bites which are softer than normal fish pellets, to minimize the risk of impaction. Although I'm not sure that the brand of food makes a difference, it is important to feed your frogs frog and tadpole bites, and not fish food.Flake fish food doesn't provide enough nutrition, and harder pellets can cause impactions, which can lead to death

African Dwarf frogs have poor eyesight, so they have to hunt for the food - it is important to make sure that they are getting enough food, and that if there are other fish, or frogs, in the tank, they aren't getting the food before the African Dwarf frogs are getting their food.

After all, no one wants their pets to starve!

or why you'll feed your frogs appropriate foods if you're a responsible pet owner

Lilyoffire wrote that her frogs eat fish food in the duel module, and I thought it was important enough to comment about it here.

I've included her quotes below at the end of the message.

I have never seen my African Dwarf Frogs eat fish flakes when they were provided with a quality frog food.

The frogs in the bag above had lived on a diet of flake fish food, and that's why they were starving.

They weren't getting enough nutrition.

Sure frogs might eat fish food if that's all there is to eat.

People have been known to eat all sorts of things that aren't good for them, and that they wouldn't normally eat when they had no other choice, but that doesn't mean that they will thrive if they only eat that.

If there are other foods in the tank the ADF's may be getting enough to survive.

Even if you are feeding fish pellets, the pellets aren't as soft as frog bites, and they may cause impactions.

They also aren't as nutritionally balanced as food that is specifically formulated for frogs.

If you're feeding only feeding your frogs fish flakes after reading this page and seeing pictures of what happens when that's all you feed ADF's, and you're unwilling to change to something more appropriate for them, then I really feel sorry for your frogs and I think you should reconsider pet ownership because you're obviously not concerned with your frogs health and happiness.

For more information on feeding African Dwarf Frogs please visit What, how much and how often should I feed my frog?

Although I had nothing to do with writing the articles I am a member of their forum, and I found the advice invaluable when I was searching for information on how to care for my African Dwarf Frogs.

LillyofFire says:

"who ever told you adf's don't eat fish food lied to you, I know for a fact that they do eat it.

Posted November 12, 2008

LillyofFire says:

yes but the fact about that my ADF dose eat fish food so who ever told you they don't lied about it.

Posted November 12, 2008

As I've mentioned before, African Dwarf Frogs don't eat fish food.

Although they can eat, it, they won't thrive, and they may end up starving, like the frogs in my intro photo.

I feed my frogs Frog and Tadpole bites, and frozen bloodworms, or brine shrimp.

Although I haven't tried gel foods, I don't see why they wouldn't work. If you have experience with feeding ADF's gel foods, I'd love to hear about it.

Each ADF should have at least 1 gallon of water.

That means if you have 2 ADF's they should have a 2 gallon tank, 10 ADF's should have a 10 gallon tank, and so on.

ADF's should have a temperature of 75-80F.

Slightly higher or lower temperatures ok if your frogs doesn't mind them, but keep an eye on them - if the temp is too high or too low the first warning you might find is a dead frog.

Although I was told that African Dwarf Frogs would do fine in an unheated tank when I first got them, all of the frogs I kept in unheated tanks died after a few months.

After I started keepin my frogs warmer, they lived a lot longer.

I've said it before, but ADF's should not eat freeze dried or dry pellets. Their tummies should bulge slightly after they eat, if they are eating enough.

Water should be changed once a week, using water the same temperature as the old water.

A water conditioner should be used each time water is changed .

I like Prime.

It doesn't matter what anyone else told you.

African Dwarf Frogs are live animals, and when you have live animals, they make messes, and the messes have to be cleaned up.

That means you have to clean their tanks, on a regular basis, depending on their tank size.

For tanks smaller than 5 gallons, water should be partially changed at least once a week. If you're using something 1 gallon or smaller, which you really shouldn't be doing since frogs need space, you need to change the water every 3-4 days.

If the water looks dirty, change it!

It doesn't matter what anyone else says.

Water must be changed on a regular basis.

Sure, if you have a 20 gallon or larger tank, that isn't overstocked you might be able to get away with changing the water once a month, but it's not likely with a smaller tank.

You wouldn't like to live in a place that hadn't been cleaned in 2 months, so don't expect your frog to live like that.

Water should be treated with a water conditioner (I use Prime) to get any chlorine and other chemicals that should hurt the frogs out before it's added to the tank.

Some people are being told that they are buying an ecosystem with a snail that will clean the waste.

The snails may eat leftover food, but they still make waste, and lets face it, you couldn't survive by eating your own waste, so why should you expect your pets too.

If you have pets, you have to clean up after them - that's just a fact of life.

Be a responsible pet owner, and take care of your frogs (and snail, as the case may be) and they'll have long happy lives.

If you don't, then they'll die.

There isn't too much published information on ADF's but you might enjoy these other books if you like frogs and toads.

African Dwarf Frog Breeding by Todley.

This is the best article on ADF breeding and tadpole care that I've found.

If you've had experience with breeding and raising tadpoles share what you've learned with us.

Do you have African Dwarf Frogs?

Unfortunately sometimes African Dwarf Frogs get sick.

Here are a few resources that might help you determine what's wrong with your frog.

Fat Frogs

Non-acute bloat in ADF's

I hope this helps.

If you have any further questions about your ADF's just ask.

If your frog has been feeling sick, hasn't been eating, is trying to climb out of the water, or has rough flaking skin, please read this article. Diagnosis of Chytridiomycosis in Commercially Purchased African Dwarf Frogs

Due to the presence of this disease all new African Dwarf frogs should be quarantined for at least two months before introducing them to an aquarium with African Dwarf Frogs.

Here is another article about Chytridiomycosis