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Aquatic Frogs?

pollyandpear

pollyandpear

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16 Jan 2023
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Location
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I hope you don't mind me making a new thread - some of you may have seen I am on the journey of creating my very first aqurium.

I've spent the last three weeks letting my plants settle in and trying to cycle the tank.

I am now beginning to think about that fish/ inhabitants to put in the tank.

Something I'd thought about, but didn't think would be suitable were african dwarf frogs/ aquatic frogs?

If they are totally unsuitable then please say!

At the moment my aquarium is heated to 23 degrees. It is about 20 gallon and has lots of plants.

If a few frogs ( I was thinking two, no more than three) would be suitable, along with one species of fish then I would love to explore this option as I love frogs!
 
I think if my set up is suitable, I'd like to go for the frogs. I had hoped to add some corys or tetras, but I have seen you almost need to feed the frogs directly using tweezers to ensure they eat!

The above video is so helpful. I have lots of plants and a big piece of wood so this evening and I am going to redo the tank and see how it comes out.

Will also test my water to get an idea of all my parameters.
 
something to bear in mind with the frogs is that they aren't the smartest, in tanks with relatively deep water they tend to swim up for air, give up then drown :hungover:

I don't know the preferred water depth, but 12 inches tends to be mentioned as a good upper limit from what i've read
 
I would not recommend frogs over fish, especially in a fish tank.
They are really boring and don't do much at all, they tend to hang against the glass near the surface for hours on end. To be honest they are probably bored to death.
I think African clawed frogs have some use in human pregnancy testing?
 
If you don't absolutely have your heart set on fish then you might also consider Bombina orientalis and Occidozyga lima.
You'd want to have lower water levels though in both cases which would mean more of a riparian scape with floating plants and emergent pieces of driftwood for the frogs to rest on but you then have the option of growing very nice emersed moss, anubias, bucephalandra etc. on these also.
Occidozyga lima can even do well in a purely aquatic setup as long as there is some floating vegatation to rest on but both species are highly aquatic and will spend more time in the water than on land. Neither should really be kept with fish though. You could also consider Theloderma corticale for a mostly water/paludarium scape but caring for these can be trickier and they are mostly active at night, being so well camouflgaged you won't often notice them during the day.
There's also a couple of huge aquatic frogs and toads that are absolute monsters - Lepidobatrachus laevis and Calyptocephallela gayi. Both of these can be kept in a fully aquatic setup for most of the year but need to aestivate on dry land and are so large and powerful that almost any plants other than moss or floaters would get destroyed.
 
I replied to your other thread before seeing this so I'll post the link here

reptilesmagazine.com

Caring For The African Dwarf Frog - Reptiles Magazine

African dwarf frogs were first discovered in rivers, streams, puddles, and shallow ponds in various regions throughout Central Africa in the late 19th century.
reptilesmagazine.com reptilesmagazine.com

I agree with what is written above by the others and when I saw the serpadesigns video I thought the tank was to deep from my experience with them. The are initially cool to keep but micro crabs and other oddities, you really have to love them to be entertained for a long time.
 
There's also Xenopus/Silurana tropicalis which is a little larger and more robust than african dwarf frogs but much smaller than Xenopus laevis and can be kept safely with fish that are too large to fit in its mouth. 28mm - 55mm snout to vent with females being larger than the males. I don't know of anywhere selling these right now but they are certainly bred in the UK.
 
My tank is at max 40cm deep so obviously I can have the water lowered to an appropriate depth if I do go ahead with frogs.







I've always been fascinated by frogs so owning some is tempting, but I would also like fish so need to decide and research about this. I thought clawed frogs weren't safe with fish?
 
But I am open to having a half water half palladium type enclosure for a frog if suitable!
 
Elregardless just done a water change and rescape and also added fertiliser for the plants.



Parameters are not great and boy this is hard.
 

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To me it looks pretty cool.

Only thing I don’t like it’s the difference in substrate colour. I would put this brown substrate over this black aqua soil but as I’m saying it’s only my personal preference.

To be honest with you it looks way better than my first tank 🤣

Good luck!
 
Haha the lighter brown is the aqua soil and the black is the substrate. I don't like the colour either but right now the idea of taking it all apart again isn't fun so going to try and get these plants thriving.
 
Right I see.

I get your concept now - kind of 😅

Definitely wouldn’t tear it apart. Looks nice.

It just need a time to settle down a bit and fingers crossed everything should be ok.
 
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