1 ADF growing much faster than the other? Feeding and Stocking?

[Akeath]

This ended up being a long post, but please read it to the end.

I have two young African Dwarf Frogs. One is named Kismet, and the other is named Tuka. They are siblings from the same clutch of eggs, and I raised them both from tadpoles. Kismet developed faster but was smaller. Tuka was two days behind in tadpole development, but was larger. They've been frogs for about 3 weeks now and have been behaving just like the adults for all that time - feeding at the bottom etc. The gap in size between the two youngsters is just getting bigger and bigger. Tuka's practically the size of the tiniest Froglets I've come across in pet stores. Kismet's only about half that. The discrepancy is concerning. Any ideas on how to help Kismet catch up in size? How much difference in growth rates is normal for very young African Dwarf Frogs? What can I do to make sure conditions are optimal for growth? I'm worried that if I don't get Kismet growing faster soon he may miss developmental milestones that he won't be able to recover from.

They both are eating whenever I put food in. I hesitated to target feed them at first because I was afraid the suction of the turkey baster would be too strong for such little critters, but they're now both large enough and good enough at swimming that I'm planning to start target feeding them. I always put the food in the same place already and they know where that is and go to the feeding area as soon as they see me by the tank. I've been offering mostly Zoomed Aquatic Frog and Tadpole bites once a day, as they eat those readily. I'm planning to add more frozen food to their diets now that they're old enough not to be snapped up by the adults in the feeding frenzy that occurs when I put frozen food in (they were born in the same tank as the parents and I've kept them in there to this day, since it has by some miracle worked out so far). I have some frozen Tubifex Worms and Daphnia. I also have Baby Brine Shrimp, but I think the two young Frogs are already too large to be interested in those, as they seem to ignore the little particles of Baby Brine Shrimp when I've tried adding some, even when I mix it in with the food they're already eating.

What would be another good frozen food to offer them? I was thinking of getting a Super Carnivore food that had Mysis Shrimp, Brine Shrimp, and Bloodworms mixed in. I know Frozen Beef Heart is really high in protein too. Has anyone ever tried that with African Dwarf Frogs? Did yours (of any age) like the Beef Heart, or should I stick with frozen invertebrates? Any other good foods for them?
I was also wondering if maybe they weren't getting all the vitamins and minerals they need for growth and that it might be worth trying to get a second pellet type just in case. I was looking around and was impressed with the high protein level of Omega One Frog and Tadpole Sinking Pellets and HBH Pisces Pros Frog and Tadpole Aquatic Frog Bites. Has anyone tried either with African Dwarf Frogs? Did yours eat them readily?

I'm also worried about if the tank is overstocked and that's part of the growth issues. It's a 10 gallon tank. I have 3 adult African Dwarf Frogs in there along with the 2 young Frogs. I also have 1 Tiger Nerite Snail and 1 Zebra Nerite Snail. I was planning to move the Nerite Snails to my 40 gallon once the 2 froglets were bigger so the tank wouldn't be overstocked. But I'm torn between whether I should move the Nerite Snails now or leave them in there to hopefully eat any leftover food I might be getting in the tank as I train the youngsters to be target fed and as I try out new types of foods that I'm not sure will be eaten readily by the Frogs. Should I go ahead and move the snails to lower the bioload, or should I keep them to lower the amount of leftover foods while the Frogs adjust to a new diet?

Tank info:
10 gallon aquarium with Perfect-A-Lite Full Aquarium Hood
Marineland 17 Inch 6500 K Hidden LED Light - turned some to lower the amount of light going in
Marina Slim S10 Hang on the Back Filter, with foam over the filter intake and customized media
78 degrees
7.4 pH
11 dGH
Cycled since 2018, so the Ammonia and Nitrite are consistently at 0 ppm
Gravel Substrate
Lots of hiding places at all levels of the tank with silk or silicone plants and 3 smooth caves

Any help with the young frogs or info about how well your ADFs of any age eat the food mentioned would be great.

 

[Colin_T]

It's possible the bigger frog is simply getting more food. It could be gulping the food in and stopping the smaller one form getting as much. Target feeding might resolve the problem especially if you give the smaller frog a bit more food so it is really fat after feeding.

Other reasons it is smaller might include internal parasites (worms), or it is a runt and should have been eaten or died when smaller.

The following links are about African dwarf frogs. They might be of interest to you.

African Dwarf Frogs - Care Sheet! Great Info

I found this incredibly informative care sheet on African Dwarf Frogs and I wanted to share it with everyone here. I see a lot of bad information going around when it comes to African Dwarf Frogs so I hope this helps people understand the proper way to house and feed these wonderful little...

www.fishforums.net

African Dwarf Frogs

Here's a little guide I've written for a few forums that may be of use to you(it also has a couple of quotes from a fellow frog keeper) ; Common Name : African dwarf frog, congo frog; do not confuse this frog with the African clawed frogs(these will get much bigger and will eat small fish)...

www.fishforums.net