Frogs

[Bala Sharker]

anyone have any info on keeping frogs, just an idea, which ones are best can they mix with fish, food, do they need places to climb out of water

also crabs, do they need a sand substrate............

shrimp what are they like to keep can they be mixed with fish and how many r suitable



i have a 15 gal tank and want to keep something that is a little out of the unusual would love a bit of everything but im guessing my tank aint big enough for that so any suggestions or info would be greatly appreciated

 

[Deleted member 55926]

African Dwarf Frogs are pretty much the standard for beginners I think. You can read about their needs and how to care for them in the fish species index:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/133204-african-dwarf-frogs/

Ghost shrimp are very easy to care for, and I think red cherry shrimp too:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/198395-ghost-shrimp/

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/199872-cherry-shrimp/

I did weeks of research before stocking my tank, and these are what seemed to be the best choices - for a beginner at least.

 

[Jenste]

well if you are interested in frogs I can gladly help! if you plan on having fish in the tank also - then you could have quite a few african DWARF frogs - - the number will depend on your stocking. they are small - 1.5" full grown - they have webbing on all four feet and do NOT come in albino (regardless of what the lfs says). males have a small gland behind their armpits (easiest way to sex them)

if you are going fish-less....you could have 1 or 2 african CLAWED frogs. they only have webbing between the toes on their hind feet - their front hands are just 4 "fingers". males grow up to 3-4" (with out the legs) and females grow up to 6" (with out the legs). they come in albino and regular "marbled"...along with a few other rarer color variations such as piebald. you won't be able to easily sex them until the reach sexual maturity - around 9 months to a year old the forearms and hands of male ACF will darken to a black color - these are call nuptial pads or"dirty hands" and are used to grasp the female during amplexing (mating)


both species need covered tanks with space for them to breath at the surface. temps of low to mid 70*s (F). diets of live/frozen black and blood worms. reptomin pellets/sticks. etc. stay away from beefheart - it is quite fatty. also these are FROGS, not FISH - fish food is N_O_T a suitable diet.


those are basics - if you go the frog route feel free to post more questions or just PM me!

 

[Ryandsimmons]

I'll 2nd (3rd?) going for African Dwarf frogs.

I have one in my community tank and it makes great viewing. The neighbours kids especially love coming over to look at it.

With it in my tank I have started a Cherry Shrimp colony and some friendly community fish. (Neon Tetras, Leopard Danios, Platies, Serpae Tetras and 2 Clown Plecos.) Everyone gets along great.

 

[Bala Sharker]

so lets say i was to have 6 harlequin rasboras 6 zebra danios in a 15 gal 60l tank how many frogs and shrimp would i be able to have

the tank is covered with lots of open water at the top of the tank would i need to allow the frogs to get out of the water with a protruding stick or are they in water the whole time

im interested in having somethin different in my tank and the african dwarf frog sounds like a good option so some advice would be needed before i go out and get some. if the fish i have stated above wud be suitable for the water conditions the frogs would need

thanks for the help

 

[Jenste]

you could easily have 5 frogs in there.
best way to feed them - frozen blood worms. defrost a cube in the evening, suck it up with a turkey baster, squirt it into the same bottom corner every night, then turn off your lights

frogs hunt by scent - fish by sight. so by putting it in the same corner and turning off the lights - the frogs are able to find it faster by associating that corner with the scent of food

they are fully aquatic - they don't need a land mass.
just make sure you get african DWARF frogs - remember - webbing on ALL FOUR FEET!! - if the frog only has webbing on its hind feet, or is albino...that is a CLAWED frog and will grow large enough to eat all your fish.

feel free to ask any questions you may have

 

[Bala Sharker]

what would the best male female ratio be and do they reproduce vigourisly

wud the filter not spread the food anyway and wud i need to turn it off

do they need a heavily planted tank i have a few decorations in the tank and a fake plan. wud they need more things to cling on to

wat temps and ph are best for them


suppose i just need to go source some in some lfs now and take a look at them
thanks for your help

 

[Jenste]

ratio doesn't really matter - they live peacefully in groups. if they do mate, they just scatter eggs everywhere - these will quickly get eaten up. they are peaceful even while mating - they will often amplex (male grabs the female around the waist) with nothing resulting from it, females will amplex females, males will amplex males - so if you see it, don't become alarmed. and the males call out to the female under the water when then want to mate, it sounds alot like chirping.
low to mid 70's works out best for them....ph from 6-8 (they arent very picky about water conditions)


as for the filter - thats why you use a turkey baster to squirt the bloodworms into the bottom corner (furthest from the filter works best), and thats why you turn the light off after words...so the frogs can hunt it down with out their fishmates gobbling it up. no, you don't need to turn the filter off.

they are indifferent to plants, they don't need anything to cling on to, but they are most active when they have little hiding caves they know they car run to if scared. also, don't use a sharp substrate. they spend most of their time scooting around the bottom. round river rocks (small enough that they won't get squished!), gravel, or sand works best.

 

[fishfinderdave]

..... slightly confused?

"jensta" who told you, or where did you look up that fish find food by sight only... thats wrong they hunt by both sight but most of all smell.
fish have very good sence of smell and most fishes have poor eye sight.
the frogs hunt for there food by sight and smell also. there smell however is better than ther eyesight.


"bala sharka" if you want frogs then your best bet is to have african dwarf frogs, great little creature's.
u can feed them on bloodworm, sometimes they will take other live foods but very rarely.
i have dwarf frogs in my tank, and they cause no bother what so ever to any fish, altho providing them with a few hiding places is a good idea.
they love tanks with lots of live plants and bog wood. mine do anyway.
they are a water frog, so no need any land mass...

keeping red clawed crabs....with fish....bad idea they will eat anything that rests on the bottom of the tank...so at night you will loose fish.
they will also make an easy meal out of your frogs.
crabs wont be able to do much major damage to larger fish like big pleco's ...mayb pinch and snip there fins but thats about it.
and these will grow bck in time.

feeding your frogs: you dont really need to place there food in one area of the tank...you can place it anywhere and let them hunt themselves for it. they will eat there food with the light on or off.
if the fish eat any of there food, then they very often swim to the top and grab it b4 the fish get a chance. mine always does.

ive even been able to hand feed my frog from the surface of my tank.
also there better when you have 2+ frogs at a time.

last thing, also rock shrimps or armoured shrimps are good starting places when keeping shrimps....no shrimps are hard to look after really, they all relitivly easy to care for.