# ADF/ African Dwarf Frogs in a Planted Tank



## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Hey Everyone, 
This Thread is for anyone that owns or has had experience keeping ADF's in a planted tank.

:icon_ques I was wondering, since the African Dwarf Frogs have sensitive skin, if plant ferts or root tabs would have adverse effect on the frogs?
Since their skin is so porous, I was wondering if these chemicals for the plants would effect the frogs.

I've been reading a lot about the ADF's, but no one has really mentioned frogs and fertilizer...

Any advice or links or feedback would be GREATLY appreciated :thumbsup:


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

ADF's are fine in a freshwater planted tank. I do abrupt 75% water changes, use liquid and powder ferts poured right into my tank water, suffer pH and temperature swings, and my ADF's manage fine. No need to feed them anything special as they scavenge the bottom for anything edible. Some pet stores spoil them with live worms so it may take them a few weeks to eat other dry foods. Do not put ADF's in tanks with crayfish, even docile dwarf crayfish since ADF's will get eaten. ADF's will attempt to burrow under thick mats of carpet plants and plant rhizomes so be sure they have well established roots before introducing ADF's to your tank. ADF's are known to live many years with a good tank keeper. Some ADF's will try to escape your tank up your water return, while others never bother. It's nice to have a few floating plants or plants that are left uncut at your water surface so ADF's can occasionally hang out there, but this is not needed as they will spend the majority of their time on the bottom. There is no need for any extra air to be dissolved in your water. Make sure you identify any ADF's you buy and make sure they have a rounded belly and webbed hands/feet.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Cool, *spypet*, thank you!
From researching, it sounded like they are very sensitive, so I was worried.
Thank you!!


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

I keep my frogs in a planted, cycled, non-filtered 3g bowl. This gets nothing but ambient light and several hours of sunlight per day. It's my fastest growing tank, but of course only has low light plants/mosses in it with moon sand substrate. ADFs are massive waste producers, so I don't bother with NPK ferts, but do occasionally dose with trace. My oldest frog is coming up on three years now, and the other is almost two.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

Boz, I never noticed my ADF's producing a disproportionate amount of waste when compared to other fish and snails in my tanks. perhaps you are feeding them too much, or there are other actual waste producers in your tank. I don't dose Nitrates either because of my tanks overall bioload 5-10ppm nitrate production I enjoy whether my ADF's are in the tank or not.


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

No, they're alone in the tank. I feed them live foods only, so that may be the difference. I feed them every other day. Massive in that I don't need to dose other ferts with these two in the tanks. Not like pleco massive or anything like that. I only really found out how much waste they put out when I had them with a white sand substrate. I also had them in a bare bottomed tank. I was constantly cleaning waste out of the bowl. But after they grew up, I began feeding every other day, and yet, they still put out quite a bit for such tiny creatures.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Jeez, I had no idea they produce so much waste... All the sites I come across have inconsistent information.... 

I was planning on putting (2) frogs in a 2.5 gallon, I read that 1 gallon per frog is ok, but when I think about it, it seems like it's not enough...

Maybe it's because you are feeding live foods, *boz*?

Do you guys have pictures handy?


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

I've always been under the assumption that because of their waste, 3g per frog is preferred, however, because of all the plants in there, I have two in a 3g. It's a large rounded, orb type bowl. It looks like a large beach ball that is cut in half, so it doesn't taper to a smaller diameter at the top of the bowl. 

Again, I only feed them live because they've never shown interest in the frog bites, flakes or other prepared foods. I guess I never tried fasting them and then trying other foods, I just feed them what they like. They go insane over true mosquito larvae in the summer! They mostly live on bloodworms and mysis shrimp the rest of the time. 

I think if you do plants, you can break the stocking rule, which can be said for most of the smaller fish, IMO. I have two males together, but previously had a female with the male. They produced eggs almost weekly, but ate them almost as fast as they were produced.

Best of luck with them. I find them to be delightfully entertaining.

*edit*

Sorry, no current pics.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

2.5g is pretty small for 2 ADF's once they grow over and inch,
but you really only need feed them live food once a week
or dry food every few days. that should minimize waste,
and how active they can get in such a small tank.

The best way to ween them off live food is to put
freeze dry Tubifex Worm cubes in a plant clip near
the gravel bottom. once they get used to the dry
worm cubes, they'll accept any sinking dry food.
half a cube per adult frog is sufficient for many days.

Here are a few of my pictures you might find amusing.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

*Boz*, do you cover the bowl with a screen of some sort? I read that they can escape when going to the surface for air, sometimes.

I was planning on getting them on the same feeding regiment as my bettas.
I feed 1x, every other day.
I've fed my bettas live mosquito larvae from a bucket that collected rain water in my backyard.
They went NUTS:icon_eek: 

*spypet*, thank you for posting pics!!

I am home now, so I can look at the 2.5 gallon, need to see how I am going to arrange everything, so I can see if I have enough room.

I don't want them to be cramped in there...

Thank you, you guys are great  :thumbsup:


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

Yoko, I don't cover the bowl. They frequently stand on a leaf by a toenail, which is so darn cute, but they've never jumped out of the tank. I wouldn't count on it being an impossibility, though. I keep my water line about two inches from the top. 

Here's a really great care sheet about them, if you're interested. 

http://flippersandfins.net/adffaq.htm


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

*Boz*, I don't know, from what I read, I kind of imagine the frog *flying *out of the air when it goes to the surface. I mean,that is what most of the website I see are describing!! :icon_eek: 
*Spynet's *pics are so cool, I can't wait!!!    

I wish you had pics of your bowl, sounds very cool.

I am so excited!! :biggrin: I really just fell in love with them when I saw them this weekend. I've never seen them before. I was facinated............

EDIT: Oh thank you for the link- I am reading right now :0)


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

LOL! They do seem to "rocket" themselves to the surface. I guess I've just been lucky. I've got a lot of plants at the surface, so I always sort of assumed that it broke their line of vision, preventing them from launching themselves out of the tank. They've got extremely poor eyesight, as I'm sure you've read by now.

I'm looking forward to seeing your new frogs. I just love the little guys!


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

hahaha YAH! I was imagining the frog, like, jet propulsion(?) leaping up so fast that it hits the lid!??! I imagining him smashing his face a lot on the lid and on the bottom of the tank... Well, I guess I will find out, huh:icon_lol: 

I have this gut feeling that I am going to end up... buying another tank:icon_eek: Because I feel so bad sticking them in such a small space.

Man, that is another 50 bux! ahha I really wanted to make use of this 2.5 gallon, too... 

Thank you, again! Great link, too


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