Hey Yash,
Zambize is right, they can get the air.
I have 2 in my 20 gallon which is 18" tall. One mistake I did do was fill the tank up to the very top one water change and noticed the poor guys were having a heck of a time. I now leave a 1/4-1/2" space between the top of the water and the lid, which is one of those flat glass cover lids. They just could not get enough air with the water so full. They got up there fine, but there was not enough room between the lid and water edge to make that big gulp. Because they will take their time getting up there, make a quick last dash for the air and the best part is they make a mad dash back down and frantically scramble for cover. Its so funny! Sometimes they will just hang out in one of my plants near the surface to be lazy. I can always tell when ones about to make the air dash because I will see a big air bubble come out of where ever they are a little before they go up.
Feeding them can be another issue that causes some to die. I don't think this happened to yours since they died so soon after you brought them home. They have a hard time with pellets and flakes and are very slow bottom hunters. If you have fish that eat everything pretty much before it hits the bottom, they are being left out. They also thrive on froozen blood worms! What I do is every other day (everyday while they are growing) I will use an eye dropper, squirt a bunch in the tank for all the other fish. When the frogs become aware of it they will now come out of hiding and sit up LOL. I will feed them as many as they want. You have to hold the worm a little to the side of their face and jiggle it cuz they cannot see good close up. They will snag it, munch and then beg for more. :-) I do this to make sure they are getting fed good.
They are the cutest little guys! I bought one for the kid I babysit and then got another because I fell in love with "Freddy". They are now full grown and I think Freddy is a girl and "Hermi" is a boy.
If you are interested, here is an awesome site with info on the African Dwarf Frog:
http://www.flippersandfins.net/adffaq.htm
Here's Freddy waiting for his worms, and Hermi making his air dash :-)
Frog Question..
17 posts • Page 2 of 2
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dizzcat - Posts: 648
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am
Another thing, try to get them from your LFS. Watch them in the tank for a few minutes to see if they are alert. They should not have been so tired after an air run and they should have dashed for cover when they hit the bottom. Yours probably were sick if they acted lethargic.
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doomydarkdoom - Posts: 167
- Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:00 am
In my experience, EVERYTHING from PetSmart is ill or weak.
Somewhat off-topic, but I dreamed about buying frogs because of this thread.
Somewhat off-topic, but I dreamed about buying frogs because of this thread.
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
thanks much dizzcat. I will go to the LFS close by (about 10 miles away).
I thought something was wrong. They were awfully lethargic after having come down from a gulp of air. This proves my first instinct about Petsmart - unless it is in a can, don't buy it.
Also thanks for the info on the feeding process. I do have soft food I made by mixing water, crab pellets, shrimp pellets and algae wafers, I roll the "dough" into very small balls then toss them into the tank. The fish peck at the balls on the bottom of the tank. The reason I started doing this is because one of my danio's died weeks ago after lodging a pellet in her stoomach passage, she had a hard time with her swim bladder infection - she would lie on her side, it was very sad, poor thing. Finally she passed on after about 2 days. I tried to feed her peas as roughage to the pellet would pass, but I think it was too late. So I decided no more of this, so I made my own formula. The fish love it, easily digestible. Clouds the water a little, but about 10 minutes after feeding time, the filters uptake clear the water.
That being said, do you think the frogs could consume these small balls that I made? But I will also do what you suggested.
You have helped me much with this matter. I am so relieved over this frog matter,
Well I go get some of these frogs soon. In an off chance way, this thread helped me. Gratefully appreciated.
I thought something was wrong. They were awfully lethargic after having come down from a gulp of air. This proves my first instinct about Petsmart - unless it is in a can, don't buy it.
Also thanks for the info on the feeding process. I do have soft food I made by mixing water, crab pellets, shrimp pellets and algae wafers, I roll the "dough" into very small balls then toss them into the tank. The fish peck at the balls on the bottom of the tank. The reason I started doing this is because one of my danio's died weeks ago after lodging a pellet in her stoomach passage, she had a hard time with her swim bladder infection - she would lie on her side, it was very sad, poor thing. Finally she passed on after about 2 days. I tried to feed her peas as roughage to the pellet would pass, but I think it was too late. So I decided no more of this, so I made my own formula. The fish love it, easily digestible. Clouds the water a little, but about 10 minutes after feeding time, the filters uptake clear the water.
That being said, do you think the frogs could consume these small balls that I made? But I will also do what you suggested.
You have helped me much with this matter. I am so relieved over this frog matter,
Well I go get some of these frogs soon. In an off chance way, this thread helped me. Gratefully appreciated.
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dizzcat - Posts: 648
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am
Your welcome :-)
I don't know about the soft pellets but I am going to make some for my Yellow fry! Cool idea! I drop a pellet in and they try to peck at it and don't do much until it softens after an hour or so.
Frogs are pretty lazy by nature, so don't be worried when they are. :-)
I don't know about the soft pellets but I am going to make some for my Yellow fry! Cool idea! I drop a pellet in and they try to peck at it and don't do much until it softens after an hour or so.
Frogs are pretty lazy by nature, so don't be worried when they are. :-)
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Zambize4899 - Posts: 499
- Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am
I think they were ill. I've gotten some from PetsMart too, and that was because they needed rescuing. One had a broken leg. I didn't expect them to live. I've had about 5 over the last 4-5 months and only 1 has survived -- he's the only one that ever behaved normally from the beginning. He was the first one I got, and he's an active little fella, boing, boing all over the place. He sings too, if there's another frog with him.
I may have suspected their diet or something else but they died so fast they were either ill or the tank parameters were way off the mark for them.
I may get more, but while they are not hard to keep, they do require certain things that affect my tank setup and possible tank mates more so than some other choices.
Z
I may have suspected their diet or something else but they died so fast they were either ill or the tank parameters were way off the mark for them.
I may get more, but while they are not hard to keep, they do require certain things that affect my tank setup and possible tank mates more so than some other choices.
Z
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doomydarkdoom - Posts: 167
- Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:00 am
If it was PetSmart, the tank parameters were definitely off the mark... they have low-pH and high-pH species all mixed together... the only separation they do is between the goldfish tanks and the tropicals, but beyond that it's all the same water, and they CONSTANTLY add nasty bag water from whoever ships their fish.
I worked for a rescue that had an adoption center in PetSmart, and I was right next to the fish wall, so I was there all the time talking to the associates and managers. At one point they changed the rules so that the fish would NEVER be out of the water, which meant they couldn't pour the bag into a net and then put the fish in - they were forced to leave some water in the bag for pouring purposes.
Yeah. Needless to say they have gigantic fish-kills with every shipment.
I worked for a rescue that had an adoption center in PetSmart, and I was right next to the fish wall, so I was there all the time talking to the associates and managers. At one point they changed the rules so that the fish would NEVER be out of the water, which meant they couldn't pour the bag into a net and then put the fish in - they were forced to leave some water in the bag for pouring purposes.
Yeah. Needless to say they have gigantic fish-kills with every shipment.
