African Dwarf Frog breathing?

Question

We just got an African Dwarf Frog today for our 10 gallon tank. (We plan on having three or four total eventually. No fish - just the frogs.)

I know they breathe at the surface, but I haven't seen it make it to the top of the water since we got it and it's been an hour or two. The depth of the water right now is 11 inches. What can I do to make it easier for it to get to the surface? Or do I need to do something at all? There's plenty of plants to climb on and a log platform in the middle.

Can they breathe bubbles from an air stone because I've seen him put his mouth into the bubble stream a few times. (This used to be a fish tank, but we upgraded to a 55 gallon and decided to keep the 10 gallon as a frog tank.) Should we remove the air stone? Does the water level need to be lowered further? How often do they need to surface to breathe?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Congratulations!! I love ADFs, and I had a few before. If you ever want to put fish with your frogs, I can tell you from personal experience that ADFs do very well with other fish (except aggressive ones like barbs and cichlids). The only problem I ever had with my frogs were them nipping the feelers off my poor mystery snails, thinking they were worms. :]

It usually only takes a few seconds for the frog to go up and breathe. I have a 6 gallon tank, and the water level is 12 inches. The frogs have no problem getting to the surface, with their powerful hind legs kicking away. :] You actually don't need anything at all to "help" them get to the surface. They can swim anywhere they want to go, from anywhere they currently are. Some frogs are lazy, and they float at the water surface just so they can poke their snouts out with minimal effort whenever they want to.

It was good of you to put the plants and the log. Your frog will love hiding in and under them. My frogs slept vertically, facedown into the bottom of the plants. :]

I think they can breathe using the air stone, but they need more air than that inside their lungs--which is why they swim up.Your frog most likely thought the small moving objects (bubbles!) were food. ADFs have poor eyesight, and can't often differentiate between different types of food by vision alone.

Keep the air stone inside! It will help aerate the water as usual. The water level won't need to be lowered any further, unless your frog is sick or dying. A sick or dying frog may not have the energy to swim all the way up, and thus drown itself. That is why I quarantine ailing frogs in a small floating breeding compartment (meant for guppies :] ), so they can just stand up to breathe.

They breathe pretty often, about every 15-30 minutes. You'll be able to see your frog dart very quickly to the surface and stick its mouth out of the water, and then again very quickly dart back down to the tank bottom, kicking and leaving a few bubbles behind, trailing out of its mouth. :] If you watch them often enough, as I did, since my parents finally let me get a fish tank (they decided that a 9th grader should be capable of keeping fish), you'll see it come up to breathe often.

Just a note: make sure the tank is WELL COVERED! When they come up to breathe, sometimes they will fly out of the water! They are notorious jumpers. They will dry up on the ground and harden, dying a slow and painful death. :[

I'm glad you're getting ADFs! I hope that helped!

Answer 2

i have african dwarf frogs in my 55 gallon tank with other fish iand i have never seen them go up for air except once and they are both still alive happy and eating