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African clawed frogs?

9K views 33 replies 6 participants last post by  AVN 
#1 ·
Does anyone else keep these guys? I have three and I absolutely love them! They are so fun to watch and are the center of the conversation when new people come to the house.
 
#3 ·
I have one I just got from my lfs as a gift for my patronage.
(Ha! Nobody wanted this last guy and they wanted to stock the tank he was occupying with bigger fish)

He's very odd, and only moves to reposition himself or get a breath of air. Sometimes I catch him climbing out of the water to rest on the floating driftwood but other than that he really doesn't do much.

Pretty dumb when it comes to feeding too, bloodworms floating right in front of his face and he doesn't eat them. He'd rather sift through the moss to find leftover fish flakes and bits of bloodworms from fish feedings, it's whatevers.
 
#5 ·
I love my albino! I call her Frodo (originally thought it was a male). She is awesome! I love hand feeding her. They are pretty much if not completely blind, so give yours some time to find the food. I got my female when she was about the size of a guitar pick and now she is almost the size of my hand. I have two regular ACFs, but they are smaller and not as active. Still very fun, but Frodo is my girl!
 
#7 ·
Hello,
I am sorry for hijacking this… my wife and I want one of these sooooooooo bad but would have to put it in my 90gal. Is that too tall? Also would they eat all my fish?

Lots of tetras
2 large angles
Barbs
Platys
1-8” clown loach
6-4” to 5” clown loaches
I also have a bristlenose pleco and a very large 8” catfish.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I love ACF, I keep 3 in a 40B and they're awesome. I would like to add more but I can't seem to find any big enough in pet stores to not get eaten as mine in the last 6 months have gotten to about 3.5 inches or so.

I will tell you now, if they can catch it, they will eat it. Mine ate mollies that were the same size as they were, they find a way. Your tetras would be in danger, the platys would also not be safe.. and these guys will take on things larger than they are... they will latch on and then use their hind legs and rake with their claws.. I've seen them do it with pieces of cooked shrimp and it was oddly effective, their hind claws would rip flesh from the shrimp cutting it into more manage chunks!

My girlfriend told me once while I was at work that she saw an ACF latch in to the tail of a large female black mollie and took it down.. they're NOT fish friendly! I've noticed that the most predatory ACF are the 'wild types' which are the darker green/brown ones (I have one and she's a monster).

They love to eat and they're always hungry! I highly recommend them as pets because they are way cool but they need their own tank. Their predatory instincts come out eventually, anything that fits in their mouth is food -- even other frogs.. I used to feed my frogs live bearers but I am a bit paranoid about the fish infecting the frogs eventually so I only feed my frogs reptomin/earthworms now which I feel are safer.

The only thing I've 'successfully' kept with my frogs is oddly enough ghost shrimp. If you give the shrimp enough vegetation to hide in the frogs tend to leave them alone. My frogs actually are not very aggressive towards them now, however I need to replace my stock every few months because they do slowly 'disappear' however at 33 cents per ghost shrimp it's not a huge deal (and I think that's expensive for these guys..).

Hope this helps! Again.. GREAT pets. Very interactive frogs, they will come up to the glass to greet you. They have different personalities. They're definitively the most interesting amphibian I've ever kept. The 'feed me' dance they do is quite charming. : )

Some additional info:
-Water Depth isn't a huge deal to these guys. They're really strong swimmers. I keep my water at 12" from substrate to surface of water but I mostly do this to keep them from escaping (which they are prone to do, I know this first hand..). I think young ACF would probably appreciate water not over 12" deep though.

-I don't think they are quite as blind as people make them out to be.. mine see me come up to the tank and take notice. I think their eyes are mostly used to spot predators, which is why they are located on top of their heads. They can see though. They do not rely on their eyes for finding food though. In the wild they hail from murky/muddy waters with little to no visibility. They do locate food mostly with smell and their lateral sensory organs (the little bumps on their body).. seems to me that the ability to track down food differs frog to frog.. some frogs are deadly accurate, others.. not so much. Mine don't seem to find 'bloodworms' that well, but a live earthworm? They're on that like white on rice..

-Another reason that these guys are not fish friendly is that most fish we keep are tropical.. these guys are NOT tropical (xenopus tropicalis is but they're rare to find and they're smaller than xenopus laevis which is the commonly kept ACF). They need cool, temperate water 68-72F. 70F is ideal, this is the temperature I keep my frogs at.
 
#8 ·
I'm not sure about the height, I've had them in 16 and 18"s and there's no problem. They say it stresses them out, so you may want to consider it.

As for your fish, YES, they will all die or get attacked eventually. Also, you NEVER want to put a catfish of any kind with an ACF, they will eat them and get the barbs in their mouth, stomach, or any other lace you can think of to kill them.. bad idea!
 
#11 ·
Checking back in since new information came to light.

Although I agree with you that froggies would love to kill and eat fishies... My ACF doesn't bother any of my fish. It's living with about 40 other assorted Tetras/Danios. Is there something wrong with it?!

Your ACF sounds interesting and fun. I feel ripped off! Mine is slow, blind, and generally not very lively.
 
#12 · (Edited)
It's hard to say. ACF are all different (on some level). Danios and Tetras are pretty fast fish, maybe they're just too fast for him. I'm surprised he doesn't get lucky now and then though. Live bearers are very slow, they're easier prey for an ACF, in my opinion. With so many fish in the tank it may hide a lot, maybe it feels threatened a bit. Is your ACF young? They get bolder with age, froglets tend to hide more.

I have one ACF who likes to hide a lot, one who is very interactive with me and likes to be hand fed, and another who really enjoys hunting down fish and is very predatory (wild type).

It's actually kind of cool you can keep yours with fish. I've had no luck. My wild type ACF is so crazy and predatory I would find the fish hiding behind the filters and obviously stressed so I moved them to their own tank.

Honestly though I've seen all three go after fish, does your ACF even try? Generally they are most successful at night when fish become inactive and rest at the bottom of the aquarium.

I've never seen my ACF actually catch a fish, I've turned on the lights in the room and seen one in their mouths though!
 
#13 ·
I've noticed my ACF has a very peculiar temperament now that I've read more posts from ACF owners.

He's definitely a "wild type" judging by his coloration, but I have yet to see him even try for any fish, let alone catch one. I've seen him munching on moss, rearranging substrate looking for loose bloodworms, chasing around fish flakes with great resolve while ignoring live fish less than half his size.

He's active during the day, mostly when it's bright, but when I switch off the lights to entice my dwarf blue crayfish out for feed he bolts into the nearest cave or into a thicket of moss and refuses to come back out.

He's either very eccentric or mentally retarded. :)
 
#14 · (Edited)
Keeping a crayfish with an ACF is a terrible idea.

Crayfish are highly predatory and get quite large. Your crayfish in all likelihood is causing your ACF terrible stress and is very capable of harming or killing your frog.

These frogs are actually fairly intelligent and believe me he is well aware of when that crayfish comes out.. if he is hiding that is exactly why. Can you blame him?

Please for your frogs sake strongly consider moving him to a safe home..
 
#15 ·
My big girl went through about $30.00 worth of fish back when I was a beginner aquarist. She is an expensive pet, but she is awesome. Night crawlers that are three times as long as her are just spaghetti and feeder guppies don't last long at all. I have had serious luck with keeping cichlids with them. They can hold their own and are too fast for them. They have been with them for about six months and just keep growing. I imagine I will have to change their tanks up eventually, but for now it's neat to have them together.

Anybody want to put up pics of their ACF? I'll put one up later.
 
#18 ·
Oh definitely. I didn't mind that you sounded preachy, better to get yelled at than to screw it all up.

I did my research before mixing the species, I've been in the hobby for decades, so I've made my fair share of mistakes. I also have a tendency to try to make things work that really either shouldn't, or will only work in specific circumstances.

Also...

I've seen people keep ACF with turtles then come on forums going 'derp how come my frog is missing a leg?'.
There's a juvie Map turtle in there with him. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

No worries though. The Turtle's a real sweety, the only thing he bites is me when I'm hand feeding him. He's never caught any fish nor fish fry, and mainly spends his time basking or munching moss. The frog is bigger than the turtle, so no worries there.

In the wild, ACF feed mostly on arthropods and carrion, they are generally not 'fish eaters' outside of home aquaria.
Now I understand why he loves foraging in the moss blanket so much.
 
#20 ·
Oh definitely. I didn't mind that you sounded preachy, better to get yelled at than to screw it all up.

I did my research before mixing the species, I've been in the hobby for decades, so I've made my fair share of mistakes. I also have a tendency to try to make things work that really either shouldn't, or will only work in specific circumstances.

Also...

There's a juvie Map turtle in there with him. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

No worries though. The Turtle's a real sweety, the only thing he bites is me when I'm hand feeding him. He's never caught any fish nor fish fry, and mainly spends his time basking or munching moss. The frog is bigger than the turtle, so no worries there.

Now I understand why he loves foraging in the moss blanket so much.
ACF are bottom dwellers, as are crayfish. They both enjoy the same hiding spots.

One has soft delicate skin, the other has claws and is armored and is predatory.

On top of that there is another predator with hard shell and a viscous bite and will grow quite large in time. It's small and sweet now but we both know it will get large and mother nature will dictate the frog is prey..

All your frog can do is attempt to flee these tank mates, this causes stress, stress eventually leads to premature death.

Well at this point I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. : (
 
#22 · (Edited)
Here's my experience.

Dwarf Hair Grass = waste of time+money. It will be uprooted faster than it grows.

Wisteria will root just fine, you may have to plant it again now and then but it's grown well in my tank.

Moneywort (bacopa) grows fine, stays rooted alright. Occasionally needs to be replanted.

Pennywort, frogs love it as they do most floating plants, they will rest in it.

Jungle Vals, died on me left and right.. may have been sold 'Mondo Grass' labled as Vals..

Anubias works great, attach to driftwood.

Java Fern is the same as anubias.

Christmas Moss I have growing on my driftwood, it's not really grown a ton yet it appears to be taking root though.

***Crypt Wendtii (forgot I had one of these in my tank) is great. Very strong root system, impossible for the frogs to dislodge.. has been growing very nicely in my tank! They get pretty big and provide nice cover, the frogs love to rest in it.

The problem with ACF and plants IMO is two fold. Numero Uno.. they don't like bright light.. I have a Finnex 36" 7k/7k LED on my 40B and I am in the process of moving it higher above the tank to cut down on light.. shoot for low light..

That and they uproot everything.. I would stick to plants that deeply root. Dwarf Hair Grass was a complete nightmare for me.. I moved it to another tank..
 
#21 ·
I'm not disagreeing with you, in fact I am totally agreeing.

I will be moving the turtle once he gets big enough, right now he's only 2 inches so he's less of a threat to the frog than the frog is to himself.

The crayfish I have to completely disagree with. The frog is 3 inches long, the crayfish is merely an inch long. His entire claw is as big as the frog's claw is long. The worst he can do is pinch him, if that. He spends 20 hours out of the day completely buried in a tunnel he dug in the substrate under a piece of driftwood, the frog is a free swimmer. They NEVER interact.
 
#23 ·
Oh if the crayfish is that small I am surprised the frog has not taken a go at him. Most crayfish I've seen in aquariums are quite capable of hurting ACF (and fish!).

My mental image is of a huge clawed crayfish, some of the ones I've seen are quite beastly and they're all predatory so I wouldn't trust them. :icon_redf
 
#25 · (Edited)
I've seriously considered adding duckweed to my tank.

It does have it's perks, it is great for maintaining good water quality and shade for your frogs.. however you're absolutely right, it's messy.. pretty sure you can't be rid of it without a total break down and bleaching of the tank too!

Where did you get your duckweed? Did you get it from a ditch or canal? I've thought about hunting for some but I am weary of adding stuff I find outside to my aquariums (parasites, disease, ect ect..).
 
#26 ·
I got mine at my LFS. They said hey you can have this clean healthy duckweed if you buy this bichir. So the compulsive shopper that I am, I bought the bichir and got the duckweed. It was nice for awhile, but it took over my tank and like you said, there's no getting rid of it. I cleared it all out (so I thought) and then in two weeks time, my tank was covered in them yet again. They are cool looking, but more of an annoyance plant. Unless you seriously want it, I wouldn't advise. I was told that I would end up throwing out handfuls. Skeptical at first, I said whatever, but sure enough I just threw out two handfuls from my other tank last week and more buds are coming in..
 
#27 ·
I kind of wanted to make a 'swamp' look for my frog aquarium, for that reason I am kind of tempted.

I've not seen duckweed around here, I saw some growing in a little creek that may of been duckweed but I'm not adventurous enough to go down and check it out yet.

Hey at least you probably have great water quality. I hear duckweed does have a highly positive effect on water. : )
 
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