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dwarf frog acclimation

10K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  confuted 
#1 ·
I just got one of these guys for my heavily planted tank and have not seen him in a week. I have not even seen him come up for air and I spend a good deal of time in front of the tank (dont laugh, ill bet you do the same). I have even looked after lights out with a flashlight and nada. I have 74 degree water, pressurized co2 and use excel every other day. PH 7.2 and great water quality (fluval 404 on a 40 gallon). I cant imagine he died on me. All i have are tetras and platies a loach and an SAE so I know the other fish are not a problem. Do frogs take a while to acclimate to a new tank? Should I expect more activity as he gets comfortable or did I just get a tank ghost?
 
#2 ·
I never had a problem acclimating frogs. If you haven't seen it for a while, I would suggest finding it. If it died it could foul your water and wipe out the rest of the fish. You may want to look around the room too. Those lil buggers sometimes go for a journey.
 
#3 ·
I got a couple of dwarfs as part of the first group of fish added to my 46 gal about 3 months ago. They only came out at night and got quite upset if they were out and I turned on the aquarium light. Sometimes even when I did a water change and moved or removed all ornaments, I still wouldn't see them. After about month. I only ever saw one. Now a month later I haven't seen either in at least 2 weeks.

Probably I did not have a good environment for them. The gravel is very large, and I noticed they were always trying to push through it and couldn't. Plus there were no fish, and the only good hiding place was a large fake piece of driftwood that I moved a few times. They may have ended up buried as a result, although I'm sure I saw one after the last time I moved anything.

Chris
 
#4 ·
I know they couldnt get out of the tank, its covered. I am to heavily planted to root around just to find him. Oh well, i guess ill try to forget him and get really surprised if he ever shows again. lol
 
#5 ·
Never had a problem acclimating them. I have 2 in my 210 now. I know when it was more heavily planted it was harder to find them. The rest in any plant or other thing in the tank. I have also seen them floating at the top around the inlet/outlets away from the current, kinda holding on. When I had a bed of dwarf sag, they often were crawling in there, which hid them very well.
 
#6 ·
i used to have 3 or 4 in my 55 and havent seen any at all in the last few months. i have had one go for a "journey" once in the past but havent found any since.

they must come up for air every so often...
i think mine must have died and been eaten. probably yours too. they arent really shy creatures and usually will show themselves and are not spooked into hiding easily.

they are interesting too, i had two that i watched battle over a bloodworm for more than a couple minutes. it was intense, they were kicking and flailing all around together while both latched onto the same worm. i suggest you get more and try again, theyre worth having. chicks dig em and think theyre cute too.
 
#7 ·
I find that drip acclimitization works best for these frogs. Also, I have found that I have more success keeping these frogs alive longer in unplanted tanks. I can only speculate that they may be more sensitive to fertilizers dosed or excel but cannot scientifically confirm this. It is just an observation I have made over the years that I kept them. I had a dwarf aquatic frog with a peppered cory catfish in a filtered one gallon unplanted tank. The frog survived 7 years and died because I put him in a new tank that was not properly cycled. The catfish died a year later after being transitioned into a planted tank.

In my experience, when you don't see them, it means one of two things: They either jumped out of the tank, likely when you removed the cover to do a water change or through a large opening on the cover or they died, in which case if you scour the tank you will find the frog belly up(that is how they die). To test if you frog is still around. Get some frozen(not freeze dried) blood worms, thaw them, and place them in one corner of the tank. It your frog(s) is alive, I guarantee s/he will come for the blood worms, it won't matter if it is day or night, light or dark. I have observed this each and every time. 100% No Joke.
 
#8 ·
To test if you frog is still around. Get some frozen(not freeze dried) blood worms, thaw them, and place them in one corner of the tank. It your frog(s) is alive, I guarantee s/he will come for the blood worms, it won't matter if it is day or night, light or dark. I have observed this each and every time. 100% No Joke.
They do LOVE their bloodworms...
:fish:
 
#10 ·
Amazing, 3 weeks later and he finally showed up! I saw him sitting by the front of the glass this morning. I dropped some frozen bloodworms right on top of him and he didnt even react. I watched him for a few minutes and he tried to eat two of my neon tetras......not a good sign.
 
#14 ·
They're practically blind, and will jump at anything that moves right in front of their face. Mine have tried to eat a 3" gourami. Mostly they hunt by smell. I've found that they love sinking shrimp pellets, and my other fish leave the pellets alone. They don't come up for air very often when they're not actively moving around (maybe every 30 minutes), and when they do come up for air, they usually dart up and down in just a second or so.
 
#12 ·
I've had one of those little guys for over 6 months now. He was only shy for the first couple of days-to a week and he often shows himself, even when the lights are on. I have always provided him LOTS of hiding places, between driftwood, rocks and live plants, which I understood they liked. I do see more activity from him (don't know if it's a he or she...) when the led-moonlights are on as their eyesights are very poor, and w/ mine not very good smell either... All of my fish feed from the bottom so feeding him is more of a PITA than I thought would be.. & glad I only got one! He comes out/kicks around when I tap on the glass near him, feed approx. 1-2 times a week (bloodworms) & I'm sure he makes do with all the fry from my guppies and platies though. <witnessed sadly..>

As far as acclimation, they drink the water but breathe air. So I don't think they need to be acclimated to anything other than the temperature of the water.. right? PH has never been an issue for me though between the lfs and mine... I will often stare at the tank for more than a couple of hours and will only at random catch him sprint to the surface and back to the ground if I'm looking that way. I can imagine if you're looking the other way you'd miss him for sure. Sure makes a nice conversation piece when the unusual guests peer in to try and find him too. Mine generally hides in the same places so once you do find him chances are that's where he'll be...
 
#13 ·
Oh yea, and excel was never an issue with him either.. I was overdosing both to cure my BBA and by accident.. & he was fine, and somehow managed to live through my massive killing spree when I did a 20+% WC the same day I cleaned the filter, changed the CO2 cannister, and dosed excel :/ out-lived 6 of my fish.. I really think he's eating my tiny ghost shrimp, 2 have disappeared, or did they?? guess that's why they're called ghosts..
 
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