Talk:African dwarf frog

General Edit

I've tried to smooth over the article...it was loosely written. Forgot to note that in the edit summary box. - Slow Graffiti 05:41, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

This article needs some serious editing. For starters, frogs breathe air AND can absorb dissolved oxygen in the water through their skin (although they do need to swim up to the surface occasionally). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.246.9.186 (talk) 23:38, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

what do african dwarf frogs eat —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.56.160.57 (talk) 18:37, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

This is an important question, and with all respect to Peasants (whose link I have not followed), they eat everything. Algae, dead plant material and other detritus, fish food, including bloodworms, snail eggs, and live food. They will rather comically overeat and become bloated, hiding in the aquarium and only going up for a breath of air once in a while. I have fed them on earthworms cut up into 3/4 inch pieces, and they will eat something as big as their stomach can hold. Some say that they have poor vision [citation needed] but they have a very quick underwater movement that they use to grab a small piece of food that may be a couple of inches away. I suspect that in the wild they also eat everything. For all their popularity in the aquarium trade, not much is really known about the natural history of these animals, and the article reflects that. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

In reply to myself, I have two additional things: 1) I suspect that their vision is probably poor, but they may be sensitive to the underwater movements of small invertebrates and fish fry. When one swims near, they lunge forward quickly and grab it. They are also sensitive to the smell of any potential dead food (bloodworms, etc.) and eat that in the same way. 2) There are many aquarium sites that say they are nocturnal. I do not think so. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

the african dwarf frogs eat bloodworms they can also eat pellets that look like beta food.

Please note that feeding African Dwarf Frogs only bloodworms is not the most balanced diet. Please reference the Aquarium Wiki for more information: Peasants'Revolt (talk) 17:02, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

References

Some notes

1. The article on daphnia says they are often fed to African dwarf frogs for a snack

2. The claim "a one gallon tank can hold 1–2 frogs" seems dubious to me. I would like to see a citation. For freshwater aquarium fish the rule of thumb is "one inch of fish per gallon of water". But that's because fish breathe water and consume scarce dissolved oxygen. If these frogs breath air directly from the surface, they won't consume as much dissolved oxygen (if any?), and more can safely be added per given volume of water, right?

• In answer to 2., it's not because of oxygen, it's because of ammonia wastes. Frogs are just about as messy as fish in that regard, and are more sensitive to it. It's not a good idea to stock ADFs much more heavily than you would fish, although they're often happier in a smaller tank than fish are due to being bad swimmers. Thus, you could stock 1-2 smallish-sized youngish ADFs in a one-gallon tank, but you'd probably have to do water changes twice weekly to avoid ammonia build-up. You're better off putting five or so in a 5-gallon tank, as that's really closer to their minimum 'happy size'. 70.122.65.89 (talk) 00:31, 1 August 2015 (UTC)

I agree, they like some room. They also like live plants and spacial heterogeneity (rocks and so forth.). Water changes are very important. In answer to #1, certainly. Some say they cannot see well and sniff out their food. However, they are quite capable of catching daphnia or amphipods. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

Question: Which is it, do they need a water surface or not? The article says both —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.15.17.169 (talk) 23:44, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Discrepancy

The Description section says "The average life expectancy of these frogs can be up to 5 years, but they can live as long as 20 years; they are known to grow to a maximum of 2½ inches long" The "In the wild" section says "They can be as long as 8 inches ... and they live for about 22 years." The difference is pretty dramatic: a LE of up to 17 years longer, and almost a half-foot difference in length!

--Jndrline (talk) 22:57, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

My guess would be that the 8 inch long refers to African Clawed Frogs (which are often confused with African Dwarf Frogs). In my experience, 2 and one-half inches should be a common maximum size for Hymenochirus boettgeri. Peasants'Revolt (talk) 17:14, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Distribution

I see no mention of the African dwarf frog's distribution in the wild and I'm having trouble finding any source that says anything but "Sub-Saharan Africa", which is a fairly huge place. Does anyone have any decent literature on this? Pandarsson (talk) 21:47, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

Section on distribution has been added — Micromesistius (talk) 11:27, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

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