Anyone Kept African Dwarf Frogs With Other Tankmates?

[Akeath]

Title. If you have, what were the tankmates and how did it go? I’m especially interested in whether or not they outcompeted each other for food and how feeding was handled. Also, was there any interaction between the tankmates or nipping/aggression on anyone’s parts?

 

[Essjay]

I once had 2 African dwarf frogs in the same tank as a betta. It didn't end well.

Bettas are greedy little pigs and he ate the frogs' food before they could find it - as well as his own. I made what I hoped would be a feeding station for the frogs. Imagine a small terracotta plant pot with a small, frog sized hole cut in the rim. Stand it upside down and put a pebble over the hole in the base of the pot, and lift it briefly to drop the food inside. The betta managed to get inside then couldn't get out again.

The final straw was when I saw the betta swimming frantically round the tank trying to dislodge the frog clamped onto his tail. The frog, being almost blind, had mistaken the betta's tail for food and lunged. I had to set up the quarantine tank, split the filter media between two filters and move the frogs out.


There are a few issues to consider.
Fish eating the frog's food - frogs have been known to starve in a tank with fish.
Frogs are very sensitive to chemicals and would be harmed by fish medication if ever the fish got sick.
Frogs need to breathe air, and a tall tank makes life more difficult for them.
There are some fish species which would try to eat a frog, and nip their legs which they mistake for worms.

But if the tank and tank mates are not a problem and you make sure the frogs are getting some food, try them. But have a back up plan ready, just in case.



Oh, and read up on how to tell the difference between African dwarf frogs and African clawed frogs. The latter get big and will eat smallish fish. You can't rely on a store to know the difference.

 

[Waterbabe]

ADF can live with certain fish of course, but its really best to keep them separate. Just speaking from my experience, having kept them and bred them for over 20 years now and have a good knowledge of their behavior and needs. ADF have very poor eye sight so I tend to stick with a light sand substrate which helps them to see the food, although they are scavengers and will forage around, if there is competition in the same environment may make it harder for them. I think the main concern of keeping ADF with any fish really is fish diseases. If the fish go down with a case of white spot or similar, its hard to treat the tank with the frogs in it. The frogs can't tolerate any medication and have to be removed. In the past I have kept small fish and ADF together and made sure there was plenty of hiding places and food in their area, and yes things were ok, but all in all I keep all of my frogs separate and in there own environment where I can do more necessary water changes and less light etc for there needs rather than the fish.

 

[Akeath]

More info:
I'm planning to upgrade the 10 gallon my current ADFs are in. The space for the tank is very limited, so I could only upgrade to either a 15 gallon long or a 20 gallon high. I'd be keeping everything from the old tank including the filter and light, but likely adding an additonal adjustable filter. But the aquarium itself and the lid would be new. The temperature would be 78, the hardness level 11 dGH, the pH 7.4. Temperature could be lowered some if needed, though. I'm going to try to keep the current slow.

This will sound weird, but I'm actually looking for an upper water fish to eat tadpoles. I've had 2 tadpoles in this tank turn successfully turn into adult frogs (out of 2 tadpoles) and just now found 9 more tadpoles. I know ADFs are supposed to be super hard to raise successfully, but the tank conditions in my setup seem to be just right for them to make it. The adults hang out mostly at the bottom, and don't seem to really notice the tadpoles that always stick around the surface of the water. So the adults aren't eating them.

I'm hoping to hear ideas for tankmates that a) would eat tadpoles or fish fry, but not bother the adult frogs b) would swim mostly in the upper areas of the tank c) wouldn't harass the frogs, be clamped onto by the frogs, or outcompete them for food if I target feed d) could live as a single fish or at most in a trio, so that most of the bioload could be the frogs.

I'm hoping to thoroughly research everything while the tadpoles are growing (or not), then upgrade the tank, make sure it's fully cycled, and then only try the tank mate if some of this newest batch of tadpoles turn into frogs. But I figure even if I don't end up needing the fry eater, it wouldn't hurt to research it while I wait to see what happens with this new group of tadpoles.

From what you've said, Bettas are definitely out. But what about a single Dwarf Gourami or a trio of Sparkling Gourami? Or Guppies? When I was young I had a Guppy colony and my Mom for some reason added a feeder Goldfish. The guppies went crazy biting chunks out of the Goldfish. That was an image I'll never forget. Would the Guppies also nip the African Dwarf Frogs? A trio of male Guppies would otherwise fit what I'm looking for, but I'm especially worried about them nipping the frogs. Has anyone kept them together and ever seen them nip the frogs, or will they leave them alone? I'm hoping to find other fish species to research I haven't thought of yet, too.

 

[Colin_T]

Since virtually all frogs and amphibians are on the endangered species list, I would suggest you encourage your frogs to breed and sell the young to pet shops to help keep the species from becoming extinct. Keep the fish out of their tank and let them do their thing to help save the species.

If room is limited and you need another tank, get a double or triple tier stand. You can have 2 or 3 tanks (one above the other) and it will take up the same space as one tank. You can then leave the frogs in their tank and set up another tank for fish.

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Dwarf Gouramis (Colisa lalius) and all their colour varieties regularly carry Fish Tuberculosis (TB) and or the gourami iridovirus, neither of which can be treated. Everyone should avoid dwarf gouramis until the Asian suppliers clean up their mess. Other small gouramis are less likely to have these diseases but could still have them.

Fish TB can affect frogs.

Guppies regularly carry gill flukes and intestinal worms, and they often come into the shops with bacterial or external protozoan infections. If you get any guppies (or other common livebearers like swordtails, platies, mollies) you should quarantine them for a month before adding them to the aquarium. You should treat them for gill flukes and intestinal worms while they are in quarantine.