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Thread: ADF not eating, help?

  1. #1
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    Default ADF not eating, help?

    Hello! I have had 2 African Dwarf Frogs for about...2 months now I think, 2.5 maybe. One of them, female, is healthy and active and curious. she eats as soon as she finds her food and if she sees me open the lid to the tank, she already knows it's feeding time and will swim and investigate. The other, male, recently stopped eating. I tried feeding him last night and he seemed curious about the turkey baster at first, but then ignored me. Since they like to nip at each other when it's feeding time, i thought I could try to separate them to get him to eat, but when I got him in the net, he jumped out onto the floor and got really scared. I managed to scoop him up and put him back in the tank, where he was still shocked and swam around erratically for a couple minutes. I decided to leave him alone for a few hours before trying to feed him again. It's been about 14 hours later, and he still will not accept anything from me, he keeps turning away .

    1. Tank Size and volume of water in it (full, 1/2 filled, etc.)?
    5.5 gal tank, almost full, except with like, 2 inches left from the rim or so.

    2. Number of inhabitants including all frogs and any fish?

    2 african dwarf frogs total, 1 male, 1 female
    3. Water source and any conditioner treatments?
    tap water, i use tetra aquasafe dechlorinator and conditioner

    4. Water Temperature and how is it heated (if so)?
    right now it's at about 76F. I turned th eeater off because the heater overheated the tank during the summer.

    5. Water chemistry levels: pH; Ammonia (NH3); Nitrites (NO2); Nitrates (NO3)? Note that if you do not have test kits, most aquariums/pet shops will do
    complimentary tests if you take a clean water sample.
    Ammonia - 0
    Nitirite- 0

    Nitrate - 10 or 20 ppm, i can't tell because the colors on the chart are too similar

    6. Describe any filter system including model and media?[/COLOR]
    I use a Topfin filter system that came with the tank, it was a 5.5 gal starter kit

    7. Substrate type?

    blue and white gravel

    8. Tank set-up (plants (live or artificial), driftwood, hide outs and other decor? - How were things prepared prior to being put into the tank?
    2 artificial plants, a little house thing to hide out in, and an artificial wood thing to hide out in.

    9. Main frog staple food and any treats? How often you feed?
    I feed them frozen brine shrimp every 2 or 3 days.

    10. CA, vitamins, and any other additives used (how often)?
    dont use any other additives.

    11. Lighting set-up and hours it's used?
    Not sure how to describe it. i use the lighting that came with the tank, it's on from maybe 11:30am or noon, to about 11pm, when i come home from work.

    12. When is the last time frog ate?
    my frog ate a few bites 3 days ago, before the other frog ate all the rest

    13. Have you found poop lately?

    pretty hard to find poop in such a large environment, also hard to tell who's poop it is, since there's two.

    14. A picture would be helpful including frog and tank (any including cell phone pics are fine).

    will add later

    15. How old is the frog?
    I got it from petsmart, but i've only had him 2 or 3 months.

    16. How long have you owned him/her?
    2 or 3 months.

    17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred?
    not sure, got him from petsmart

    18. Any medications in the water (treatment dosis and for how long)?

    have not added any treatment yet, wouldnt even know where to start...

    19. Any salt in water (how much)?
    no salt

    20. Is the tank kept in a high or low traffic area?
    low traffic, it's in the corner of my room.

    21. Describe tank maintenance to include water changes, cleaning, media changes, etc.).
    25% water changes weekly, didn't change any media. a week behind on gravel cleaning, will do as soon as i have time (probably tomorrow morning.)

    another thing that concerns me is that he plasters himself against the glass halfway out of the water, which makes me think the water is bothering him. i nudge him back into the water, but he will go straight back up within 10 minutes. I don't understand what's bothering him, but not the other frog? Since I can't tell exactly what range the Nitrate is, it hought i'd do small daily water changes to get the colors to be lighter, or at least to where i can tell it's between 0 and 5, and hopefully that will help

    any ideas will help greatly

    thank you

    oh, and yes, the tank is cycled. i cycled it before i put them in there

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  3. #2
    100+ Post Member celticstarb's Avatar
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    Default Re: ADF not eating, help?

    First, ditch the brine shrimp. Use frozen bloodworms, mysis, daphnia, or mosquito larvae. Brine shrimp has very little nutritional value.

    How large is the gravel in their tank? I haven't seen as many issues with dwarf frogs ingesting gravel as their larger cousins, but it can happen. Have you noticed any lumps around his belly?

    Live food is a good choice to stimulate appetite. Check your local fish shop for live tubifex or blood worms.

    It's not uncommon for dwarf frogs to go off food for a few feedings, then start eating again.

    I'm not familiar with the filter you have. How much current and surface agitation does it create. ADF's are poor swimmers and can tire themselves out easily.

    Have you noticed any other unusual behaviors?

    Sorry to throw so many questions at you, but it's hard to figure out what could be wrong without a bit more info.

  4. #3
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    Default Re: ADF not eating, help?

    I haven't seen any lumps around his belly, I doubt he swallowed any gravel. The gravel is large, but not super huge. I mentioned in the original post that he plasters himself at the top of a plant that's sticking out of the water so that half of his body stays out of the water, it makes me think he doesn't like the water, but the other one is fine and behaves normally. Also, the agitation of my filter seemed to bother them so I cut up a jug and taped it over the outflow of the filter so the current isn't as strong on them.

    Thank you for the time to reply!


    Quote Originally Posted by celticstarb View Post
    First, ditch the brine shrimp. Use frozen bloodworms, mysis, daphnia, or mosquito larvae. Brine shrimp has very little nutritional value.

    How large is the gravel in their tank? I haven't seen as many issues with dwarf frogs ingesting gravel as their larger cousins, but it can happen. Have you noticed any lumps around his belly?

    Live food is a good choice to stimulate appetite. Check your local fish shop for live tubifex or blood worms.

    It's not uncommon for dwarf frogs to go off food for a few feedings, then start eating again.

    I'm not familiar with the filter you have. How much current and surface agitation does it create. ADF's are poor swimmers and can tire themselves out easily.

    Have you noticed any other unusual behaviors?

    Sorry to throw so many questions at you, but it's hard to figure out what could be wrong without a bit more info.

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