African Dwarf Frog Breeding - Help :-/

[RandaRM]

Hello all,

Saturday morning I woke up to about 100 African Dwarf Frog eggs in my tank. I scooped out about half of them and put them in their own tank. I put some small floating plants in the water to keep it clean and I don't have the filter running (but it does work). As I expected, some of them started to fuzz over. I counted 8 hatched so far but they don't appear to be moving....some are floating at the top and some are sitting on the bottom. I had eggs floating at the top, sitting on the bottom, and on the sides of the tank. Is it normal for them to stay where they hatch for a little bit? Should I turn on the filter? What temperature should the fish tank be? I tried a few google searches and asked in the pet store but nobody seems to know much. Thanks for your help!

Randa

[SailAwayAK]

One of the best articles a novice can read on their eggs. Good luck with those tads!

Flippersandfins.net African Dwarf Frog Breeding article

[Geoff]

Is it normal for them to stay where they hatch for a little bit? Should I turn on the filter? What temperature should the fish tank be?

The answers to your questions are: yes, no and mid-70s°F (mid-20s°C).

I tried a few google searches and asked in the pet store but nobody seems to know much.

The difficult part (after preventing the frogs from eating the eggs) is rearing the tadpoles because, unusually for frog tadpoles, they're entirely carnivorous throughout their development. To rear the tadpoles successfully you really need to learn about making infusoria cultures and hatching brine shrimp eggs (Artemia) to feed them because their requirements are much the same as fish fry. The tadpoles are very interesting in appearance and behaviour, grow surprisingly large and continue feeding throughout metamorphosis which, again, is unusual for frogs. Anyone attempting to breed them for the first time should be patient, persistent and prepared for disappointment. Here's a link to some sites about breeding them: Links about African Dwarf Clawed Frogs - Hymenochirus and Pseudhymenochirus

[RandaRM]

Thanks guys! They are currently 14 tadpoles swimming about and they appear to be doing well. Another question...my adult frogs eat the pellet food. I'm trying to avoid anything "meat-like" because my female is already very aggressive (attacking the fish and snails, even killing a fish). I fear that feeding them anything like frozen worms might encourage her to attack more :-/

[SailAwayAK]

Eating pellets or worms is natural. Even pellets contain fish meal and such, so they are still getting those things. These frogs just eat anything and everything. It is one of the reasons that I don't advocate keeping them in tanks with fish.

I read somewhere about females being more aggressive with ovulation and having tads. Or is that just in humans? LMBO!

YAY for baby tads!