New acf keeper with a couple questions

[vallio86]

Hello! I am excited to be joining your forum. I have had 2 African clawed frogs for almost 2 months now, both male, one albino, and I completely adore these amusing frogs! Just a couple questions... 1. We were (as is usual) misinformed when we purchased these frogs, and were in immediate need of a new tank. I sent my bf to petsmart to purchase 20 gallon long tank. Of course, he didn't think it was cool enough and came home with a MORE expensive 10 gallon TALL!! Eek... I'm having trouble attaching pics with my phone, so will have to describe tank. It is 10 gallon bow front, aprox. 18" wide, 16" tall. I've lowered water level 4 1/2" from top, worried about escape, lid has somewhat large openings. This worries me, tho, because now they are in about 7-7.5 gallons (11 inches deep). The frogs aren't yet full grown, about 2" not counting legs. Will this tank suffice until they are full frown? There is also about 1-1.5" substrate. I have a whisper internal filter, pothos plant, one aponogeton and one amazon sword. I am doing weekly gravel cleaning with about 50-60% pwc. They seem very healthy, they call day and night, and "hug" a lot! . I feed them reptomin sticks as staple and freeze dried bloodbworms 1-2x a week as a treat. Any suggestions? My main concern is the size of tank and amount of water they are in. As a side, the pothos works excellent in this tank. The sturdy leaves provide resting spots all through tank and the plants are thriving. FINALLY question number 2! I've recently noticed white stuff growing, seems to be only on outside of filter and a little on specks on the very top of bio sponge and top edge if filter. Most of it is growing in the submerged plug. It looks like white fuzzy mold but is slimy to the touch, and smells like good strong soil. Any ideas? 3. Any idea the age of my frogs based on size? As I said, they are 2" not including legs, they have their nuptual pads (all that hugging!). Thank you so much for your help!

[rodsboys]

It is hard to tell home old hey are by size. Yours are adults though as they have their pads, are amplexing, and calling. I have a male that is a year old and no pads, no calling, no amplexing, and he is still tiny. If he was not a reticulated albino and so cute I would have moved him along from my collection already.
You should immediately stop feeding the bloodworms. Freeze dried food is a recipe for disaster.
You should remove your gravel as it will give you more water volume. When you can I would definately upgrade the tank. Luckily males do not get as big as females, but still produce a lot of bioload. Have you been testing your water? The "growth" you have in the tank sounds like hard water deposites. If so that is nothing to be worried about. A pic would help identify for sure.
You are in much better shape by the way then the average new misinformed person and your frogs definately could have ended up in worse homes.

[tgampper]

Thanks for your suggestions, Tony!

A 10 tall is too small for 2 fully grown frogs. A regular 10 or even 20 gallon would be better. Of course, bigger the better. These frogs are great swimmers and they need plenty of room to move about. Also, you will appreciate watching them as they can swim forward and backward. You do need a secure lid, they can jump.

The stuff on the filter might be a fungus or a mold. You should take down the tank and clean everything. Use a mild bleach solution 10:1 water/bleach. Rinse thoroughly, this will help eliminate the problem. Water quality is a must, make sure the temperature and chemistry are within tolerance. For the most part these frogs are very healthy. The biggest problem is with bloating, which is caused by poor husbandry.

The nuptial pads on the males indicate that they are or becoming sexually mature. It takes about a year for males and 9 months for females. Albinos are generally smaller than the wild type. Both males and females of this species will call. You picked a great species of frog to start with. The aquatic clawed frogs group is quite active and reading the other posts will give you some idea on how to keep your frogs happy

[vallio86]

Thanks to you both for your helpful advice! I will clean entire rank, remove substrate, and fill tank maybe an inch or two higher. Will get new tank asap, which isn't as soon as I would like! One thing, if I remove the substrate and clean everything, won't that destroy the beneficial bacteria? I would hate to have to cycle tank again with them in it! And I have been testing water, looking good since it was cycled. And I will be sure to toss the bloodworms! What would be a safer treat? Thanks again in advance! =D

[mpmistr]

Most of your beneficial bacteria is located in your filter media. Don't wash it with tap, just rinse it in your old aquarium water when you clean it. I find that moving a filter with used media works fine for jump starting a new aquarium, just don't let it dry out. Bacteria multiples quickly and your tank with cycle very quickly with used media.

The freeze dried bloodworms are junk (problem is the freeze dried part.. don't use freeze dried foods they cause constipation) but wet/frozen bloodworms are fine as an occasional treat though they're not my top choice to feed to ACF.

I like to feed my frogs nightcrawlers (cut them with scissors if needed for more manageable pieces) once or twice a week along with Reptomin as a staple. They really enjoy live nightcrawlers, you'll see. Just remember if they are juvenile males you will NEED to cut the earthworms at the very least, in half otherwise you'll wind up with very fat frogs.

I'd suggest live black worms, but leeches often hitchhike in black worm cultures and it took me quite a while to get rid of the leeches so be careful of that. They're usually detritus eating leeches but I imagine a hungry leech is still dangerous.. I believe my frogs ate them but I did remove a few by hand.. If you can get black worms that 100% do not have leeches, your frogs will like them.