Experience with different frozen foods for ADFs?

[njnolan1]

Right now I use Hikari blood worms. They're great. Large enough to not make a mess and the frogs love them. I'm trying to mix up their food a bit to give them some variety. I hate the pellets and never tried the granules.

I've tried krill. Love the size. Easy to find and remove if uneaten. But that's the problem. They didn't eat it AT ALL. Not interested in the least. I've tried tubifex worms. Very nasty and very tiny. Not a fan. Brine shrimp is better than the T-worms but they're still pretty nasty and I would only use those the night before a water change.

The only others I'm interested in are frozen beef heart, glass worms and plankton.

Can anyone tell me about the size and consistency of these other foods? I have a feeling the beef heart is going to be messy. I could be wrong though. It may be nice chunks which would be pretty good. The glass worms are clearly solid and not messy and mushy but they look tiny and I don't know if most of them would end up in the gravel uneaten. The plankton looks nice and large but I have know idea if the frogs will go after them because aren't they similar to krill?

Thanks for any help!

[Bombina Bob]

Hi there
I would say that the Bloodworms are the best food so far, when i feed my ADFs, i thaw out the worms
and then dump them in a net to filter out all the water then put them into a spoon or leave them in the
net and feed only about two to four worms per frog, otherwords, the water quality goes downhill if i use
too many, ive tried all sorts of food like the T worms and brine shrimp, i think those are more for saltwater
use i think. and ive used the Frogosphere Frogbites, they really liked them at first but then lost interest
quickly.

[njnolan1]

Thanks! Maybe I'll try to cut down on the worms a bit because I am having an ammonia issue right now. They eat them all though and then poop around 24-48 hours later. I'm never able to find more worms afterwards. The female well spend hours looking for more. So cute!

I ended up getting some plankton. We'll see how this works. Hope they eat it! I want them to have some variety!

Thanks again!

[rodsboys]

I've found the best frozen food to be mysis shrimp, glass worms, spirlina enriched brine, and daphnia. NLS is also a superb choice as far as pellets are concerned. Bloodworms can lead to bloat in my experience and research.

[njnolan1]

I've found the best frozen food to be mysis shrimp, glass worms, spirlina enriched brine, and daphnia. NLS is also a superb choice as far as pellets are concerned. Bloodworms can lead to bloat in my experience and research.

Ahh, all that's so messy. I'm thinking of moving over to sand though. Then the food wont fall into the gravel.

The only thing I've read about bloat and blood worms are with dried worms. Crazy!

[rodsboys]

One way to keep the mess down is to have a designated feeding area, like a saucer or clay pot bottom. Frogs will eventually learn to go there. I treid the plankton and krill by the way, way back when. They never seemed too into the plankton, which was just some kind of shrimp. Krill is too big for them and is better reserved for full sized clawed frogs.

[LunaDay]

Mine LOVE tilapia. I slice it off in very small pieces and hold it in the water and they take it right out of my hand. I also feed frog/newt bites and bloodworms. I freeze the tilapia after I slice it on a little tray in a single layer so they don't stick together and then put it in a ziplock bag, thaw it in tank water and hand feed them. It is used as a treat and I mostly feed the frog/newt bites. They have never refused food yet. I was feeding tuna until I was advised against it...so if anyone knows bad stuff about tilapia please let me know!

[LunaDay]

I just saw the post about sand....Jenste suggested I move over to sand (THANK YOU! JEN) and feeding/cleaning became MUCH easier!

[njnolan1]

One way to keep the mess down is to have a designated feeding area, like a saucer or clay pot bottom. Frogs will eventually learn to go there. I treid the plankton and krill by the way, way back when. They never seemed too into the plankton, which was just some kind of shrimp. Krill is too big for them and is better reserved for full sized clawed frogs.

They love cherry shrimp! They ate all of mine!

[njnolan1]

Any sand brand recommendations? It's going to be awhile though.

I hope it's okay if i post this link, briansaqauriumcare.com. Well, Brian, the author of this website, has suggested feeding them New Life Spectrum Thera A pellets. I think I may try this and just feed them the other foods as a treat. I have to go PetCo to get them though. Not sure they'll even go for it. But it does have garlic in it and aquatic frogs and fish alike are supposed to be attracted to garlic.

[rodsboys]

Play sand $7 for 55 pounds.

[njnolan1]

Wow, thanks! I definitely do not have use for 55 pounds! Thanks though!

[Gemma]

I had the same problems with all frozen foods except bloodworms when I used to feed my frogs frozen food (mine are ACF though not ADF). I usually feed mine earthworms now, but they might be a bit big for ADFs. I haven't tried glass worms or plankton. I've tried beefheart though, and it wasn't really that messy, although my frogs wouldn't eat it. The chunks in the blocks I got are quite small but not so small that they were messy (maybe about half the size of a pea) and would probably be fine for adult ADFs. I've heard it's quite fatty though so it should only be fed occasionally as not very good for your frogs. How did your frogs get on with the plankton?

[njnolan1]

I had the same problems with all frozen foods except bloodworms when I used to feed my frogs frozen food (mine are ACF though not ADF). I usually feed mine earthworms now, but they might be a bit big for ADFs. I haven't tried glass worms or plankton. I've tried beefheart though, and it wasn't really that messy, although my frogs wouldn't eat it. The chunks in the blocks I got are quite small but not so small that they were messy (maybe about half the size of a pea) and would probably be fine for adult ADFs. I've heard it's quite fatty though so it should only be fed occasionally as not very good for your frogs. How did your frogs get on with the plankton?

Thanks for the reply!

Well, I tried NLS Thera a+a and even though they seemed enthusiastic about it they would spit it back out and then lose it when they tried to find it again. It would slip through the gravel. When I get a bigger tank they will definitely have a feeder dish!

As for the plankton one male and the female ignored it while the other male tried to eat it. He swallowed it whole and kept swallowing and spitting it back out until he gave up. Hopefully I'll be able to get my money back for that one. I wish the NLS would work for the frogs. It was like ten bucks! All I'm feeding are 3 Endler's who eat the tiniest amount!

[rodsboys]

You just have to keep at it. Whenever I get new dwarf frogs I always quarentine teen in a bare bottom container. Teaching them to eat the various foods is part of the quarantine process for me. I find them to be finicky and weak at first. Once established they are a great animal to own.

[njnolan1]

You just have to keep at it. Whenever I get new dwarf frogs I always quarentine teen in a bare bottom container. Teaching them to eat the various foods is part of the quarantine process for me. I find them to be finicky and weak at first. Once established they are a great animal to own.

That's a good idea! I don't have any room for a quarantine tank and I've had these guys for about a year already. They ate the old pellets when I had the bare bottom but they were very unenthusiastic about it. I really hated the bare bottom. The water was always cloudy and the frogs constantly kicked stuff up. I'm thinking about sand. Not positive but thinking about it.

I'm going to try glass worms probably next... This is getting really annoying! I just wanted to try something else besides bloodworms.