Frogs will not Separate - Mating for days

[CRILEY]

Hi - I am new here and a new frog owner as well. We have two African Dwarf frogs, a male and female, I believe. They are in a 5 gallon tank with one other fish, filter, 79 degrees and eat frog pellets or fish flakes.

The male has been grabbing the female a lot lately and "hugging". They have now been stuck together for over 2 days straight. Is he trying to kill her? They have been doing this on and off for a couple of weeks with no signs of any eggs being laid. I am concerned because he hasn't let her go for so long now. We are on our third day of "hugging." Is this normal and should I expect to see eggs or is there something else going on here?

Thank you!

[Gemma]

Have the frogs calmed down yet or are they still amplexing constantly?

[Miss Blue]

I know when mine first reached maturity this is what they did, non-stop, the males would even hug each other which I can only assume is their way of competing for who gets to fertilize the eggs? anyways, now I can notice the female slowly getting bloated and the males start "singing" which indicates some babies are on the way and they will hug the female around this time. I was worried at first too until I noticed one day eggs all over the tank and the hugging stopped. Keep an eye out, maybe you will have some eggs on the way or maybe they are just getting prepared? That is about all the input I have on the subject, not sure what else it could be, just thought I would throw my 2 cents out there in case it helps

[CRILEY]

Thanks for the input. They haven't calmed down at all. The just had another three day session where he would not let go. She tries really hard to shake him off, but it doesn't work. He is grabbing her every night sometimes like this last time, it doesn't let go for days. I have yet to see any eggs in the tank. Today, I noticed something that I thought might be eggs, but I am not sure. One of our plants has little white balls on it, but not a ton. I don't know what else it would be though. I haven't heard our male sing yet, but I would like to.

[SCF]

I had the same problem...but with my gf. (sorry couldn't resist)

[tgampper]

If the mating continues for another day, I would separate the frogs. Males often get amorous, but if the female is not responsive, she could be hurt.

[kathreen]

Terry I have had my frogs for about five months now. I have two (one male, one female) in a three gallon tank. And they mate on average probably at least 7 times a month (if not more.) The female usually releases eggs. However, on two occasions I have seen them stay attached after mating after releasing eggs. One time was for at least two days. They did eventually detach. Some thing that I have done in my tank is put a lot of hiding places for the female to hide from him if necessary. I think that has helped a bit. White floating things sounds like unfertilized eggs. Also do you check immediately when you wake up if they have eggs? The frogs eat their own, and they are pretty fast about it so you might just miss the eggs. Here is a good website explaining the mating habits really well
Flippersandfins.net African Dwarf Frog Breeding article
Unfortunately it is no longer on the web, but the archive is exactly the same. Also do you know how old your male and female are? It is possible they might not have reached sexual maturity and are just practicing.

[tgampper]

I do not keep ADFs. My interest is ACFs and Pipas. Unfortunately, the ultimate dwarf clawed frog site is currently down. Here is a web page that has good information Meet my Frogs : African Dwarf Frogs