10 gallon per frog "Rule"?

[DigitalPunk]

How many frogs can I fit in "X" tank?

That is one of the most common questions I see on the forum (outside of help with sick frog questions). We (experienced members and Frog Forum Staff) spend a fair amount of time explaining why you should only house X frogs in X tank, BUT one of the things that I think and personally feel is a gross misunderstanding by new keepers in general is that the "10 Gallon Per Frog Rule" isn't a rule at all! .......<dramatic pause while you all finish gasping and can focus on reading again>....... The 10 Gallon "Standard" or "Minimum" is just that. A standard Minimum amount of space accepted in the hobby per frog. The key in that last sentence is "Minimum", Minimum meaning it would be preferable if you housed the frog in a larger tank, but if that isn't an option than 10 gallons of space should not stress your frog out to much.

Think "Minimum system requirements" when it comes to computer software. In this case it means the software will install and will run.... will it run great? No it won't and it most likely won't look pretty, BUT it will run. Same thing with frogs. Can a frog live in 10 gallons of space. Absolutely. Will the Frog thrive and be happy... Thrive... Probably not... Happy... Possibly, but it would be happier if it had more room.


The tank you buy is not the tank they move into

Lets look at a typical 10g aquarium. Even if you didn't do a custom back ground a typical drainage layer setup will consume 5 - 6" of height your tank had to offer originally. Your 10 gallon tank is 20"x10"x12". Once you subtract the space lost to the drainage layer you really only have a 20"x10"x7". That leaves you with 6 gallons of space. If you do a custom 3d background you will loose roughly 2 to 3" of depth (4.8 gallons left). You quickly run out of space. Even in bigger tanks the space disappears quickly as we start to fill it with the things we need to properly house our friends. Lets look at a typical Exo Tera 18x18x24 (very common hobby tank. This tank is roughly a 33.6g tank. Using the formula I lay out below we can start to figure out how much space is left after we start to add a 3d background and Drainage system. With those 2 items you are left with a 18x15x18 or a 21g tank.

A handy formula to keep in mind as you are tank shopping and planning out your build is Length times depth times height divided by 231 (for us gallons). This formula will show you the number of gallons of water the space could hold.

Now planning the number of frogs by the "Minimum space required" alone is only part of the picture. Some frogs are bigger or smaller than others. Some frogs get along great in groups while others do fine in groups until sexual maturity. These things need to be taken into a account as well. For example. I would only house 2 D. Tinc. Azureus in an 18x18x24 Exo terra. They are smaller Dart frogs, but tend to be aggressive once they reach sexual maturity, however I would house 4 - 6 R. Vents in an 18x18x24 because they are great group frogs. In fact the more you have of them in a tank the bolder they become over all.... just a couple examples.

Another thing to consider outside of frog size and grouping behavior is to consider where this frog will spend the majority of it's time. If you have a 24" tall tank and put mainly terrestrial frogs in it than you really can't count the upper space in the tank, because the frogs won't use it. So your formula for gallons would be something like 18x15x10 (just guessing, but the point is your height would need to be adjusted down to what the frogs might possibly use). This is where looking at tanks that are longer, but shorter comes into play.


If you get anything from this post I hope it's that the only Standard that truly matters is the one where you consider the needs and happiness of the frogs you keep or plan to keep and base your design and tank size off of their need. Not based off an arbitrary number the hobby has settled on as the acceptable minimum.

I am not saying housing a frog in a 10g tank temp is wrong or makes you a bad person. Everyone uses smaller tanks for QT, or to raise froglets in, or as a temp home while the main tank is cleaned, setup, or grows in... Whatever the case may be.


We are here. We will always answer your questions, but it is important for all of us to research what we want. Ask questions if we don't understand, but ultimately use some common sense and do what we can to keep our pets happy, safe, and healthy.

Paul