So I have a female tropical clawed frog (xenopus tropicalis) in a 15 gallon tank. She's smaller than the typical African clawed frogs (xenopus laevis) by a few inches. She's about 2.5 inches from snout to rear, not including legs.
The tank is about as planted as it can be with a destructive frog, with quite a few anubias on a driftwood and a big floating water sprite. She has plenty of hiding spots and about half an inch of very fine sand substrate. I keep the tank at 80 degrees. I will probably be upgrading to a 20 gallon soon, depending on circumstances.
Now, the problem. I was told by the workers at my local fish store that a small group of corydoras catfish would be suitable tankmates for her. After a few months of observation, I have decided that I do not agree. She's very grabby with them during mealtimes and clearly wants to eat them, so I'm looking into rehoming them very soon.
Now, my question: would a laevis clawed frog be able to live and thrive in slightly warmer water than they are recommended to be in? I know most sources say they should be in 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit water, but I was wondering if they could live with a few degrees warmer.
I know there's a size difference between the two, but my frog seems to be the size of mature laevis males, and I know people keep male/female pairs of laevis together with no problems aside from horniness (aka why I want to get a female). I plan to be primarily hand-feeding them and sometimes live-feeding them small feeders and earthworms, so as far as I can tell that won't be a problem.
The fact is that X. laevis and X. tropicalis occur naturally in different climatic zones (X. tropicalis is also known as Silurana tropicalis), which is why the latter requires a higher temperature. X. laevis can withstand temperatures significantly below 70°F.
Consistently maintaining a frog at a temperature to which it is not naturally adapted might be successful in the short term but carries the risk of health problems arising eventually and, personally, I wouldn't do it. Also, the frogs behave differently and a female X. laevis will be more boisterous.
My advice is to get more tropicalis if you want companions for the one you have.
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