ADF's hard to keep alive?

Hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but I thought I'd input my experiences with ADFs. I have four, the older two being almost 2 years old now, and the younger two about a year and a half. I bought all four of them at Petsmart. Judging by your decorations, I'd say you have one nearby Personally, I have never had a frog die from there. I feed them primarily bloodworms and some sinking shrimp pellets, and they're quite plump and happy :happy: I keep my temps a little cooler, at around 74, and keep the water level just below the top of a bonsai I keep in the tank, so they can sit at the top with their heads out of the water, but their bodies stay submerged.

Not sure if I added anything productive to this, but I figured maybe you can pick some wisdom out of my ramblings. :lol: Best of luck with your future froggies!

Was you tank cycled properly? They are not strong swimmers so a strong filter and deep water level can make it hard on the to reach the surface for air. Also wholesalers and pet stores are not known for actually feeding their animals. Which leaves them in a weakened condition. I would try to find out when their shipments arrive and by 24 hours later. This will allow for any shipping die off. They are also very cheap and treated as such. Your temps could be off too. I find 75-78 degrees to perfect for them

anasiana said:

Hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but I thought I'd input my experiences with ADFs. I have four, the older two being almost 2 years old now, and the younger two about a year and a half. I bought all four of them at Petsmart. Judging by your decorations, I'd say you have one nearby Personally, I have never had a frog die from there. I feed them primarily bloodworms and some sinking shrimp pellets, and they're quite plump and happy :happy: I keep my temps a little cooler, at around 74, and keep the water level just below the top of a bonsai I keep in the tank, so they can sit at the top with their heads out of the water, but their bodies stay submerged.

Not sure if I added anything productive to this, but I figured maybe you can pick some wisdom out of my ramblings. :lol: Best of luck with your future froggies!

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Haha yes, I shop at Petsmart. I also fed mine bloodworms and little pellets for aquatic frogs. My temp was around 76-78, as I have a betta in there, and he loves it at 80, so I found a nice middle temp. Water movement really isn't bad, and I lowered my bubbler a little as well, hoping to make them happy enough to sing to me at night. Instead I got dead frogs:shocked:

Coastal Groovin said:

Was you tank cycled properly? They are not strong swimmers so a strong filter and deep water level can make it hard on the to reach the surface for air. Also wholesalers and pet stores are not known for actually feeding their animals. Which leaves them in a weakened condition. I would try to find out when their shipments arrive and by 24 hours later. This will allow for any shipping die off. They are also very cheap and treated as such. Your temps could be off too. I find 75-78 degrees to perfect for them

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Yes, my tank was cycled.
Maybe I'll special-order from a local elitist aquarium store lol

It can be pretty hit-or-miss, and Chytrid is certainly a factor in this. Most of my ADF have lived for many years, but I did have one experience where I added a new fish to my tank and the 4 frogs I had all died quite suddenly. Their skin was a nightmare. I can only imagine that the fish I bought was housed in a tank with a chytrid carrying frog (or that one had lived in that tank within the past 7 weeks) and the few bits of water that transferred into my tank were enough to infect my frogs.

Do your best to get frogs that look healthy, and hope for the best. If they do die suddenly, be careful to clean your set up very thoroughly. If I'm not mistaken, Chytrid cannot survive being completely dried out, and it cannot live past 7 weeks without an amphibian host, so you can clean your set-up if you need to. (Sorry that I don't have sources off the top of my head - it's been ages since I read up on Chytrid.)

If you have other amphibians (and I'm assuming you do, since you're here), try to observe strict quarantine between your ADF and the other tanks. Use separate nets and siphons, etc., just in case.

Good luck. Post lots of pics!

jclee said:

Chytrid cannot survive being completely dried out, and it cannot live past 7 weeks without an amphibian host, so you can clean your set-up if you need to. (Sorry that I don't have sources off the top of my head - it's been ages since I read up on Chytrid.)

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That's about the same as I've read, so I think you're on the money there.

I actually bought my ADF from a chain store, he was so tiny and severely emaciated, I honestly didn't expect him to survive, and the frog we bought with him, didn't. We've had him since April, and he's made a total turnaround in that time, to the point where he's singing every night.

Like jclee said though, it's very hit or miss, I was able to completely rehab Pancake (that's my frog's name), but the other 2 I'd purchased from that store didn't make it. One died at 3 days, the other at 2 and a half weeks, because it just wouldn't eat enough.

He was nearly blind when he died you say? Adf are freaking nearly blind at birth.. and your dad kept him under prime conditions wich is still water. Although he migth have been some sorf of super mega frog since their natural life span is 5-6 years. And horny or confused all the time (prolly cause of your fathers all to frequent water changes) since he was singing every night (they do that only in autumn naturally).

Also i think you are keeping yours wrong if you havent "been so lucky" seen them shedding for 2 years.


My advice when these fellas get sick;
seperate all the frogs, keep them in ½-1 gallon each with destilled water/clean rain water throw a half cocnut shell in there for hiding and keep feeding to an absolute minimum for 2 weeks (feed once or twice max). Temp ca at 19-20 celcious for low metabolism, do one or two 50% water changes over the course of these 2 weeks. Monitor. Feed em good and they should now be completely free of pink/infected areas and should have regained their natural color (dark brown with black dods) or be dead in wich case it was too late anyway

I currently own 13 adfs i have lost one to fungus