What kinds of frogs are aquatic? Can you keep them in an aquarium with other fish? What special care do they need?
An aquatic frog to consider for the beginner might be the African Dwarf Frog. It's small, active, cute and about as difficult to care for as a tank of goldfish.
What are the physical and behavioral characteristics of aquatic frogs?
When picking out a frog in the pet shop, if it darts around and gives the pet guy a hard time, it means it's healthy and may prove to be resilient. However, if the frog just barely moves or hardly puts up a fight, it may be a symptom of sickness. Also, pay attention to its weight. A skinny frog or one with hazy or cloudy eyes may be a sign of illness, as well. Once one gets sick, it can be very hard to cure it. So you'll want to pick out a hardy one.
Can you keep aquatic frogs in an aquarium with fish and/or other aquatic pets?
Some species will eat just about anything that is smaller than they are. So keep in mind that all its other "roommates" should be larger, but not large enough to find your frog a delicacy. Once this is done, they get along quite well.
What's their natural habitat?
They usually live in very calm and moist regions, such as the tropics, therefore fix your aquariums up accordingly. The most common is creating the half-water/half-landmass environment, but adapt your tank to the type of frog you buy. Tree frogs get a vertical tank with many objects to climb and water at the bottom. Others are very happy in the same environment as you would put goldfish in. These are the 100% aquatic frogs.
What special care needs do they have?
Try to avoid extreme changes, either up or down. Leave them away from direct sunlight and keep the inside of the tank around 60-74 degrees. Also, try using a fluorescent light, as it does not produce heat. For their water, do not use distilled. Use tap and then add cleanser drops for pet health only. In addition, metal ions are extremely toxic to frogs. So, be sure there are no metal objects inside the tank with them.
Provide the frogs with gravel either too large to ingest or small enough that they can "pass" the rocks with veritable ease. To avoid over-crowding, give 10 gallons of water space for each frog and feed only once a day. Such delicacies as meal worms, shrimp pellets, crickets or brine shrimp will do fine.
What's cool about them?
- They can become friendly over time and will actually eat directly from your hands.
- The African Clawed Frog (Xenopus Laevis) was the first vertebrate to be successfully cloned.
- They have even traveled to space aboard the space shuttle several times.
- They can swim in any direction, side to side, forwards, backwards and can be a blast to watch.
- Frogs are incredibly interesting to watch and can teach your child responsibility with out the stress of owning a cat or dog.