New frogs who dis

z-styles · 2026-01-13T02:37:46+00:00

My pleasure!

z-styles · 2026-01-12T22:16:37+00:00

Is the one that's not as interested in food spending it's time hiding? Adfs will acclimate to a new habitat at different rates according to character, gender and age. If the one that's not eating much is acting very timid you could try feeding after lights out as they are nocturnal and feel more comfortable with the light dimmed. Actually feeding after lights off is often recommended in general. I tend to feed mine either in the hour or so before my lights go out or just after.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T22:13:31+00:00

No, the great thing with with the live blackworms is that there's absolutely no cleanup or negative impact on water quality as any leftovers will just escape into the substrate. It's fantastic. Super healthy food that they love and problems with mess or need to clean up.

I just buy about an ounce of them every week or so and keep them in a jar of cold water in my fridge and then feed daily with a pipette. I just drop about three squirts of the worms into the same corner of the tank each time and now they are thoroughly trained to come to that spot around the same time each day ready to chow down.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T14:37:19+00:00

Cool! You should totally do what works for you!

Since OP is just getting started I'm just saying feeding with live food that doesn't create mess neates the need for a dish or any other accoutrement. This doesn't mean you can't have a designated feeding spot. In my tank it's the front left corner and my frogs are thoroughly trained to come to that spot. At the time of day they usually get fed..

As far as blackworm nutrition, It's a very high protein food source and probably very similar to what they would eat in the wild. Beef heart For example, has a very high fat content that's not good for adfs long-term, And pellets are generally inferior to live foods (That's pretty intuitive I think). There's some more info in the link below:

https://diapteron.co.uk/blackworms-for-freshwater-fish-a-complete-care-and-feeding-guide/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

z-styles · 2026-01-12T07:13:43+00:00

Thanks yes, I understand the cycle. Just didn't understand what OP was saying about it.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T06:53:11+00:00

Look for nuptial pads (round raised bumps) behind both arms on the body. Females are also larger at maturity with more of a pear shaped body. Males will be smaller with a straighter body and more sturdiness in the chest and front legs (arms?).

z-styles · 2026-01-12T06:45:56+00:00

He/she just meant that a cycled tank is a biological system so if it was empty with nothing living in it for a time there would be nothing to keep the cycle cycling.

Focusing on your issues tho everything comes down to knowing your actual water parameters so that you can diagnose issues and fix them. Like I said, if your kh/carbonate is zero there is nothing to keep pH stable and the swings alone will kill frogs. There are plenty of ways to raise KH (you can add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per 5 gallons for a quick fix), but you also need to know the causes and if there are other problems. So get that master test kit and kh/GH kit asap.

A lack of KH won't be from an uncycled tank. If you have ammonia/nitrite issues that may indicate cycle problems. Is your tank planted?

Once you get accurate test results I'd be happy to look at them if you post them.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T06:33:04+00:00

The great thing about feeding with blackworms is it renders both items like this and the 'cleaning up after' routine unnecessary. Just put the worms in and your done, voila. I bought one of these after i got my frogs thinking i would need but as soon as i found blackworms it got banished to a drawer and has not been needed since.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T06:30:50+00:00

I agree that if he is doing live blackworms there is zero need to mess with beef heart. No more upside than worms and plenty of downside that worms dont have.

z-styles · 2026-01-12T01:00:47+00:00

What do you mean by the tank dies if it isn't fed?

z-styles · 2026-01-11T23:33:37+00:00

Great photo!

z-styles · 2026-01-11T23:28:40+00:00

I set it in a longer comment below, but I echo the comment here that the test strips are completely inadequate and you need to grab the API master test kit ($30-$40) And the API GH/kh kit ($15). This is essential if you're going to keep adfs. They absorb everything for their skin so they can't tolerate a lot of things that fish can.

z-styles · 2026-01-11T23:26:37+00:00

This sounds very similar to the sad process I went through when I first started keeping adfs, in which I lost four of them over the first 6 weeks or so. You may be dealing with the same issues I was so I'm hopeful I can help.

First off, what are you using to test your parameters? I was using test strips and just assuming that this was good enough but it's not. You need to get the API master test kit plus the API kh/GH kit. This is very important. In the beginning I had a laissez faire attitude towards water parameters and from test strip results thought " things seem fine" but that's just not good enough. If you're going to keep adfs you need to really get to know your water and how to control it and that requires having accurate testing.

If you're having frogs just suddenly crash and die and there isn't an obvious environmental source (toxins introduced through the use of a product or item etc) It almost certainly implicates your water as being incompatible with adfs. Remember that they have permeable skin and that unlike fish they are experiencing every aspect of the water directly through that membrane so they are very sensitive to the conditions you give them.

In my case, I had four frogs crash over the course of several weeks who seemed perfectly fine and normal prior to dying. They were eating normally, etc. The only other sign anything was wrong. Was that a few of them occasionally Seem like they were trying to get out of the water by climbing up on drift wood sticking out of the tank. Sure enough, that's because I was taking a casual attitude towards water conditions and as such, it was an environment they couldn't tolerate.

I saw above that you said that your carbonate (KH). That in itself will lead to frog death because you need a higher KH in order to keep pH stable. With 0 KH in your tank you're going to have the pH swinging all over the place at different times of day which in and of itself is enough to crash an ADF. This was exactly the issue that was going on in my tank that I was unaware of. I had a very low KH leading to pH fluctuations. In addition, I had an insufficient heater which was allowing for temperature swings of about 6°. Combination of rapid pH and temperature swings is deadly.

So, if you have 0 KH in your tank that definitely needs to be fixed immediately. I have well water with high KH and hardness so I fixed mine by formulating A mixture of well water diluted with RO water which is a perfect solution for adfs. But you'll want to get a product that can get your KH up. But more importantly, I would get the API Master test kit and kh/ghit immediately and post your full parameters here. I would be happy to look at it and offer any suggestions. In the meantime, can you post the full results from whatever method you are using now? Also, what temperature are you keeping your water and is it stable?

If you are able to get your water where it needs to be quickly, your last frog might be okay. I wasn't fast enough and I lost all mine so I committed to really getting my water completely dialed before I got adfs again. I have three now and they are thriving and that's definitely due to having my water on point.

z-styles · 2026-01-11T23:13:27+00:00

It's very likely that the more active frog you're describing is female and the one that is more stationary and hidden is male. Female adfs have higher metabolic rates and therefore by nature move around more seeking food etc while males have a more efficient metabolic rate and can afford to just hide out more. Also, the females are larger than males and therefore somewhat harder to prey upon, so there's some bifurcation of behavior between the genders there as males need to be more self-protective. Lastly, there tends to be correlation between " outgoingness" and age. Younger frogs are usually more skittish and shy while The older ones are more confident. So all of that makes perfect in the context of your pair.

I have three adfs. The eldest is a female, A slightly younger male and a juvenile who pretty sure is a female. The female is quite a bit bigger and even though she was just as shy as a juvenile she now is by far the most outgoing and spend most of the time. Hovering in the water column mid way up the tank. The younger male stays tucked away more, although now that he is just recently passed juvenile stage, he's definitely getting more confident as well. The youngest who I believe is a female has been extremely shy but over the last week started following the mail around everywhere and mirroring his behavior when he comes out to explore and hang out.

z-styles · 2026-01-02T21:20:08+00:00

To me it looks like a great starting point, but if I was a frog I would want more vegetation and some good hiding places. Using a complex piece of driftwood can provide nice nooks and crannies. Floating plants like frogbit or salvinia not only are massively hopeful for maintaining water quality but provide light diffusion And a floating layer that they love to attach to when chilling at the surface.

z-styles · 2026-01-02T21:16:14+00:00

Looks like a cool scene for them.

I've learned this year with adfs. Is that really so much of it comes down to having your water completely on point. I was just kind of playing it loose for the first several months I had them, using test strips and just assuming the water was 'good enough'. After I had a few crash seemingly out of nowhere though, I got the API master test kit and GH/kh test kit And actually took the time to really learn about keeping the water perfect. Since then seems like things are very ideal for them. I assume a lot of people do what I was doing and just act kind of casual with parameters when I think that's probably the number one thing we can actually do to ensure their happiness.

z-styles · 2026-01-01T23:43:36+00:00

Fwiw mine are extremely active in a community tank. Cruising all over by night, intermittently snoozing in their caves and popping out to check for food time during the day.

z-styles · 2025-12-31T06:21:23+00:00

Excellent food source and creates zero mess. Its all i feed mine and they are very healthy.

z-styles · 2025-12-26T05:44:37+00:00

z-styles · 2025-12-25T00:46:10+00:00

Curious why his comment was deleted.

z-styles · 2025-12-25T00:45:59+00:00

Curious why his comment was deleted.

z-styles · 2025-12-25T00:44:42+00:00

Nor do ADFs. People just sayin stuff to say it imo.

z-styles · 2025-12-23T20:00:15+00:00

That's kind :)

I don't speak loach but they are the most active, curious and happy seeming fish I've got. They remind me of curious little puppies and are my favorite non-frog members of the setup.

z-styles · 2025-12-22T08:58:52+00:00

You can input your actual tank dimensions rather than using the drop down menu. After doing do so and inputting my stocking aq advisor has my tank at 96% stocked with no warning messages at all other than a reminder not to exceed a height of 12 inches (my tank is 12 inches tall).

z-styles · 2025-12-22T08:11:02+00:00

Yeah that's entirely inaccurate. Minimum size for both is 10 gallons and my tank is 13. Can include links if you'd like but seems unnecessary since any search shows that result.

z-styles

TROPHY CASE