What to do about a Dwarf Frog

[jasongman86]

I'll start this off by stating that I hate Walmart for their fish department. They have no business selling live animals. This being said, the one near my house (Frederick, MD) actually takes decent care of their fish. They also get a great assortment of live plants in (not rotting or dying like at other walmarts) for $3. Last night I stopped in to see if they had anything new because I'm planting a new 55G south american cichlid tank. I have previously purchased 2 varieties of anubias, some java fern, and a white arrowhead plant (i know the cichlids might destroy this one but if they do at most it was a $3 meal, and if it survives it really is a nice specimen). Last night they had a nice assortment of Dwarf micro sword grass potted. I got all 3 pots. I had been looking for riccia or baby tears to plant on driftwood or rocks for the tank for asthetic appeal but had trouble finding it locally.

Anyway I got home, started dinner cooking, got the plants out to rinse the walmart water and disease off of them and I see some movement in the grass. As you can probably guess by the subject it was an african dwarf frog. I immediately placed him in the 55G tank as there are only ~10 male guppies in there getting the tank started which will be removed when i start putting cichlids in there. The frog looked to be traumatized at first, but now looks to be loving his new home. I've created a bunch of caves with slate and driftwood and the tank is well planted.

The question here is what should I do with the little guy? He's basically escaped from prison Shawshank style (crawled through a mile of crap to come out smelling clean on the other side.) I can't take him back to Walmart as that is cruelty. It's pretty difficult to find him in the tank, so I'm contemplating keeping him in there when I put cichlids in. The plan is to have a few anglefish, a couple of german blue rams, and 2 pink convict cichlids. I wonder whether the territorial cichlids would make a meal of him or if he could escape.

I also keep guppies because they are really easy to care for and I love the genetic varieties you can produce from a few fish. That being said the frog would eat the babies so I don't want him in their tank.

Any suggestions?

 

[OrangeCones]

a white arrowhead plant (i know the cichlids might destroy this one but if they do at most it was a $3 meal, and if it survives it really is a nice specimen). Last night they had a nice assortment of Dwarf micro sword grass potted. I got all 3 pots. I had been looking for riccia or baby tears to plant on driftwood or rocks for the tank for asthetic appeal but had trouble finding it locally.

I've never cared for a frog, but others here will surely chime in with their advice.

As far as the plants are concerned, the 'white arrowhead' plant is not an aquatic plant. It is a 'marginal' plant, which means that it lives at the margin of a waterway usually. It can stand to be underwater when the body of water floods in the rainy season, but won't survive long-term submerged.

PlantGeek.net - Syngonium podophyllum v. 'White Butterfly'

If you are wanting to have plants attach to driftwood or rocks, one of the Riccia species would work. They do not 'root' or 'cling' naturally (they are a floating plant) but you can get creative with mesh to attach it to rocks or wood.

The baby tears and dwarf microswords need planted directly into the substrate.

All of these plants need higher light and a decent substrate.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

These guys are pretty slow and weak swimmers, as well as liking to hang out and float around a lot. I think he *may* get along with rams, I doubt he would last long with angels and definitely not with convicts. I had one in a 2.5g and he did quite well. They actually do better in smaller systems, because they aren't the best at fighting a current and making it all the way to the top of a larger tank for a breath. They also tend to need to be specifically fed (I used tweezers) which can be difficult in a big tank. He would do better in a small / peaceful tank, if you have that option.

Also, check to see if he is an african clawed frog instead. Those guys get much larger and then enjoy eating fish. If he is albino, he is a clawed frog. Otherwise, wikipedia has some good info:
"African clawed frogs are often sold erroneously as African dwarf frogs. The astute pet owner will recognize the difference, however, because of the following characteristics:
Dwarf frogs have four webbed feet. African clawed frogs have webbed hind feet while their front feet have autonomous digits.
African dwarf frogs have eyes positioned on the sides of their heads, while African clawed frogs have eyes on the tops of their heads.
African clawed frogs have curved, flat snouts. The snout of an African dwarf frog is pointed."

Actually, wikipedia's entire article is fairly useful: African dwarf frog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[lauraf]

I'll just mention that I had angels and ADFs together with no problems. But I did have to target feed the frogs and distract the fish while I did this, feeding the fish on one side of the tank and getting the frogs trained to go to the other side of the tank for their worms.