# ADFs in a five gallon?



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

I have an empty five gallon tank after the passing of my beloved Rakki earlier this month. When I'm ready to restock it, I'm looking at three options:

1. A new betta
2. A dedicated shrimp and snail tank
3. Two or three African Dwarf Frogs

I really like the the idea of ADFs, but I want to make sure it would be okay to have them in a five gallon. Some places say a gallon of water per frog, others say a minimum of a ten gallon tank to keep frogs. I've been doing some reading about them, but I'd love to hear from those of you who have kept ADFs. What size tank did you keep them in? How many did you keep at a time? What did you feed them? What was the simplest way to feed them? What temperature did you keep them at? Live plants or silk plants? What other hiding spots did you provide? What kind of filter? What kind of lighting? Anything you consider useful information, I'd love to hear it.

Also, one more thing: Could I keep shrimp with ADFs? Or would that be unfair to the shrimp?


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## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

Well here's my essay on this topic 

I have a 5.5 gallon fluval spec (stock lighting and stock filter on the lowest setting) with a betta and 2 ADF at the moment (adding a third next week) and a nerite snail but it's moderately planted (lots of crypts and java fern and a moss ball) and very well cycled (I consistently only see about 10 maybe 20 nitrates per week) so I feel pretty safe adding a third frog (I may remove the snail if/when I get a new tank). Personally this is my second betta with the frogs (long story but the first betta's death was a total fluke accident) and this one is a complete turd and will eat until he explodes and loves the frogs food so I have to cup him while I feed the frogs. I feed zoo med frog and tadpole bites now but the pellets are really tiny, good for frogs not good for clean up . I have a feeding plate but strongly suggest a shallow bowl (I haven't found one that suited my needs yet, most had too tall sides) so they don't eat the substrate along with the food (bloodworms are another good thing to feed, very messy too). The frogs like to feel secure so make sure you have some hiding spots for them. I've been told they're very social and best with groups of 3+ I haven't really seen my two interact too much so I'm hoping a third will make them feel more secure and interact more. I think if it was just the frogs (and I had an adjustable heater) I would keep the temperature a little lower like 76 because I think this is more in their appropriate range but as is I keep the temperature at 78. (Russeltheshihtzu really knows a lot about everything and they are always incredibly helpful, maybe search for some threads on ADF in the compatibility section and you'll get more useful concise information lol  It might be suggested to do more like 5 frogs in a 10 gallon but I was just sharing my experience.

I don't really have much experience with shrimp, I might be concerned about overstocking to put the shrimp and the frogs together but I don't feel like predation would be the issue, the frogs are nearly blind and have tiny mouths. I don't think frogs or shrimp do well with an uncycled tank so if you do either of them I would cycle it beforehand.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I vote for option 2.

For me, I've never owned one and would like to experience it one day. Owning a shrimp colony and watching them populate looks like it can be a lot of fun.


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Thank you, allied123! That's some great info! Exactly what I was looking for! I found a huge ADF care thread on TropicalFishKeeping, and I'm working my way through that to learn more. 

I hear you, andakin. I've only had bettas so far, so ADFs and shrimp would both be new adventures for me.


I was reading that ADFs from the big box stores (i.e. Petco, Petsmart) are often infected with a fungus that kills them within three months. So it looks like my options would be a three month quarantine or finding a reputable breeder to buy from and have them shipped to me. Would it be possible to quarantine two frogs for three months in a 1.5 gallon tank? I'm afraid that's all I have available as a quarantine, and I don't want to make any potential froggies uncomfortable. Or would I be better off ordering a couple of frogs online or simply going with the betta or shrimp option instead?


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## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

I have been quarantining one lone frog for 3 months now in a half gallon with daily water changes and no heater and he's done great! He sings constantly all day and night and grew a lot so if you really keep up with the water changes you should be fine. However I believe chytrid is only contiguous to amphibians so if they're the only inhabitants in the tank I'd go ahead and put them straight in the tank one it's cycled


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

I guess my concern is that if I bring some frogs home that happen to have the fungus and put them directly in my empty tank, they'll infect the tank and then I'll have gone through the trouble of making sure the tank is cycled for nothing since I'd have to tear the tank down, disinfect it, and start over.

...I'm probably overthinking this, lol.


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## allied123 (Dec 11, 2014)

Ah yeah. That's a good point. Good thinking! chytrid can live in the water column for 2 weeks without a frog host so if they do end up having it you could just leave the tank running for 2 weeks after the last frog passes (there Isn't an easy cure for chytrid so please excuse my bluntness) you could try again. The other disinfection method would be to let everything dry out completely but that would kill your cycle but as a first time owner you might be better off ordering from someone online yo be sure.


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## charliegill110 (May 19, 2014)

i think a shrimp tank would be really cool.


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## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

I have African Dwarfs in all my betta tanks, except for the two 2.5g ones and one of my 10g cubes, which was contaminated with chytrid. The 5g & 7g has 2 frogs each, a betta and a snail, the three 10g cubes have 2 frogs each, a betta, a snail and three baby corys each, and the 10g splits and 20g each have 4, along with bettas, snail and corys. They are so much fun to watch, and they sing all the time, which I love. The bettas all pretty much ignore them, although I did have an emerald cory in the 7g that used to harrass them until I moved her into my big tank.

If you want singing, your best bet is to get three frogs - odds are, at least one will be a male that way. The Big Al's in my area (Ontario, Canada) gets their ADFs from a certified Chytrid free breeder. Maybe you can find a store in your area that does the same?

I bought two frogs for myself for the one tank from a store other than Big Al's, and they both died of chytrid within a few days of bringing them home. I had also picked up a few for my nephew, but they still seem to be doing well for now. We'll see how it goes with them. The chytrid was terrible, and my own fault for not just waiting until I could get to Big Al's again. Luckily, I have cleaning sponges and nets for each seperate tank, so there was no cross-contamination - that would have been the worst.

They all love their live plants, and mine love to hide in the Anubias leaves and float up near the top of the water on dwarf water lettuce and the floaty logs in my betta tank. I've got a couple that will try to root under the plants and sometimes dislodge them; particularly in one tank where I seem to have to replant half the tank every morning. Mine also love their terra cotta flower pots - I can pick up 3 minis for $1.25 at the local Dollarama, and the frogs in my sorority tank in particular tend to hang out in and around the pot.

If you get into the habit of feeding them in the same spot every day, they will quickly figure that out. I lightly tap the glass of the tanks before I add their food, and they move it over to the feed zone pretty quickly. Because they're in tanks with a betta and cories, I tend to overfeed slightly - the cories love the pellets, and my frogs are nice and plump. They go insane for bloodworms and mysis shrimp when I feed that as a treat.

Highly recommend!


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