# African Dwarf Frogs and Sand



## KFoster

Does anyone have experience feeding African dwarf frogs on a sand substrate? 
I have a 10 gallon planted tank with soil on the bottom and sand on the top. 
I have 3 ADF, one plakatt betta, and three nerite snails. 

The ADF are proving to be quite blind and loveably dumb. They don't hide very much unless it's during the day, and are quite active at night. They run into the betta all the time, he doesn't care for that much. But from what I see he ignores them most of the time. 

Feeding them seems to be a bit of an issue, and I know with gravel you're to put a small plate at the bottom of tank to target their feeding. I thought I could avoid that with the sand as the food doesn't sink into it and get lost.
I've been feeding soaked omega one sinking shrimp pellets, and I've cut them into 1/2 or 1/3 of a pellet, and I drop 3-4 pieces in the same spot everyday 

I can tell they can smell it, because they all congregate in that area once I put the pellets there. However they still seem to miss the food when they're "launching" at it. They do get a piece now and then. But often they get a mouth full of sand (and spit it out) or they accidently eat a small piece of dirt (that has ended up on the sand from planting/poking substrate) - they also spit this out. 
They do this for awhile, not getting much food that I can see. And then they seem to turn themselves around in the wrong direction and stop eating. Though they're in the same place, I need to take the pellets out because the betta (bronco) goes down and starts munching on their pellets, even though he's eaten. 

I can't imagine how these frogs eat live fry as I've read because I've no idea how they could target a moving target when they can't glom up a piece of shrimp pellet on top of their head.

So my questions are 
1. Has anyone successfully fed ADF's on sand without any additional measures?
2. If you had to take additional measures, what are they? 
3. Would it help if i feed them with the lights off? (Can't read anywhere if they see better in the dark or not)


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## Cey

Hi! I have 6 ADFs and a black sand substrate and I've experienced the same issue you have.

I feed my frogs right off the substrate; I don't have a dish or anything down there for them. Their diet alternates between frozen bloodworms and algae wafers (I don't think they really go after the NLS APF pellets I drop for the other fish).

As you've seen, they often accidentally gulp a mouthful of the substrate and have to regurgitate it. This hasn't caused a problem for me, and all of my frogs continue to eat well. They particularly gorge themselves on the bloodworms, so that may be a good option for you to try if you fear they keep spitting their food back out.

It has become less of a problem for me, I've had the frogs for a few weeks now. They're learning and gulp up the substrate a lot less than they did when they first encountered it. It also seems to be a lot easier for them to grab the bloodworms without grabbing a mouthful of sand, now that they're getting the hang of it. I don't feed with a turkey baster or anything; I usually just melt the bloodworm cube and then dump the thawed bloodworms at the typical feeding spot and they slowly fall to the substrate. (If I drop the ice cube in unmelted, the frogs often want to swim after it and drag it down to the bottom with them, wrestling with it while they try to get one worm free, which doesn't seem to cause them any harm but I usually prefer to thaw it beforehand so it's easier for them.)

I do have this continual fear that they might not be able to regurgitate the sand and might get "clogged up" and die if you will, but this has not happened. I try to keep an eye on them during feeding. But, like I said, they seem to have learned better and miss less now. I think it's just a matter of giving them time to acclimate and monitoring them closely in the meantime for any mishaps.

Due to their poor eyesight, turning the lights off is likely to make it harder (as you have noticed, they have great smell but poor aim), so I always feed with the lights on.

I don't have much better advice, really just my experience so far to kind of give you an idea.


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## KFoster

Thanks Cey! That's good news about the sand. I have pool filter sand, so it's really tiny and fairly uniform, and they seem to be spitting it out if they miss. 
Makes sense about the lights on. That was my initial thought but thought maybe they would be low-light see-ers or something seeing that they are more active at night.
I've only had them since Saturday, so it's nice to hear yours got a little bit smarter as time passed  
I'm trying to make sure each of them at least get a mouthful of food. I'll have to try some frozen bloodworms, but I'll have to drive a couple hours away for them. At least they seem interested in the shrimp pellets, and the ingredients look decent.


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## DaytonBetta

I have gravel rather than sand, but I feed my 3 in an oyster shell and it works really well.


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## KFoster

Interesting! Thanks daytonbetta! If they continue to be clumsy ill have to settle for a terra cotta plate. I hate the look of them in natural planted tanks.  
More important to get the froggies fed..


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## Cey

KFoster said:


> Thanks Cey! That's good news about the sand. I have pool filter sand, so it's really tiny and fairly uniform, and they seem to be spitting it out if they miss.
> Makes sense about the lights on. That was my initial thought but thought maybe they would be low-light see-ers or something seeing that they are more active at night.
> I've only had them since Saturday, so it's nice to hear yours got a little bit smarter as time passed
> I'm trying to make sure each of them at least get a mouthful of food. I'll have to try some frozen bloodworms, but I'll have to drive a couple hours away for them. At least they seem interested in the shrimp pellets, and the ingredients look decent.


A good insight to think they might have nocturnal eyes, but alas, I think this not the case and they have very poor eyesight overall.  Like me without my glasses, LOL.

If you can't get access to frozen bloodworms, they, being frogs, will also eat things like earthworms (provided they are small enough to digest or are cut up into pieces to become small enough). They also eat nightcrawlers (another type of worm)! Haven't tried that myself. But these options may be more readily available to you. They prefer worm-type insects or larvae at the very least -- they _don't_ go for actual insects, like crickets. You may also see "beefheart" as an option -- that should be used for treats only, it's very rich for them and too much of it will give them a premature death like too much McDonald's. 

Brine shrimp also works! And if you have them live in the tank, the frogs can choose when to go after them, much like live feeder fish for the bigger, more carnivorous fish. I haven't tried that yet, either, but it's something I've learned.

The oyster shell is a good idea if they really struggle with feeding time! I've also heard people using turkey basters to feed their frogs individually and those working wonders. If you want to try and let them just get used to the substrate first, I'd avoid introducing the shell, as it might prove to be a crutch instead and keep them from learning as well. 

Thankfully, I haven't had to make any changes to feeding time yet, thanks to them catching on - although like I said I did end up having to get the bloodworms to really get them eating and they seem to favor those above all else. I think any worm would do, honestly. I think they like the squishy texture better than the pellets/wafers.

You DO have the option of hand-feeding them the pellets (or anything else), and you can choose to hold the food in your hand under water and let them pluck it from your fingers, but this may take some practice on both your parts.  Even if they are nervous at first, the food will generally sucker them to you. I'm told this is a great way to make them more sociable regarding you as the owner / give you more interaction with the frogs / great bonding. If you do try it, I'm curious to hear your experiences! I'm thinking of trying it tomorrow during the next bloodworm feeding.


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## KFoster

Omg these stupid frogs are going to starve. 

They know where the food is, but they are just not smart. I can Turkey baste the food in front of them, and two out of three grabbed the whole piece and at least ate that or half of it. The one guy still couldn't get it. Mr betta is happy cleaning up the scraps, he seems to give them a few minutes to give them a chance before he goes in at least.... Ugh these frogs are going to drive me nuts. 
I'll continue to let them try to figure it out, but maybe if they're completely useless I may have to put them in a container to feed them. 
At least maybe until I can get some frozen food they may be able to smell better or something. 
Being a fish mom is exhausting sometimes.


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