People who love the world of wildlife often want to touch it at home. Because of this, lovers of the animal world have a variety of pets, from ordinary to exotic. Therefore, aquarium frogs haverecently become favorites of aquarists. This happened due to the attractive appearance of these amphibians and relatively simple care for them. Of course, in case you want to settle such an inhabitant in your home, you need to know about the characteristic features of these amphibians and their basic needs.

General information

Frogs belong to the group of amphibians, representatives of which are able to live in two environments – aquatic and terrestrial-air. But some of them choose exactly the aquatic world. It is they who have become popular among aquarium lovers, and about them we will talk about in our article.

Frogs, which most often can be found in home aquariums, belong to the family of pipefish. A characteristic feature of these amphibians is a completely aquatic way of existence. It is the continuous finding is characterized by some morphological features that simplify survival. These are such features as: the absence of eyelids on the organs of vision, the absence of tympanic membranes, enlarged membranes on the hind legs and sometimes its appearance on the forelimbs.

Despite the aquatic lifestyle, the respiration of aquarium frogs is pulmonary, so they need to systematically rise to the surface of the water to breathe. By type of food these amphibians are predators and in the natural environment catch fish fry, worms and various insects. Aquarium frogs can also reproduce in the home, but for this process you need to create certain conditions.

In home aquariums, mainly two types of frogs can be found: smooth spurred and dwarf African (Boetger’s hymenochirus), which differ in appearance and behavior. The first is quite active and constantly looking for food, the second has a calm disposition and gets along with the neighbor. All aquarium frogs come from the equatorial part of the African continent. There they live permanently in small reservoirs and rivers with a weak current and almost never go on land.

Appearance

The body structure of aquarium frogs does not differ much from their terrestrial relatives. They have a compact body with a small, pointed head and a wide mouth. They have tiny eyes that point forward or slightly upward. Adults are 4-12 cm long.

The hind legs of frogs are long and muscular, with well-developed webbing between the toes, which allows them to swim and jump well. The front legs are shorter and may not have webbing, as they help these amphibians to keep their balance and land smoothly after a jump.

In the spurred frog on the toes of the hind legs are small growths (they are also called spurs, actually they are the reason for the name of these amphibians). With these spur claws, the frog clings to plants and defends itself against enemies in the wild.

The body color of frogs has various shades of green or gray-brown, often with spots. The spurred frog also has an albino form, its body coloration can be yellowish-white or soft pink.

The life span of aquarium frogs depends on the species, but usually ranges from 5 to 10 years.

Types of aquarium frogs

Let’s talk in more detail about the main types of frogs that can settle in your aquarium. These include the following:

  • Dwarf African frog Hymenochirus (Hymenochirus boettgeri ) – small (up to 4-5 cm), very calm in character and easy to breed. Feels well in an aquarium with water temperatures of 20-26 ° C and needs a variety of shelters from snags and coconut halves, as well as hard-leaved or floating plants.
  • The spurred frog (Xenopus laevis) is a tailless amphibian with claws, unpretentious in keeping and active, large (up to 10-12 cm). Can be gray or albino. Requires a larger aquarium (from 40 liters per individual), with a filter, heater, as well as shelter and plants.
  • Horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) green – larger than other representatives of amphibians, grows up to 15 cm and requires a large aquarium. Water temperature for her should reach 24-28 ° C. In general, the maintenance of this frog does not require much effort and financial costs.

Content and care

Keep frogs should be in aquariums with a volume of 20 liters. If you decide to have several animals, then the liter should be increased in proportion to the number of pets. It is very important that the aquarium was covered with a lid or glass with a gap, otherwise the frogs can accidentally jump to the floor in your absence. It is also necessary that the aquarium should be illuminated 12 hours a day, preferably using an ultraviolet lamp.

In order to maintain biological habitat conditions, you need to choose a pebble soil with a diameter of 4-6 cm. Sand is better not to use, since the frogs will dig it up and muddy the water. Do not forget about plants, which should be surrounded by stones to prevent the frogs from digging them up. In this case, hard-leaved species with well-developed roots are suitable. Because of their shyness, frogs need shelter, for which ceramic pots, grottoes or snags are ideal.

Be sure to install a filter in the aquarium. It will help maintain good water quality and clarity. Just do not allow a strong current, just his amphibians do not like. For some species of frogs that prefer warm water, you will need an electric heater. Periodically, once a week, it is worth replacing 20% of the water in the tank and clean the soil. Fresh water should be chlorine-free, so make sure that the water is sedimented beforehand or use a special product to rid the water of chlorine at each water change.

Compatibility with other animals

If you take into account the predatory traits of the character of aquarium frogs, then it is not necessary to hook up to them neighbors smaller than the frogs themselves, the size. Most likely, they will be immediately eaten. Pay special attention to the spurred frogs, because they are bought small, up to 5 cm, and in the process of growing up they reach a length of 10-12 cm.

Too aggressive fish can interfere with the frogs in the aquarium. Therefore, we advise you to pay attention to popular types of labyrinth fish, namely: on gourami, cockerels and macropods. With them, frogs get along just fine. As well as with most species of small catfish, such as corydoras and ancistrus.

Feeding

In natural conditions, frogs feed on insects, larvae, worms and fish fry. At home, it is best to feed them special dry food containing small nutritious pellets with a perfectly balanced composition for aquarium pets. To diversify the diet of small frogs, you can use natural food such as mosquito larvae and small crustaceans.

We want to note that aquarium frogs are prone to obesity, so do not overfeed them, but to arrange a relief day should be weekly. Feed adult amphibians advised twice a week, and young individuals – better daily.

Breeding and reproduction conditions

If you want to get offspring of your favorites, then it is not difficult at all to do this, the main thing is to create cozy conditions for frogs. However, there are some peculiarities in this process:

  • Sexual maturity of amphibians comes at the age of 1-2 years.
  • Encourage different species of amphibians to reproduce in different ways. Spurred frog, for example, will have to be kept for a certain period of time at a temperature of 5-8 ° C below normal. Hymenochirusa during mating prefer a higher temperature than usual, and like frequent water changes.
  • The males cover the females and fertilize the eggs, which they lay. The number of eggs that females can throw ranges from several hundred to several thousand. The eggs then either float on the surface of the water or are glued to plants.
  • After the incubation process is complete, tadpoles – larvae only a few millimeters long –appear . At first they hang motionless in the water, and eventually begin to swim and feed independently. Feed the offspring rotifers. Full transformation of a tadpole into a small frog takes 1-2 months on average, and frogs mature only after reaching one year of life.

So, now it is clear that to follow the aquarium frogs are no less interesting than fish. These amphibians then freeze in the water column of the aquarium, then swim deftly, using some styles of human swimming, then explore their domain. With this animal, you can see how diverse the natural world is. These inhabitants of the aquarium are actually unpretentious in care, calm, they are interesting to watch. This is what makes them attractive to aquarists.