From: mark@tis.com (Mark J Sienkiewicz)
Date: 21 Sep 1995 02:06:27 GMT

Ralph Cherubini wrote:

I just got a couple of these little creatures. Can anyone tell me anything about their care, other than the recommendation by the pet store salesman to feed bloodworms every other day? They are in a community tank with guppies and tetras...

You probably have Xenopus laevis, the African Clawed Frog. They are called that because they have black claws on the lower 3 digits of each back foot.

They live their whole life in the water, except when the puddles dry up, so people keep them quite happily in an aquarium. I'm keeping them at about 75 F (i.e. no heater, just room temperature), with PH in the around 7.5. I don't treat the water for PH (it comes to me at 7.5), but I do use a dechlorinator.

I've read a FAQ that says they find power filters to be disturbing, but I do run a single external filter at one end of a 6 foot tank and they actually go sit under it. It does seem to be good to have some still areas in the tank for them, though.

They get the water dirty pretty fast, usually leaving enough debris from excreta and shredded up food that I end up doing about 95% water change each week, despite the filter. I'm keeping four in about 75 gallons of water. In that volume, I don't have ammonia or nitrate problems, even with only 15-20% per week of water change.

They eat just about anything. They are one of the few species of frogs and toads that will eat food that *isn't* moving. I feed mine Tetra Doro-Min (floating sticks) and Hikari Sinking Wafers regularly. I also give them some of what I'm eating on occasion. They like steak, chicken, grilled tuna, raw spinach, etc. They go *nuts* for canned tuna, probably because the smell is so intense.

Keep in mind that they have no teeth, so the food has to fit in their mouth. They will happily swallow things that make painful-looking bulges in their stomachs.

When I say "eat anything", that includes other inhabitants of the tank, including each other if there is a reasonable size difference, as well as their own eggs if you don't remove them from the tank. I have one that stopped growing at about .75 inch, which the other have grown to the 3-4 inch range. I keep the small one in his own tank because the others were getting just a bit too close to catching him.

I'm told that if you feed them live food, it makes them more agressive. I fed mine small feeder fish once - it makes them agressive.

After you watch them for a while, you will notice "personality traits" in their behaviour. They are terribly cute, but not very smart.

From this [page], you can get to a FAQ on them, but I don't remember where:

Last modified: August 24, 1998
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