[rat_ratscal]

first of all, im new here :wavey: i have 2 rats and i love ozzy osbourne, i have a doggy, my other doggy passed away on ozzy osbourne's birthday (dec. 3)

my mom said i might be able to get some african dwarf frogs, i've researched them but i want to know a few things first.

-I have a five gallon hexagon tank, i've heard one frog per gallon (i've heard lots of different things actually)
so is five frogs good?

-i use a sand substrate, it's not that fakey cheap stuff either, would that be okay for the froggies?

-recently my 2 goldfish died, they were extremely ill, i had to hand feed the one because she lost the ability to swim, but the algae eater was in the tank with them while they were sick and he's still alive now (he died for 2 days and came back to life, it kinda freaked me out) will he get the froggies sick? i have a spare fishbowl i could but him in with his algae full rocks and stuff

-should i take all the plants, rocks, shells, substrate out and replace the sand because they have the fishy germs on them, or should i just thoroughly wash it all? (how would i do that?)

-the plants in my tank are spikey, should i replace them with non-spikey plants?

-i have a filter, i dont think it could hurt the frogs but is it necessary to use? should i just get a screen top? there is a light bulb they could jump on, so im kinda iffy on the top of my tank. if my camera would stop being a poopie-head i'd show you some pictures.

the plants, substrate and passed away fishies

the entire tank (not mine, off the pet store website, exactly te same tank)

 

[rat_ratscal]

oopsy, i posted the same picture twice :blush:

here's a pic of my whole tank, dont mind the messiness

lid:

whole tank (don't mind the messy bottom:

 

[Sasami]

What was wrong with the fish? If it was something like ammonia poisoning then washing like crazy isn't necessary. But if it was some sort of parasite then you definitely want to. Use hot water and let everything air dry...you could also use diluted bleach depending on what the illness was. Don't use soap.

Three or four frogs would probably be better, especially at first. If you keep the algae eater in there then stick with two or three max. Which brings me to my next question...

What kind of fish is this "algae eater" of yours? I hope for your sake he isn't a Chinese algae eater. Petstores convince people to buy those all the time but they get big and aggressive. Even if your fish is a more placid pleco then you can't keep it in a 5-gallon. Plecos get HUGE and messy. I would personally give the fish to someone with a larger tank or bring it to a petstore. The only algae eater suitable for a 5-gallon would be an oto catfish but they do best in small groups and need a really stable environment.

When you clean out the tank save some of the old water unless it was a serious illness. You don't want to lose all of your beneficial bacteria. Make sure to test the water before getting any frogs to see if it's still cycled. Ammonia and nitrites should both be at 0. The frogs won't do very well in an un-cycled tank.

The sand is fine, in fact, that's better then gravel since they can't choke on it. The plants probably won't injure the frogs so they're ok...though I would personally get some silk ones. The frogs will thank you for it . Ok, so maybe they won't...but they would if they could!

The filter is necessary for cycling the tank if you don't have live plants or anything. They'll be ok if the current isn't too strong. If you don't want to use it then keep in mind you'll be doing 100% water changes every week or two (depending on how many frogs/fish are in the aquarium).

The light bulb isn't protected at all? That's dangerous... Your picture didn't show up but is this an Eclipse? I have a couple and most come with a plastic cover between the hood and tank. If your's didn't you can probably get one off the Marineland website. A screen top is fine also.

By the way, I see shells in your tank. I would remove those since they can raise the pH...the frogs won't like that.

 

[rat_ratscal]

oopsy, i put up the same picture twice

 

[rat_ratscal]

here's a picture, i have no idea what the illness was, but here's a pic

 

[Zookeeper]

If you have 5 frogs for a 5 gallon that is what I would consider a max. 1" of fish per gallon is what I was taught (and then there's minor details over aggressive fish), and frogs count as a "fish". If you want to wash the stuff in your tank, hot hot water is great. Freshwater Aquarium Salt is great to provide something rough that could help to scrub. Do not use soap. Soap is bad. It can leave a film that will prevent proper transfer between the water surface and the air. Soap = evil. Hot hot water is usually appropriate. While I don't recommend this unless it's serious circumstances, I have used bleach to clean out fish aquariums. A very dilute bleach, mind, and then rinsed it only about 40 times afterwards with Aqua Plus or something like it (water dechlorinator). Your "spiky" plants are plastic, so I wouldn't worry too much, the frogs will probably try to burrow underneath them. Make sure your lid is secure, whatever you get, the frogs are great at hopping and jumping, an open lightbulb could be dangerous. I've heard of some frogs escaping (and not quite making it because they are aquatic). One more thing before you go... Make sure wherever you buy them from they said "Dwarf Aquatic Frog" somewhere on there. Through your research you probably have seen photos. African Clawed Frogs are not the same thing, they are way bigger!!! Sometimes the Dwarfs will be listed as African Dwarf Frogs or some nonsense by pet stores trying to sell something more "exotic".

 

[rat_ratscal]

i am not plaaning on using my light, but if they were to jump on top of the light, they might get stuck or something, so i'll cover it if it will cause danger. i know how to tell clawed from dwarf so i'll be sure to do that, i'll probably end up getting 3, i wouldn't want to cram 5 now that i think about having decorations and stuff, there won't be as much room.

thanks for the help you guys!

 

[Sasami]

i am not plaaning on using my light, but if they were to jump on top of the light, they might get stuck or something, so i'll cover it if it will cause danger. i know how to tell clawed from dwarf so i'll be sure to do that, i'll probably end up getting 3, i wouldn't want to cram 5 now that i think about having decorations and stuff, there won't be as much room.

thanks for the help you guys!

Yeah, I would cover it, personally . Better safe then sorry. I used a Critter Keeper type of aquarium with mine so there wasn't a light.

What are you planning to feed them? Make sure to get that figured out beforehand as well . I fed frozen krill, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, bloodworms, and occasionally a couple HBH pellets. While you can feed commercial pellets/flakes don't make that the only thing you feed. Some frogs will refuse those kinds of foods anyways.

Good luck with your frogs!! Definitely post some pictures of your frogs and tank when you get them.

 

[rat_ratscal]

i'll be getting them next week hopefully, i wet to the fish store today (the person i got all my other fish from, except my goldfish) i talked to him about my algae eater, asked him basically all the stuff i asked you, bought some decorations and stuff, i'll be buying a heater next week (wednesday) and i'll hopefully get the frogs on the weekend (he said he'd have some in by then) i used to go to that store every day, so he already knwos everyhting about my tank and stuff so it's easy for him to help.

i'll be feeding frozen brine shrimp, pellets, freeze dried bloodworms, stuff like that

 

[rat_ratscal]

thanks for the replies! i'll be getting the heater on wednesday, the froggies on the weekend. i will feed them bloodworms and brine shrimp. i just bought a bunch of new decorations for the tank, so hopefully they'll feel safer than in the boring tank i have now. i might just take out the light bulb and tape the hole over with ducked tape or something.