a dwarf African frog site

DAFs for the Total Beginner

Introduction

For a list of topics covered in this site, please see the "Index" paragraph below.  Also, please see the last paragraphs on this page, which are about two major changes to this site that have taken place as of February 4, 2009, and one change that may take place in the future.

This site is for those of you who may have been walking through a pet shop where you saw the cutest little frogs in a fish tank, and bought one or two, or are thinking of buying some.  Inevitably you will think "now what?" when you get them home, and you will want fast answers instead of having to search for and read lengthy, sometimes very technical articles -- or worse yet, articles that are too brief to be truly helpful.   This site aims to fill in the gap by providing basic but thorough information. 

I've owned dwarf African frogs for several years.  Currently I have 6 frogs -- 1 male and 5 female adults.  I hope that this site will help you learn what I've learned without making the mistakes I've made.

Along with the instructional pages I also have a page of photos (pretty wonky at present, but I'm working on getting a better camera), and a page about the dwarf African frog and the dwarf puffer.  I have a frog video on YouTube; here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75_VW6e4XrA There is also a Video page on this site.

I have also included a page on chytrid fungus (Read This First).  If you are going to keep these frogs, you MUST know about this threat.

Site Index

Here is a list of topics covered in this site.  Each topic is a link that you can click on, and be taken to the page where the subject is covered.  Be sure to look at the entire page to make sure you find the subject -- it's there somewhere! 

African Clawed Frogs compared to DAFs
Ammonia and also here
DAF appearance under "Physical Characteristics", and here in the article about African Clawed frogs
Aquarium Size
BiOrb
Bottled Water
Brackish Water mentioned in passing; in short, DAFs cannot live in brackish water!
Buzzing Sound (as in "my frog is making a buzzing sound")
Care of DAFs
Character of DAFs
Chytrid Fungus
Color of a DAF, also here in the article about African Clawed frogs.
Convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade
Convert Gallons to Liters
Distilled Water
Escaped Frog, and also here under "Substrate and Decorations"
Filtration
Floating Frog (Asian)
Food
Frog Floating (DAF); also here
Fungus and also here
Gender
Handling a DAF also here
Illness other than chytrid fungus
Jumping out of the tank under "What to do with a Frog on the Floor"
KH and GH (water hardness) here and here
Lifespan
Links to other DAF and frog-related sites
Low-Tech Aquarium

Natural Environment of DAFs
Natural Aquarium
pH (here and here)
Plants and also (special information for biOrb owners) here
Poisonous (Are DAFs...)
Proper Aquarium Home for DAFs (3 links, here and here and here)
Puffers and DAFs
Quarantine, and here
RO/DI Water
Salt in a Freshwater Aquarium mentioned in passing under "Water" heading
Saltwater mentioned in passing; in short, DAFs cannot live in saltwater!
Shedding under "What's that White Film?"
Squeal as in "I swear my frog squealed"
Tankmates for DAFs
Temperature
Walstad Tank

LinkShare  Referral  Prg

Drs. Foster and Smith Inc.

Some links

Once you've read this site and are ready for more information, here are other Dwarf African Frog sites that you may enjoy:

This is a link to an excellent Yahoogroups DAF e-mail group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/DwarfAfricanFrogs/

...and a great group for fanciers of ACFs and DAFs: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FroggyFriends/?yguid=61197695

Here's a great NEW DAF site: http://frogworld.net/african-dwarf-frog

Here's a link to an amusing page.  While we don't agree 100% on how to take care of dwarf African frogs (and who could expect 100% agreement on any aquarium-related subject?), the writer knows frogs and has a friendly and wildly funny writing style: http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/mypets/dwarfs.html

It wouldn't be a links page without Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dwarf_frog

Here's another good basic information page: http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/African_dwarf_frog

This is a page that you've no doubt already come across in searching for info on the dwarf African frog on the Web: http://davidcecere.pipidae.org/

Another good basic site about the dwarf African frog: http://leilanimassage.com/frogjournal.htm

A frog care and message board site: http://www.flippersandfins.net/

A site with information on a wider range of aquatic frogs: http://www.pipidae.net/

Another wide-ranging page on aquatic frogs: http://aquaticfrogs.tripod.com/

Finally -- and totally off topic -- my new page on seahorse care: http://aquatichorse.webs.com/

Brief note about changes to this site

As of February 4, 2009, the Forum and Guestbook pages have been removed from this site.  The reasons for this action are many. 

The Forum has not been used heavily in recent months, and most of the questions that have arisen have been about frog health.  Too often I could not adequately answer because most of my own frog losses have been due to freak accidents, jump-outs, and chytrid.  Anyone looking for advice on this subject would be much better off joining the Yahoogroup Dwarf African Frogs at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/DwarfAfricanFrogs

The Guestbook has, as some of you have noticed, been closed to casual visitors for quite some time.  The reason this happened is that two youngsters started using it as a private playground in which to cyber-bully each other.  That was bad enough, and not to be tolerated -- and then one of them tried to bully me, which I found both sadly amusing and completely unacceptable.  Since there seems to be no way to ban one or two users from the Guestbook, the only way to handle this was to make the Guestbook members-only, which of course meant that no one used it from that point forward.  The lack of use put it first on the elimination list.  I feel bad about this, because I enjoyed reading the comments on that page and appreciated that people took the time to share their thoughts about this site.

Another factor in all this is that I am nearing the limit of my space on Webs.  To get more space this would have to become a premium site, which would mean I would have to beg y'all for money -- which I don't want to do.

The result is that both pages have been deleted.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and hope you will still find other pages on this site to be useful.  Thanks for your understanding.

9/6/09

Site-owner's note:

I've been considering moving this site to another host, but considering how entrenched it is here, it seems easier to leave it here.  If I do eventually move the site, at some time in the future you may stop by and find a link directing you to a new address, elsewhere.  Be assured it will still be the same old Aquafrog site.

Thank you for your patience.  You have more than I do!