Feeding Frögs

Feeding adult frogs is confusing enough. How about feeding tadpoles? And at different stages of development? It’s so easy to overfeed and pollute the aquarium and it’s just as easy to starve tiny little tadpoles. I’m going to start with feeding adults because the basic principles for feeding them apply to tadpoles.

How much food and how often? There are a few things to consider when deciding how much to feed and how often. The temperature of the water, nutritional value of the food, and the body condition of the frogs.

Temperature

In the African Congo rainforest, temperatures range from 68º-81ºF. When temperatures are on the cooler side of their comfort range their metabolism slows down and they require less food; on the warmer side they require more. All of my frog tanks are currently set to around 75°F. This allows me to feed lightly and maintain the pollution in the tank for my desired levels of maintenance.

Nutrition

The higher the nutritional value the less food they need and the less waste they produce. The nutritional content of frozen foods is available on the websites for each brand. Unfortunately they don’t all label them with the same metrics so it can be difficult to compare. I believe the two most commonly sold brands in the U.S., Hikari and San Francisco Bay, use the same metrics. Pellets are not something I feed my frogs but the same principle applies: higher nutrition = less food and less waste.

What do we look for? Protein content and added vitamins and minerals.

I feed all frozen and live foods. Hikari mysis shrimp is their staple diet with occasional tubefix worms. I keep live cultures of daphnia and black worms with the hope of transitioning to primarily feeding live foods. I’m not sure yet if I can keep large enough cultures to sustain all of my frogs. If it requires more room than I’ve already given them then I may not want to. I’m currently keeping them in bath bins using my Seeds Nano filters and plants.

Live cultures in bath bins with Seeds Nano filters.

Body Condition

There are body condition charts for humans at the doctor’s office and for dogs and cats at the veterinarian’s office. I think I’ve even seen them for birds but never for frogs. So I made one. I reference my males as an indicator for over or under feeding because a gravid female can appear obese or even bloated. As long as my males all fall within the average range I know I am not over feeding or under feeding. If they are overweight then I consider feeding less and if they are thin I consider feeding more. Usually they fall into a range from the thin side of average to the average side of overweight. It is ok to be a little slim or a little plump. An emaciated frog will die if the situation is not remedied. An obese frog will suffer and have a shortened life.

Click on the image to see a more thorough chart. This image is truncated for viewing on mobile devices and you can see a wider range of average on the larger chart.

My Method

My standard feeding schedule for adults is one to one and a half cubes of defrosted mysis shrimp for 9 adult frogs every other day. This is with the tank temperature set to around 75ºF. When I defrost two cubes for them I give the excess to my other tanks. Sometimes I feed frozen tubefix worms instead and sometimes I skip a frozen meal and offer black worms as a treat. All of this is based on the body condition of the frogs. If I need to perform a water change on a feeding day and they all look healthy I might skip feeding or offer live black worms after the water change settles. Then I feed normally the next day.

Pollution To avoid unnecessarily polluting the tank I rinse frozen foods in tank water. I am currently using a screened fuel funnel that I purchased at my local camping store. I rinse two or three times before feeding. I pour the waste water into my culture tanks. Black worms are filter feeders and they suck it right out of the water. Yum! :X My good friend and fellow frog lady, Melissa Palmquist suggested using the waste water as liquid fry food for tadpoles if you’re in a pinch. This is an excellent idea. Note that it will increase the pollution in the tadpole tank.

Safety

Pellets lose nutritional value over time. It is a good idea to buy small quantities and replace them often. If left to dry out they lose nutritional value faster and could cause bloat if not allowed to soak.

There are some foods to avoid entirely. Freeze dried foods can cause bloat if not soaked. When soaked they do not have as much nutrition as frozen foods. The nutritional content of freeze dried foods is listed in dry weight and therefore difficult to directly compare to most frozen foods. Fish foods are not recommended because they may contain plant material that frogs cannot digest. (Most pellets use plant material as a binding agent but far less than in omnivorous fish foods.) Algae wafers and algae pellets do not contain the nutrition needed by frogs. They are meant for bottom feeders and sink to the bottom so are likely to be eaten by frogs. Eating these can cause diarrhea adding to the pollution in the tank and if eaten regularly can cause the frog to become emaciated, reduce their immune response and result in disease and death. They also have the same potential to cause bloat as other dry foods. Lastly, bloodworms. All of the pet stores say to feed bloodworms. Not all bloodworms are the same and some countries have better quality control of this product than others. That said, I trust the years of experience of the admin of the African Dwarf Frog Care and Support Group on Facebook who have watched countless frogs become bloated and die with an association to feeding bloodworms. That, coupled with the fact that there are equally nutritious–if not more nutritious–options at the same price point, has me convinced not to feed them.

If you have any questions for me or any ideas to share please comment below.

Bath Bins from Target - Fuel Funnel from REI - Hikari Mysis Nutrition - San Francisco Bay Mysis

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