A Chilling Reminder to Keep Warm

You may have noticed, winter is full upon us! Baby, it's COLD! While we bundle up against the winter chill, it's a good idea to mention ways to make sure your Frogs don't have to contend with the cold. It's not like they can pull out some thermal undies, but there are steps YOU can take, to make things comfy cozy for them.

AVOID THE DRAFT!
No, not Uncle Sam, but rather drafts that chill you cold. Chilled air from leaky windows & doors, blowing upon your ADF Habitat can significantly lower it's water temperature far lower than the temperature in a room. You can avoid drafts by wrapping a towel around your tank, the trapped air in between the towel & the habitat makes for a good insulator.

GET AS HIGH AS YOU CAN!
Not in the way you think we mean... Place your ADF Habitat high up in a room. Top Shelf, overhead, up near the ceiling, because... HEAT RISES! The temperature in a room is always a few degrees greater up near the ceiling than down near the floor. So while your thermostat may read 70 degrees, it might be 72-73 up above while it's 67 down along the floor.
A smart suggestion would be to relocate the habitat to the kitchen...normally the warmest place in the house.
JUST BE CAREFUL! Getting High in the kitchen too often leads to the munchies.

AVOID AQUARIUM HEATERS!
Avoid the temptation of adding an aquarium heater to your habitat. While very handy for large aquariums, aquarium heaters cannot regulate the temps in smaller water containers at all, the sudden temperature fluctuations hot & cold can overstress a frog at least, at worse, turn your habitat into a piping hot bowl of Frogmore Stew.

The point here is that if the room is kept at a comfortable temperature between 65 to 75 degrees, there's NO NEED for a tank heater at all. If you keep cold drafts or hot furnace air from blowing on the tank, the TANK WILL BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. Then, if you have need to warm the tank further, there are EXTERNAL heating options available such as a space heater, or a desk lamp, or even a electric blanket that can provide heat.
The point is, you have NO RISK of a tank heater going bad is you DON'T USE ONE.

Best rule of thumb: If you are comfortable with the temperature in a room, your frogs will be comfortable. If you do need to add some short term localized heat, turn on a reading lamp with an incandescent bulb, and place it no closer than 6-10" away from the tank.

Bitter cold can be avoided with these simple steps, & by keeping room temps between 65-75 degrees, you AND your frogs will weather any cold snap! They be chilling, by NOT getting chilled out.

The Definitive Guide to Creating a Paludarium (Tank, Plants and Building Suggestions)

October 25, 2018 Fishkeeping WorldA paludarium is an aquarium which has terrestrial plants as well as aquatic plants and aquatic life.

They are much easier to maintain in comparison to fully aquascaped aquariums, because they pretty much look after themselves if you choose the right plants and animal species.

You can include a much wider ranges of creatures in a paludarium than you can in an aquarium. As well as a whole range of freshwater fish you can also include shrimps, newts, crabs and even turtles.

In this article we’re going to take a look at what exactly a paludarium is, the plants and animals you can keep in one, how to build them and much more…

Is there a Haze in your tank's water? Your Tank is Telling You Something

Here's a good topic to discuss, especially since it's been just over a week since Christmas, where many may have set up a brand new tank.

It's about time for newly established tanks to begin to show signs of the going on's within the water habitat. Water cloudiness is often the biggest indicator of how established your tank is.

The two main types of cloudiness in the water boils down to color... a pale milky color or a greenish tinge, both speak volumes as to the conditions in the habitat. For ADF's, one is of more significant concern than the other.
A whiteish colored haze in the water is indicative of excessive ammonia. While ADF's can tolerate ammonia far more than gilled fish, too much is too much and the tank's water needs a partial replacement to dilute the ammonia, but not a total replacement.

The reason for a partial replacement is to give the tanks bio-filter of anaerobic nitrifying bacteria some ammonia to digest. For the bacteria to filter properly it needs ammonia to kickstart it's growth. Over time, as the bacteria culture increases, it's capacity to digest ammonia will increase accordingly. The white haze will eventually go away as the bacteria culture increases, and with it, the need to do partial water changes as well. Once the culture reaches it's peak development, it will stabilize the level of ammonia that's present in the water. There is always some ammonia present, but it's continuously being digested by the bacteria.

The other haze... the greenish tinge..., indicates something altogether different. It indicates the tank has a very efficient bio-filter with plenty of active bacteria, all digesting the waste ammonia & producing nitrates. The greenish haze is microscopic algae cells, A fast-growing invasive plant, living off the nitrates being produced. A greenish tint is a indicator of good health, it's unsightly, but still it shows that the tanks bio-filter is doing it's job. And there's a simple way to get rid of the algae bloom. Simply darken the water in the tank.

Algae is a plant that lives on three things... nitrates, water & UV light. Take away one of those three, Algae cannot grow. Since the tank will have nitrates & water, the solution is to limit the amount of daylight or any light that has UV. Without Ultraviolet, the algae cannot grow. 

But to handle excessive Nitrates, there still needs to be some plant life in the tank. Otherwise the level of nitrites will be overwhelming and harmful. So plant some aquatic, shade tolerant plants to do the job. Once the tank has plants to consume the nitrates, the water will clear right up.

Combating "Conventional Wisdom" with Common Sense

EDITORS NOTE: With the start of the New Year, we thought to reprise an article we published previously. It's certainly good to do so, so that all the new African Dwarf Frog owners who just got their Christmas present, and are seeking out information may be able to find it. 
Anyone searching the internet about African Dwarf Frogs will soon find the following "Conventional Wisdom" in one form or another...

"...Typically, one frog for every 1 or 2 gallons of water is ideal...."

Ideal for WHO? The frog? Or the person selling Aquariums larger than 1-2 gallons?  Many websites seem to follow this common misconception without any real explanation, other than a misguided human emotion that these frogs wouldn't like  confined spaces.  

There's no scientific rationale behind requiring 1-2 gallons per frog.  It's a line of logic for setting up a standard aquarium, and taking in consideration of the needs of fish, who naturally need space to swim, and sufficient amounts of oxygenated water to breathe. Neither of which the species of African Dwarf Frog require. However, 1-2 gallons per frog would be good if you are setting up a unfiltered tank like a Goldfish Bowl... you'd then only have to change the water around every two weeks or so.

No oily skin...

In nature, African Dwarf Frogs only have need of water to keep their skin supple. ADF's do not produce a skin mucus which enables them to emerge out of water onto land like other amphibians, that's the only reason they are fully aquatic. Other than that, they could live in water which can merely keep their skin moist. Of course, they can be at home in larger water volumes, but as for a NEED to have such... emphatically NO!

A more critical water need for this species is WATER DEPTH. Most specifically, THE LESS THE BETTER...

ADF Ancestral Home

In nature... such as in the Rainforests of Cameroon in West Africa, the African Dwarf Frog evolved in shallow rainforest swamps, in a habitat of stagnant low-oxygenated water, in water depths of 8 inches of water or less. Unlike gilled animals such as fish, ADF's breathe air with lungs, and go to the surface to gulp air. As a bottom dwelling creature, the frog subsists quite well in shallow water depths which give them a quick trip to the surface to breathe. Put them in an environment where the water depth is deeper, the frog can survive, but the longer trip to the surface for air is more stressful, and in the wild, would present more exposure to the frog from predators. In a natural environment, you would not find these frog in deeper water than a foot. 
The idea that these frogs need a lot of space, is also a misconception. African Dwarf Frogs main roles in life is simply to eat, avoid getting eaten, and make more frogs. In nature, it's behavior is dictated by instinct & environment, which again, in nature would be in the muddy bottom of a rainforest swamp.

Here's lookin' at you... I think!

The frog is a natural wait & pounce creature in the method of acquiring it's meal. The African Dwarf Frog has very poor eyesight, a heightened sense of vibrations in the water, and a keen nose to smell out food. You may have seen these frogs in a familiar "Zen Pose" standing motionless. This is a evolved trait of still stalking, waiting for something, like a tasty water bug to wander by. It also is a defensive posture that helps make them invisible to larger predators. Unlike fish, ADF's don't school & swim seeking food, preferring instead for food to come to them. Kinda like a aquatic couch potato. They do not migrate, & they do not have a extensive range, except along the shallows of whatever shallow pool of water they'd inhabit.

Remember, when searching the web, seeking out information about African Dwarf Frogs (or ANY topic) there is tons of "Conventional Wisdom" out there... some accurate, some simply a regurgitation of other information posted elsewhere, without much foundation of fact. It sounds right, but really... is it really right? If you have questions, count on us to help give you answers. Our wisdom isn't always conventional, but at least count on it to be grounded in fact.

The Maternal Instinct

When a Mother Doe was killed by an Auto, leaving a young fawn orphaned, this nursing Chocolate Lab was happy to fill in. It's very common for normal behavior to be set aside when the maternal instinct kicks in.

Peterson Farm Bros Reap a Great Harvest in Parody

It's not often farming gets in the cultural spotlight. That's why it's refreshing to see three brothers on a Kansas farm grow a huge fan base following on youtube, with their parodies of popular songs.The Peterson Farm Bros video page draws millions of views of their well produced parody videos which are just as tasty as the beef they produce.

Freaky Friday Foto: The Milk Frog

Unless you are lactose intolerant, you will love this croaker...

No it’s not just the color which gives them their name, but it’s the milk-like poisonous fluid excretion released from them when they are stressed or threatened. They are native to Amazon rainforest and were first discovered in Brazil’s Maracana River. They are famously known as Amazon milk frog.
They are fairly large frogs, reaching up to 2.5- 4 inches. Females are startlingly larger than males. They are greyish in color blended with black banding. During their early stage of life, they have soft and supple skin, but with age they start developing bumpy texture and the grey color slowly metamorphoses to silvery white. Their mouths are tinted with blue, as if it’s chewing a mint; therefore they are also known as blue milk frogs. The milk excretion helps them deter predators and also help them to be hydrated. READ MORE