Blonde African Dwarf Frogs

[wardedbeast]

So I bought a blonde adf and a regular adf. The regular kept attacking him or trying to eat him so I removed The regular one from the tank. I have the blonde adf with a Betta and no issues. I now have three blonde adf in my 10 gallon with the Betta. My question is why can't I find any info online about the blonde ones and why would the regular one attack him.

The place I bought them from had ember tetras in with em and they were attacking the blonde ones constantly 3 where dead and the last 3 where being attacked so I bought them to save them., plus I really liked the look of them.

If anyone would like to see a picture I will gladly upload.

 

[wardedbeast]

 

[midna]

where did you get them? i'm thinking about maybe getting one later if I can, but i'm afraid/cautious of their origins, like if they might be more suceptible to disease, have a shorter lifespan, or are more delicate than other dwarf frogs, etc. either from breeding and exploiting a genetic mutation or going off on how albino animals are more vulnerable in the wild. I don't know if that's really the case because it's just a frog/colouration, but yeah. I think the blonde variety is very new, so that's why you can't find much info on them.

perhaps your other frog thought he might be food because they suck at seeing things, and maybe they were able to see him because he's so bright, especially against the dark gravel? it might also be because he was the only other moving thing in the tank. he also looks super skinny, so it could be a dominance thing, but i've never heard of that happening with adfs. if they're both skinny, then maybe he was just really hungry. when I had two frogs they'd sometimes bite each other during feeding time.

i'm glad they're doing better now! just remember that because they had dead tankmates, they could potentially be infected with something. hopefully not, though, but i'd keep an eye on 'em. what are you feeding them, and are they eating?

 

[wardedbeast]

where did you get them? i'm thinking about maybe getting one later if I can, but i'm afraid/cautious of their origins, like if they might be more suceptible to disease, have a shorter lifespan, or are more delicate than other dwarf frogs, etc. either from breeding and exploiting a genetic mutation or going off on how albino animals are more vulnerable in the wild. I don't know if that's really the case because it's just a frog/colouration, but yeah. I think the blonde variety is very new, so that's why you can't find much info on them.

perhaps your other frog thought he might be food because they suck at seeing things, and maybe they were able to see him because he's so bright, especially against the dark gravel? it might also be because he was the only other moving thing in the tank. he also looks super skinny, so it could be a dominance thing, but i've never heard of that happening with adfs. if they're both skinny, then maybe he was just really hungry. when I had two frogs they'd sometimes bite each other during feeding time.

i'm glad they're doing better now! just remember that because they had dead tankmates, they could potentially be infected with something. hopefully not, though, but i'd keep an eye on 'em. what are you feeding them, and are they eating?

I live in Alaska and bought them at a place called pet zoo. The tank they were in had ember tetras that were constantly nipping at them, pretty sure they were the reason for the dead ones. I was told not to buy from tanks with dead fish in them but since I saw that I wanted to save them lol. The ones I got look healthy and are acting healthy so far but this is my first aquarium so I'm still learning

Well the dwarf frog was at least twice the size of the blonde one. I doubt the place fed them very often, I bought aquatic frog pellets but they haven't been very interested in them. I was going to try frozen blood worms later today. The betta keeps chewing up there food and spitting it out lol

 

[midna]

a lot of african dwarf frogs are infected with a deadly fungus called chytrid, which can take up to 3 months to appear. not sure if it's as common in alaska; it probably was just those pesky fishies. I feel you about wanting to save them.

since adfs have bad eyesight, they do like it when their food moves. I used to feed mine frozen bloodworms because they loved them and that's what a lot of people recommend, but I stopped after one of my frogs got dropsy/bloat, which is another deadly disease. some people think that bloodworms might carry a bacteria or parasite that causes it, so I switched their diet to mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and beefheart. (I actually would recommend starting them out on beefheart since they're so skinny; it's supposed to get their weight up. once they're a good weight i'd ease off on it and feed it to them sparingly as a treat.) i'd rather not try pellets because of the fillers/additives and chance of getting bloat, plus I don't think my frogs would be interested in them. it's also recommended to give them a varied diet. i've been going around to different fish and pet stores to find them new stuff to try -- I still need to find some type of worm to feed them, I think.

to get frozen food to move, I use a pair of long aquascaping tweezers/reptile feeding tongs and use it to grab a thawed piece of whatever i'm feeding them, then slowly lower it down into the tank until it's in front of their faces. wiggle it around a little bit, let it hover there until they notice it, and patiently wait/repeat til they take a bite. other people have had success with sucking the food up with a turkey baster and slowly releasing it in front of their faces. it might take multiple tries, though. you can also train them to go to a certain spot in their tank, like a small terra cotta dish, when it's feeding time.

sorry about the huge info dump! the adf caresheet thread that's pinned on this board has a lot of useful info and should be the same for the blonde variety of adfs. good luck!

 

[bitseriously]

You don’t mention anything about this in your post, but the frog in the pic appears deathly skinny. Are u aware of that?
If it’s eating well, it’ll likely recover with time and diligence (avoid stress, maintain ideal tank conditions, etc), but if it’s not eating well you’re likely to encounter problems keeping it alive, soon.

 

[Ms rose]

try looking them up as albino adf instead of blonde, that may help your search reveale more info. I love my adfs

 

[wardedbeast]

You don’t mention anything about this in your post, but the frog in the pic appears deathly skinny. Are u aware of that?
If it’s eating well, it’ll likely recover with time and diligence (avoid stress, maintain ideal tank conditions, etc), but if it’s not eating well you’re likely to encounter problems keeping it alive, soon.

Yeah I just noticed it when you mentioned that. Hes a lot skinnier than the other two I have. I got him like that a few days ago, he ate some the first day, gave them pellets yesterday, don't think he ate any of it but not 100 percent sure. I just now tried mysis shrimp, he nipped at it a few times but couldn't get him to eat it so switched to blood worms and wiggled it in his face for a while no luck either.

 

[wardedbeast]

a lot of african dwarf frogs are infected with a deadly fungus called chytrid, which can take up to 3 months to appear. not sure if it's as common in alaska; it probably was just those pesky fishies. I feel you about wanting to save them.

since adfs have bad eyesight, they do like it when their food moves. I used to feed mine frozen bloodworms because they loved them and that's what a lot of people recommend, but I stopped after one of my frogs got dropsy/bloat, which is another deadly disease. some people think that bloodworms might carry a bacteria or parasite that causes it, so I switched their diet to mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and beefheart. (I actually would recommend starting them out on beefheart since they're so skinny; it's supposed to get their weight up. once they're a good weight i'd ease off on it and feed it to them sparingly as a treat.) i'd rather not try pellets because of the fillers/additives and chance of getting bloat, plus I don't think my frogs would be interested in them. it's also recommended to give them a varied diet. i've been going around to different fish and pet stores to find them new stuff to try -- I still need to find some type of worm to feed them, I think.

to get frozen food to move, I use a pair of long aquascaping tweezers/reptile feeding tongs and use it to grab a thawed piece of whatever i'm feeding them, then slowly lower it down into the tank until it's in front of their faces. wiggle it around a little bit, let it hover there until they notice it, and patiently wait/repeat til they take a bite. other people have had success with sucking the food up with a turkey baster and slowly releasing it in front of their faces. it might take multiple tries, though. you can also train them to go to a certain spot in their tank, like a small terra cotta dish, when it's feeding time.

sorry about the huge info dump! the adf caresheet thread that's pinned on this board has a lot of useful info and should be the same for the blonde variety of adfs. good luck!

Thanks for the info I went and picked up some frozen mysis shrimp and frozen blood worms. bitseriously brought to my attention the one in the picture is really skinny, I'm having trouble getting him to eat. The other two seem to be physically healthy. They're hanging out under my filter but the skinny one is hanging out by himself in the open.

 

[midna]

awww don't give up on the little guy!! you might want to isolate him in a quarantine tank in case he's ill, so you don't get the others sick. it'll also keep them from beating up on him. cut the shrimp and worms up into really tiny pieces so he can get it down easily in one bite. sometimes you have to be suuuuuper patient. he could still be struggling to adjust to his new environment since the water's parameters are probably different.

 

[wardedbeast]

awww don't give up on the little guy!! you might want to isolate him in a quarantine tank in case he's ill, so you don't get the others sick. it'll also keep them from beating up on him. cut the shrimp and worms up into really tiny pieces so he can get it down easily in one bite. sometimes you have to be suuuuuper patient. he could still be struggling to adjust to his new environment since the water's parameters are probably different.

So do I have to get another small tank and remove him from my main one? I have a breeder box I used to safe keep my betta in for a bit can I put him in that in my main tank? it is like this:

 

[midna]

hmm... my main concern for you is that you might not want to risk getting your other frogs sick if this one's condition deteriorates. they could be totally fine, but if you want to be cautious, then i'd say get a new tank. it doesn't have to be very big, just enough to hold that one. probably doesn't need to be cycled either, just do daily water changes and make sure the water's okay.

maybe wait to get a second opinion, or do what you think is best? these little froggies are so stressful lol. I never expected to spend so much money and time on them, going back and forth to petstores and ordering stuff online, researching illnesses and trying to treat them. that's why i'm trying to take a break for a few months before I get new ones.

are the other ones eating at all? what happened to the regular adf you had that was biting the skinny one? if i'm seeing this correctly, you have 3 blonde adf in a tank with a betta (one adf is very skinny), and the regular adf is in a separate tank?

 

[wardedbeast]

hmm... my main concern for you is that you might not want to risk getting your other frogs sick if this one's condition deteriorates. they could be totally fine, but if you want to be cautious, then i'd say get a new tank. it doesn't have to be very big, just enough to hold that one. probably doesn't need to be cycled either, just do daily water changes and make sure the water's okay.

maybe wait to get a second opinion, or do what you think is best? these little froggies are so stressful lol. I never expected to spend so much money and time on them, going back and forth to petstores and ordering stuff online, researching illnesses and trying to treat them. that's why i'm trying to take a break for a few months before I get new ones.

are the other ones eating at all? what happened to the regular adf you had that was biting the skinny one? if i'm seeing this correctly, you have 3 blonde adf in a tank with a betta (one adf is very skinny), and the regular adf is in a separate tank?

They are stressing me out lol. The other two blonde adf look of healthy weight and they just ate some mysis shrimp. The regular adf I gave to my room mate that has a 20 gallon tank, he seems to be doing great in there. I have 3 blonde adf, 3 zebra snails, a crown tail betta and just added 3 panda cory catfish.

 

[wardedbeast]

hmm... my main concern for you is that you might not want to risk getting your other frogs sick if this one's condition deteriorates. they could be totally fine, but if you want to be cautious, then i'd say get a new tank. it doesn't have to be very big, just enough to hold that one. probably doesn't need to be cycled either, just do daily water changes and make sure the water's okay.

maybe wait to get a second opinion, or do what you think is best? these little froggies are so stressful lol. I never expected to spend so much money and time on them, going back and forth to petstores and ordering stuff online, researching illnesses and trying to treat them. that's why i'm trying to take a break for a few months before I get new ones.

are the other ones eating at all? what happened to the regular adf you had that was biting the skinny one? if i'm seeing this correctly, you have 3 blonde adf in a tank with a betta (one adf is very skinny), and the regular adf is in a separate tank?

he's eating now probably just didn't get fed at lfs. thanks for the help

 

[midna]

keep us updated and show us pictures later if you can! i'd be interested in seeing these little blondies.

 

[Akeath]

I was under the impression that the blonde African Dwarf Frogs are not albino, but leucistic. It is a different type of mutation that produces pale animals, leucistics are partially missing multiple types of pigment whereas albinos are missing all of their melanin. Leucistics can appear as white as an albino, but they can also be a very very pale yellow/gold color, which is where the "blonde" part of the name comes in. They can also have somewhat more see-through skin than the standard colors, so it is sometimes possible to see the veins of an extreme leucistic (this is most obvious on the massive veins of the back legs in the ADFs). Leucistics tend not to be as sensitive to light and have better eyesight than true albinos. Usually, the easiest way to tell a leucistic apart from an albino is that albinos have pale pink eyes and leucistics can have black, but since African Dwarf Frogs already have white looking irises to begin with that isn't as useful with ADFs.