strange african dwarf frog behavior???

[featherfin]

i was up at about 11:30 last night and i kept hearing these weird buzzing noises. they drove me crazy!! i spent about fifteen minutes trying to figure out what was making the sound and i realised my african dwarf frog had its head out of the water and was singing!
i didn't know they made noises. it was almost like a cicada noise only quieter. does anybody else have frogs that do this? what does it mean?

[PaleoFishGirl]

That is so cool! I've never heard an ADF call before!

[Crumpet]

Gonna b No. 1 has ADF that do this -- it is neat!

[featherfin]

yes it was quite cool. it was like a zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt sound.

[gonna_b_no_1]

That would make your frog a male!!!

My male will do this every night if he thinks one of the girls will listen

You might also notice he'll have what looks like a little pimply bump in his armpit area...that will swell up when he really wants a girl around

PM me if you have other ???s about adfs!

[Laura]

They sound neat - I've heard some recordings before.
I hope this isn't a thread-jack, but I recall people trying to hatch the eggs and encountering problems raising the tadpoles.
Here's a link to a National Geographic article on the feeding mechanism of the tads, perhaps it may be of help
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1107_021107_tadpoles.html

[gonna_b_no_1]

The die off rate for breeding these guys has always been at least 3/4ths for me, and I"ve been doing it for 3 years now rather unsucessfully.

This is the first year I can say I have actually had some survive the morph into froglette.  I have 1 female that is about 5 months old now from a batch of about 200 eggs. 

Feeding them is a challenge!!!! 

Another great site for help with these guys is flippers n fins. 

http://p076.ezboard.com/African-Dwarf-Frogs/fflippersnfinsfrm8 

Here you can read up on threads and listen to a recording of a singing male frog! 

[fishycanuck]

mmmmm... pimply armpits.... isn't that we all look for in a man? 

[oenology]

It's interesting that her frog started to sing for the first time that night. We had just added my frog that day. I can only assume that mine is a female. Both of these young frogs are from your eggs, Francine, different batches and hence quite different sizes. Featherfin's is about the size of a baby finger nail and mine is about the size of a thumb nail. I wonder if they'll be breeding by the time I'm back, 3 month hence.

[gonna_b_no_1]

It's interesting that her frog started to sing for the first time that night. We had just added my frog that day. I can only assume that mine is a female. Both of these young frogs are from your eggs, Francine, different batches and hence quite different sizes. Featherfin's is about the size of a baby finger nail and mine is about the size of a thumb nail. I wonder if they'll be breeding by the time I'm back, 3 month hence.

oh WOW!

You know, it's hard to sex when they're that little, but if one is singing, it's a boy!  I'd have to see a picture of them both or even better see them in person really. 

How was your success rate?  I only had 1 survive, and freckles is now 1/2 the size of her parents....

[oenology]

"How was your success rate?  I only had 1 survive, and freckles is now 1/2 the size of her parents...."

We each had only one tad survive into a frog. I tried raising mine in a 5g and hers were in a 3g and despite a very high hatch rate the tads quickly disappeared to leave only one 'standing'.

[featherfin]

it's true i only had one survive. do they secrete some sort of chemical that kills the weaker tadpoles?

[gonna_b_no_1]

That has always been my "excuse" as to why I always such a high die off rate.  Ok, maybe theory is better than excuse  lol  How else can you explain having 50-100 healthy happy tads one day and waking up to only having 1 or 2 the next?  I just don't get it.  I've even tried to research the theory, but have found nothing.

Nature has these fine little ways to make sure that one species doesn't overpopulate.....maybe this is the way nature intended ADF's way. 

I've even tried contacting major breeders, but I'm guessing they wanted to keep their secrets to themselves, I never got an answer.

This winter, I want to dedicate 3 10g tanks to just tadpoles.  I'll do each tank the same...bare with a sponge filter, daily cleaning..the whole nine yards.  Maybe I"ll end up with 3 frogs?  lol

[oenology]

i think you need to separate the eggs and tads in jars or something until they move beyond that stage.

[gonna_b_no_1]

sorta like betas?? 

I'm going to need alot of darned jars I guess then eh?  LOL   

Jen, u want more eggs?  I'll be conditioning the trio soon....unfortunately once u start them...they take a long time to stop  lol   I should have eggs all winter  lol