Origins:  Clawed Frogs originally came from Africa.  The ones sold today are spawned commercially – none are captured from the wild.  The albino version costs about twice as much as the greyish/greenish/brownish “normals.”

LA Pic
Clawed frogs come to the top for air.  Note the claws on his back feet and the black "hands."

Size:  Baby Clawed Frogs sell in the inch to inch and a half range.  At this size they fit well into a community tank of fishes.  When they grow to adult size, they will eat any fish they can catch.  They can catch them all at night.

LA Pic
Note the claws on the tips of his toes.  Romantic males have black "hands."

Illegal in California:  Clawed frogs that escaped into California ponds ate all the native fish, frogs, and crayfish and literally took over because most fish dislike the taste of Clawed Frogs.  Since they breathe air, they cannot survive in Iowa ponds that freeze over.  They could not handle our cold temperatures either.  Still, don’t release unwanted critters into the wild.  At one time they used these frogs for pregnancy tests.  The urine of pregnant women triggers them to spawn.  Guess the testers gave up on them because they couldn't sell them at the local drug store.

Hiding Caves:  Clawed Frogs live on the bottom and dig under your decorations.  They want to hide during the day.  Give them several places to lurk during the day.  They come out in the evenings and patrol for food. Actually, any time you put food in their water, they smell it and start rooting for food on the bottom.

LA Pic
Black-handed male snagging some floating Doromin.  He eats goldfish and worms also.

LA Pic
This clawed frog's just finishing off a young clown knife (expensive snack).

LA
Deceased small koi.

LA
Waste not.  Want not.

Foods:  Flake foods are accepted by small Clawed Frogs but are not filling.  Feed them the reptile “stick foods” that float.  Clawed Frogs look like cigar smokers when they chomp on these.  HBH makes a pellet that little frogs greedily gobble.  Half-grown Clawed Frogs will eat feeder goldfish.  Adults will gulp down a nightcrawler (or two).  When they get a little size on them, they try to swallow each other.  They rarely complete the process.  Unlike most frogs, clawed frogs will eat non-living foods.

 

LA Pic
Sort of eying the Doromin at the surface.

LA Pic
Of course, they love worms.  Wigglers get gobbled instantly.  Nightcrawlers take longer.

LA Pic
Males and female clawed frogs both enjoy worms.  They also like Tetra's dried shrimp (krill).

LA Pic
Excellent food to fill her egg factory.  This is her second nightcrawler.

LA Pic
Clawed frogs go berzerko for nightcrawlers.

LA Pic
Clawed frogs quickly learn to eat from your fingers.  Sometimes they nibble your fingers, too.

Bottom Hunters:  When Clawed Frogs smell food in the water, they instinctively start methodically searching for food on the bottom.   Eventually, when they come up for air, they find the food at the top.  Once they find the floating sticks, they eat them eagerly.  Adults shove them in with both hands.  If you gently squoosh the air out of these floating foods, your frogs will find them faster on the bottom.  They never learn to start looking at the top first -- always at the bottom.

LA Pic
Two breeder females.  Three breeder males.  Lotsa color variation.

LA Pix
Female clawed frogs grow a small extension on their butts.

LA Pic
Males left. Females right.  Heh, heh.  Who knows at the 1.5 inch size?

LA Pic
Even harder under an inch.  Top left guy on a diet?

Escapers:  If they can climb over the edge of your tank, they will bail.  Keep your tank covered or lower the water level.  Once Clawed Frogs get out, they are helpless on land.  They dry out rapidly on your carpet.

LA Pic
Adult female clawed frogs can easily eat goldfish and nightcrawlers.

LA Pic
Pregnant females really swell up with eggs.

Mixers:  Mix your clawed frogs only with fish too big for them to swallow.  (Remember that they continue growing after you add them to your tank.)  Consider adding them to African cichlid tanks.  They should mix well with cichlids too small to swallow them and vice versa.

LA Pic
Definitely a female.

LA Pic
We're trying to spawn this young lady before she explodes.

Sexing:  Female clawed frogs grow larger and have an extension on their butts.  Males develop black breeding pads on their “fingers” for grasping the females.  Their forearms also turn black. 

LA Pic
Male clawed frogs grab the female with their sticky black hands -- if she coöperates.

LA Pic
We're trying to fatten her up with nightcrawlers.

LA Pic
She can really put them away.  She's getting 50% daily water changes also.

 

LA Pic
She's ready for the male in her tank to assert himself.  He's not catching on.

LA
This guy may be too fat to breed?

Spawning:  If you’ve kept your Clawed Frogs for a year, you’re ready to spawn them.  Keep them in their own large tank with four to six inches of water.  Feed them a variety of foods.  Thawed krill make a great conditioning food.  Change half their water.  Add 12 to 15 degree cooler water to trigger spawning.  Keep an eye on them.  The breeders will often eat their own eggs.  

LA Pic Female on left.  Pair over grid to exclude them from the eggs.

Egg Protection:  The grid above comes from an old fluorescent light fixture.  Trim it to size with a pair of side cutter.  Then drag the rough edges on a concrete sidewalk to smooth the edges, so they will not cut your frogs.  You could use a file or belt sander, but the concrete sidewalk works much faster.  Two layers of this grid will give even more egg protection.

LA
One female laid her eggs on these rocks.  The eggs are adhesive.

LA Pic
Clawed frog tadpole.  He's a "filter feeder."

Tadpoles:  Baby Clawed Frogs look like catfishes because two long tentacles grow out from their top lip.  They eat infusoria or powder-fine fish food.  (Other tadpoles have rasping lips for eating algae.)  These “tads” start turning into frogs in six weeks.

LA
Steve Larson grew these from his "Grow a Frog" kit -- about 80 of them.

LA
They can't eat these one-inch blackworms.  They're here for size comparison

LA Pic
Froglets:  Even at this half-inch size, these baby clawed frogs love to eat.

LA Pic
At one inch, they eat even more.

LA Pic
Some clawed frogs even learn to come to the top to eat.

LA Pic
Clawed frogs really pig out on turtle stick foods.

LA Pic
Adult clawed frogs love to snack on community fish.

LA

Last Word:  Just a warning that these innocent looking 1.5-inch clawed frogs grow into real fish eaters.  LA

© 1996, © 2003, © 2004, © 2005, © 2006  LA Productions