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Floating frogs get just a little larger than this.

Origin:  Their name indicates Indonesia -- a huge area with 13,000 islands.  And judging from their low cost, Indonesian floating frogs probably come from several other parts of S.E. Asia.

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Floating frog honing his specialty.

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Floating frogs also like to rest once in a while.

Temperature:  Much of Indonesia sits on the equator, so you know floating frogs like it warm.  Shoot for 80F or above.  Hotter probably won’t hurt them a bit.

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This Styrofoam lily measures two inches in diameter.

Size:  Indonesian floating frogs hit the market at about an inch plus legs, sometimes a little bigger.  They grow to a huge 1.5 inches.

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Over a brown substrate, these guys blend in and disappear.

Substrate:  It really matters very little what you put on the bottom of a floating frog tank.  They spend most of their time bobbing at the surface like a camouflaged cork.  If threatened or spooked by sudden movements, they may scoot below the surface to escape the perceived threat.

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Low floating islands make great places to lay out your floating frog's food.

Islands:  Since floating frogs come from a country with 13,000 islands, you need to give them some islands.  Low floating islands work best.  Your frogs can hang on the lip or crawl out on the shore.  They don’t drown without islands, but they seem to last a lot longer with these PFDs (personal flotation devices) as the yachting sect set says.  Islands also serve as buffet counters.  You can put foods like live California blackworms on the islands and let your floating frogs dine at leisure.  If food falls to the floor of their tank, they’ll likely ignore it.

Sometimes your floating frog will tolerate handling.  Sometimes he won't.

Security:  Frogs live life on the edge (where the water meets the land) with threats from the land, from the water, and from the air.  Still these guys are not particularly skittish.  Half the time you can pick them up with no frantic frogginess.  At other times they leap like Lords -- maybe as much as a foot on the initial leap.  Each subsequent leap gets shorter and shorter.  They would not impress the Energizer bunny.  Give 'em their islands and they’re plenty secure.

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Go slow if you insist on picking up your floating frogs.

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You can also pick them up on their PFD.  Go slow.                   

Handling:  Floating frogs really prefer that you leave them alone.  However, if you insist, you can slowly slide your hand under your floating frog and gently lift it out of the water.

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In very shallow water floating frogs can jump like grasshoppers.

Water:  Floating frogs probably prefer soft water.  Depth probably matters little.  They pretty much stay at the top.

Foods:  Black worms, blood worms, glassworms, red wigglers, mosquito larvae, crickets, houseflies, and fruit flies all belong on your floating frog’s menu.  Don’t lock on to one specific food.  They will not eat frog pellets, turtle sticks, or fish food flakes.  They will eat some foods out of long tweezers (or forceps if you’re out of tweezers), so you can probably hornswoggle them into gulping frozen foods -- especially if you give them some live foods with tweezers first.  Get them used to tweezers and then experiment.

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Floating plants make excellent natural looking islands.

Supplements:  If you feed your floating frogs nothing but crickets, you probably need a vitamin supplement with calcium.  Feed a variety of foods.

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Floating frogs appear to swallow a gulp of air to keep them afloat.

Lighting:  Floating frogs live on the equator, so they prefer a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night cycle.  

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Looks like a potential breeder female.  We'll keep our eyeballs peeled for eggs.

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Could we be seeing the beginnings of amplexus or just a loafer?  Time will tell.

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Probable male and female here.

Breeding:  Most frogs breed in the spring.  When does spring come to the equator?  The rainy season.  Probably a brief (or long) sort of dry season would trigger their urge to merge.  No one seems to know or at least they profess their ignorance about the breeding portion of the floating frogs’ life cycle.  We’ll experiment and get back to you on this later.  As cheap as floating frogs are, they can’t be too hard to breed.

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"Hey, hey, hey."

Threats:  Birds eat frogs.  Fish eat frogs.  Ditto crabs, turtles, crayfish, raccoons (or Indonesia’s version thereof).  All enjoy a helping or two of frog legs every so often.  So do larger frogs.

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Indonesian floating frog somewhat larger than life-size.

Last Words:  Floating frogs are fun.  LA

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