African Dwarf Frog Eggs: Everything You Need To Know

Have you ever wondered how African dwarf frog eggs have so much market value and why?

African dwarf frogs originally belonged to the central countries of Africa. This is where traders brought eggs, or sometimes tadpoles, in water pouches and bred them in their aquarium for business or personal purposes.

They love eating brine shrimp. First, let us look at some general trivia about this amazing aquatic species. They lay eggs in the tank where they are being kept for breeding. Like fish in your aquarium, you can keep African dwarf frogs.

They feed themselves with fish food and other remotely available food items. African dwarf frogs are muddy in color. Interestingly, their color can help them camouflage their predators.

Raising African dwarf frogs is not a big challenge either. It's just how you are taking care of them from the tadpole stage to the adult stage. If you keep them as your pets, you have to ensure multiple factors, like a proper new tank, frog diet, water changes, filtration, tadpole breeding, and raising baby frogs into adults.

African dwarf frogs are kept as pets and have a higher value in the trade market. The eggs of this species hatch sooner than those of other aquatic species.

Stay tuned and continue reading the article if you're planning to set up an African dwarf frog tank anytime soon!

What is an African dwarf frog?

African dwarf frogs are a common aquatic species in the pet trade world. Many African and western countries' natives keep them due to their similar behavior with other aquatic species. African dwarf frogs are muddy in color.

If we try to use scientific terminology for this frog, then zoologists love calling it Hymenochirus of order Anura. They are aquatic frogs native to some parts of equatorial Africa.

African dwarf frogs, like other aquarium fish and species, spend their entire life underwater, from hatching from an egg to laying an egg stage to death. They perform all these activities underwater only.

One astounding fact about this frog is that it has lungs and no gills on its skin, unlike the African door frog! This definitely means that somehow, they have to come out of the surface of the water to get fresh air from time to time.

If you want to tell whether the frog is a male or female, look for a white bump on the back of the front legs. That bump reveals the gender.

African dwarf frogs are surprisingly not great swimmers (which they actually should be, by being in the class of amphibians). Hence, they have a high tendency to drown underwater.

That's why people keep them in a 2 ft (60 cm) high aquarium so that they can come out of the water surfaces to take in the air easily without slipping inside and drowning.

However, breeding tadpoles do not require a big deal of tanks or multiple water changes. Instead, they just need an aquarium with 2 ft (60 cm) tall walls, making them a low-maintenance pet.

African dwarf frogs are small but hardy and have slimy, slippery, and hoarse skin like other breeds of frogs.

Their lifespan is between 10-12 years, depending on the environmental conditions they live in throughout their lives. The mortality rate for African Dwarf Frogs is still low as they are kept at an optimum temperature with proper filters if kept in an aquarium. Eggs are laid in the aquarium in which they'll perform their life cycle.

African dwarf frogs are typically scavengers, which means they feed themselves with dead plants and carrion, which for them are mostly available underwater. They might even eat their own eggs. What to feed them?

Feeding them is simple. African dwarf frogs will eat various kinds of foods, including brine shrimp, bloodworms, and other kinds of frog food. They are believed to be found feeding on their food at the bottom of their aquarium.

Males and females have a distinctive croak when they invite their counterparts for the mating process. The male usually clasps the female around its front legs and sometimes even the hind legs.

What do African dwarf frog eggs look like?

When observed with naked eyes, African dwarf frogs' eggs are reportedly tiny and look like small black dots. However, the unfertilized eggs will appear cloudy or white due to the discharged gamete still not in action.

African dwarf female frogs can release up to 750 eggs during a single mating event, which happens almost once every year. How to identify that female frogs have released eggs on the surface of the water? After females lay eggs on the surface, we can find these eggs floating or adhering to the surfaces of water bodies.

There must be a few eggs that have been fertilized that will look healthy and ready to hatch. Then how are we supposed to identify such eggs?

The group of eggs that sink to the bottom of the tank and do not adhere to any surfaces are likely not fertilized. This way, we can cohesively give proper care and an untouched environment to such eggs to get fertilized by male gametes, or sperm.

In some African and eastern countries, tadpoles are used as 'fry food,' which is considered a staple diet.

How can you get rid of African dwarf frog eggs?

If you want to get rid of African dwarf frog eggs, then you definitely need to stop them from mating to a certain extent. However, there are multiple reasons for not mating African dwarf frogs.

To block their mating process, we first need to know how African dwarf frogs mate and lay eggs in aquariums and how we can avoid having a baby African dwarf frog in our tank.

The mating process in Africa dwarf frogs happens under the process of amplexus (the mating position of frogs and toads, in which the male clasps the female around their front legs and sometimes hind legs.)

In the mating process, a female African frog lays the eggs on which male frogs are supposed to release their sperm for normal fertilization. After several hours of mating, it takes 48 hours or even a week for the fertilized African dwarf frog eggs to begin hatching.

It might take slightly more or less time than the approximate one, so it's quite normal if you notice a delay or prematurity.

You may know about the process of mating. Now, how can you prevent the process of mating?

It's quite simple! As soon as we see the female African dwarf frog releasing eggs into the tank, we can filter out the eggs before the males in the tank contaminate the eggs with their gametes. This can be done by frog keepers who don't want to overpopulate the tank or don't want to breed them.

In this way, one can prevent the breeding of tadpoles in our aquarium and an unnecessary overpopulation of the tank.

How long do African dwarf frog eggs take to hatch?

African dwarf frogs are kept as pets and have a higher value in the trade market. The eggs of this species hatch sooner than those of other aquatic species.

The African dwarf frog eggs take less time to hatch. Eggs hatch within two days if the conditions prove to be favorable enough. Sometimes, it takes weeks for eggs to hatch. However, it is still better than the time taken by most aquatic animals.

African dwarf frog eggs usually require the water temperature to be above 72 F (22 C) to lay and hatch; a temperature closer to 80 F (27 C) is ideal for laying eggs.

However, a temperature higher than the ideal temperature might cause damage to the egg cells after they are laid, or in the worst case, death of the eggs within weeks of hatching.

African dwarf frog care and breeding can be a fun and must-see procedure that doesn't bring with it a lot of hassle.

Now that you know the necessary information, you need to care about these species and what they eat upon hatching. All that is now left for you to do is to get out and grab some from your nearest pet shop! African dwarf frogs are common, which is why you won't have any trouble finding them.

One thing you have to keep in mind after buying them is that you shouldn't forget to take help from this article to learn more about them.