The Little Frog That Could
The Albino Dwarf Zaire Frog (Hymenochirus boettgeri) is a member of the family Pipidae, a group of primitive frogs whose ancestors first show up in the fossil record in the late cretaceous period! As an odd side note, frogs in the family Pipidae do not possess tongues! Only growing to the modest size of a mere two and a half inches, these diminutive frogs are normally a grayish color with small dark spots, but the albino variant has a uniform light golden tone. The species name ‘boettgeri’ comes from the scientist who first described the frog for the scientific community, Oskar Boettger. Oskar suffered from agoraphobia and as a result rarely left his home in Germany, so assistants brought specimens to his home which he then described, including the Dwarf Zaire Frog!
The Albino Dwarf Zaire Frog is found throughout Western Central Africa, in countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There they are common and are considered a species of least concern by CITES. Dwarf Zaire Frogs are usually found in lowland rainforest habitat in slow moving water – isolated pools or parts of small rivers that do not receive much flow.
In part because of its diminutive size, a single Dwarf Zaire Frog can be kept in an aquarium as small as five gallons. We recommend going with a larger tank for a small group or trio. Water flow should be gentle, and a sponge filter can suffice for filtration. The water temperature shouldn’t be allowed below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and its best to keep the water between 70 and 80 degrees, preferably on the higher end of that, 75-78 degrees. Water should slightly acidic, but a neutral pH would also be acceptable.
The home habitat you plan for them could include leaf litter or botanicals, live plants, driftwood and larger rocks. Substrate should be chosen carefully as the frog's eyes are not on the front, but the side of their head. This means they do not have good binocular vision or depth perception and so they do not see their food very well. The result is that they can ingest substrate – so it should either be too large to fit in their mouth, or so small and fine that they can pass it without harming themselves. For these reasons, the best substrate choices are either very fine sand, or our recommendation, bare bottom aquariums. Displays without substrates displays are much easier to keep clean and offer no problems with digestion for the frog.
Dwarf Zaire Frogs are peaceful and can be housed with other fish and even small invertebrates so long as they are too big to be eaten and won't pick on the frog or out compete it for food. These frogs enjoy floating plants for support and cover near the surface. Make sure the aquarium itself is covered to prevent the frogs from jumping out, but also leave a couple of inches of air gap at the surface to make sure they have air to breathe.
As mentioned before these frogs aren’t always the best at finding food in the aquarium. So, dedicating an aquarium to keeping them, or keeping them with other slow passive feeders is important to help ensure they get enough to eat. These frogs will need to rely on their sense of smell to locate any food that isn't moving, and thus may not find food by the time the other more aggressive feeders have already eaten it. In the wild these frogs are carnivores, eating small invertebrates. In the aquarium they will do best on an assortment of frozen foods such as bloodworms and live foods like white worms or black worms can be used as a treat. A small dish (like a petri dish) can be used to hold the food for them – this will keep food from being lost in the substrate and also keep the substrate away from the food and reduce the risk of them ingesting it accidentally. If the substrate they ingest is too big, it could result in an intestinal blockage, which can kill them.
These frogs are commercially bred for the aquarium hobby today and should be a relatively easy breeding project for someone with basic aquarium experience. Healthy, mature individuals can sometimes be encouraged to spawn by slightly increasing water temperatures. Males can be differentiated from females because they are smaller, and when they are ready to mate, they will sing or “call” to the females, who will respond in a much shorter chirp. The larger plumper female can lay up to hundreds of eggs at a time, and the male will fertilize them as they are laid. Eggs will float, and when they hatch, they should be removed to another aquarium as to keep the small tadpoles safe from the parents. Some Aquatropic partners even sell tadpole specific diets for rearing the young.
The Albino Dwarf Zaire frog makes a good choice for the beginner or intermediate aquarist. Hardy, different, and able to be housed. In a small aquarium, they will make an exciting first or second breeding project for an aquarist looking to do something different. Call or stop in your local fish store and ask them to order you a group of three or more captive bred Albino Dwarf Zaire Frogs from Aquatropic today!