# Frogs & Toads > Aquatic Clawed Frogs >  Depth of water for African Clawed Frog & tips needed for preventing an escape!

## froglett

How deep should the water be for these guys?

I've seen some sources state no more than 12 inches, others say at least 12 inches and up to 30 inches.
What is the water level in your tanks? I was thinking around 14 inches. Would that be ok?

Also, I really don't want the frogs escaping from the tank as I have 3 cats, and I imagine they'd find a frog before I even notice it's missing!
Does anyone have any tips on keeping them in?
I know you should have the water level lower than normal, and cover any holes (how big a hole can they get through?).

I am planning on putting a large hollow piece of bog wood in the tank which is 10 1/2 inches high at the highest point. Will that make a difference?

The tank is 69 UK gallon size and about 22 inches high. 
I haven't set it up yet, I've just been cleaning it out tonight because it's been in the shed & was an ex marine (given to us by someone who didn't clean it first).

I want to make sure I have the set up correct before I fill it and cycle (the bog wood was used for a coldwater tank originally, but has been in the shed for a couple years so will need a good soak/rinse).
I'm planning on well washed play sand for substrate (my hubby uses it in tropical and marine tanks and assures me it will be fine), and silk fake plants.

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## Michael

> How deep should the water be for these guys?
> 
> I've seen some sources state no more than 12 inches, others say at least 12 inches and up to 30 inches.
> What is the water level in your tanks? I was thinking around 14 inches. Would that be ok?


I have no idea why people say no more than 12 inches of depth. African Clawed Frogs are powerful swimmers and very strong for their size. They can surface for air and retreat to the substrate literally in the blink of an eye. I think people confuse them with Dwarf Clawed Frogs.. which are clumsy and weak frogs which WOULD have issues surfacing for air at that depth.




> Also, I really don't want the frogs escaping from the tank as I have 3 cats, and I imagine they'd find a frog before I even notice it's missing!
> Does anyone have any tips on keeping them in?
> I know you should have the water level lower than normal, and cover any holes (how big a hole can they get through?).


I'd keep the water 3 to 4 inches below the top.. that's how I keep my tank and no escape attempts yet.. but yeah I'd have a tight lid + cover any holes for sure.




> I am planning on putting a large hollow piece of bog wood in the tank which is 10 1/2 inches high at the highest point. Will that make a difference?
> 
> The tank is 69 UK gallon size and about 22 inches high. 
> I haven't set it up yet, I've just been cleaning it out tonight because it's been in the shed & was an ex marine (given to us by someone who didn't clean it first).


Should be fine as long as you have a lid, if the tank is 22 inches high and the bog wood is only 10 1/2 inches high it should be a non-factor.




> I want to make sure I have the set up correct before I fill it and cycle (the bog wood was used for a coldwater tank originally, but has been in the shed for a couple years so will need a good soak/rinse).
> I'm planning on well washed play sand for substrate (my hubby uses it in tropical and marine tanks and assures me it will be fine), and silk fake plants.


Shouldn't be an issue.

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## packer43064

Yeah my height is 24 inches. They will go to the top and just chill up there for extended periods of time. So unless it's 20 feet deep, I doubt your average aquarium heighth will be an issue.

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## Tony

I agree with everything Michael said. Sounds like you have a great start. I believe your tank is a standard 75 US gallon aquarium? I didn't realize there was a difference in the UK and US gallon until I moved to Canada.

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## froglett

Thanks guys. Im glad they can have deeper water. It'll be easier to keep clean.

I have no idea how big the tank is in us gallons.

Probably gonna be a couple weeks at least before the tank will be ready. Still need to buy sand and cycle it. 
Im gonna use the external filter from the tropical tank we've recently set up so hopefully won't take too long

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## Michael

> Yeah my height is 24 inches. They will go to the top and just chill up there for extended periods of time. So unless it's 20 feet deep, I doubt your average aquarium heighth will be an issue.



Wow 24 inches is pretty high. You may want to fill the tank up maybe up to 18 or so that would make it impossible for the frogs to escape. I think they can swim the two feet for air no problem but their life may be easier if you kept it at 18" or so tops. What are the overall dimensions of the tank? ACF prefer L&W over H, it gives them more room to swim (and they love to swim).

Then again at that depth running a HOB will be hard, honestly most tanks are 21" high tops.. are you sure it's two US feet deep?

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## Tony

> Wow 24 inches is pretty high. You may want to fill the tank up maybe up to 18 or so that would make it impossible for the frogs to escape. I think they can swim the two feet for air no problem but their life may be easier if you kept it at 18" or so tops. What are the overall dimensions of the tank? ACF prefer L&W over H, it gives them more room to swim (and they love to swim).
> 
> Then again at that depth running a HOB will be hard, honestly most tanks are 21" high tops.. are you sure it's two US feet deep?



I was under the impression that packer was living the dream with a 180 gallon. 6' X 2' X 2'.

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## froglett

This is the tank so far. I washed and added the sand today. Still waiting for the wood to sink too.
I have the silk plants ordered and waiting for them to be delivered.

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## Tony

Looking good, your frogs are going to love having all of that room.

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## Terry

I don't think there is any rule concerning water depth. My opinion is that you should do what works best for the frogs. I keep my tank water level at 12 inches. There have been records of these frogs spawning in a 2.5 gallon tank!

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## packer43064

> Wow 24 inches is pretty high. You may want to fill the tank up maybe up to 18 or so that would make it impossible for the frogs to escape. I think they can swim the two feet for air no problem but their life may be easier if you kept it at 18" or so tops. What are the overall dimensions of the tank? ACF prefer L&W over H, it gives them more room to swim (and they love to swim).
> 
> Then again at that depth running a HOB will be hard, honestly most tanks are 21" high tops.. are you sure it's two US feet deep?


The 180 is 72 inches in length by 24 inches in width by 24 inches high. 6X2X2. They love it in there. Not worried about the 24 inch in height. Their always swimming around near the outtakes or chilling at the bottom. Plenty of room for them to explore with it being 6 feet long. They do make some 30 inch high tanks, usually 300 gallons or more. Just not many. 

Agreed, with HOB filters it would be hard to filter it. That's why I have a sump and a canister filter along with the 2 HOB's. I figured it would be too much filtration with over 11X turnover an hour, but they seem to enjoy it when their up top and the bottom doesn't get much current so they get best of both worlds.

Can't wait until I get more and really get to see them all exploring!

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## Michael

That is awesome. I wish I had a tank of that size, I am keeping my 3 ACF in a 40B and it seems pretty spacious, I bet with a 180G you could probably have more than quite a few ACF!

Honestly I'd keep the water depth around 20 inches (or 4" below max, if your tank is 24" high), I think at that depth the chances of an ACF escaping are virtually nil. (I'd still keep a top though) I wouldn't worry too much about filtration or current, unless it's like a river rapid in your tank or something. I use an Eheim 2217 on my 40B, which I think is a bit beefy for an aquarium of that size and I have no issues. I do keep the spray bar directed toward the glass though to cut down a bit on current. HOB are kind of meh, I don't care for the noise they make and Whispers are the best HOB for these frogs IMO but they take up a lot of real estate inside you tank.. ever since I picked up a canister I don't think I can go back to a HOB again.

Here's some tips (from a newb who is still learning):

--Add some floating plants, they love floating plants a LOT. I have read that apparently keeping floating plants actually lowers their instinct to jump and escape (oddly enough I tossed a bunch of my floating plants because they kept getting algae-ridden and my frog flew the coop a few days later -- go figure). At night my frogs all rest in my floating plants with their noses poked out above the water, pretty sure they are sleeping when doing this. They will almost always exhibit this behavior if there are floating plants present so I assume it makes them happier. Some good examples would be pennywort, watersprite, indian fern, amazon frogbit, ect..

--People say that hiding spaces aren't 100% necessary but.. they really like having hiding places.. I made some caves out of mopani driftwood in my tank and they make great use of it. It just seems to make them very content to have a place to hide out. During the day my frogs almost always are hanging out in their driftwood caves, it just makes them feel secure and reduces their stress I guess.

--I think rather than silk plants perhaps you could add some real plants? Anubias, Java fern, Crypts (they root well and frogs love to hide in them!), Java moss, ect. Helps a lot with water quality too (ACF are poo machines.. plants help absorb waste). These are all low light plants (ACF hate bright lights anyways) and don't really have any special needs (Crypts might like having a root tab under them though).

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## gemzjames

that looks like a great tank. I have been working for Natural England catching xenopus from the wild for years now and ive been trapping and catching them in very deep waters - they are fantastic swimmers and love deep water and places to hide in! when they are relaxed they will just hang and float at the top of the tank and will start singing at night .... so look forward to that. with regards to your plants on order, i assume you are getting real plants - just be aware that these frogs can be quite destructive as they like burrowing and have strong legs and due to their natural poisonous secretions the plants might not survive - i have had to switch to plastic plants which is a pain during a clean out but are working well. your frogs are lucky to have so much space :-) enjoy them!

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## Tony

> that looks like a great tank. I have been working for Natural England catching xenopus from the wild for years now and ive been trapping and catching them in very deep waters - they are fantastic swimmers and love deep water and places to hide in! when they are relaxed they will just hang and float at the top of the tank and will start singing at night .... so look forward to that. with regards to your plants on order, i assume you are getting real plants - just be aware that these frogs can be quite destructive as they like burrowing and have strong legs and due to their natural poisonous secretions the plants might not survive - i have had to switch to plastic plants which is a pain during a clean out but are working well. your frogs are lucky to have so much space :-) enjoy them!


I was unaware that there are "natural poisonous secretions" with Xenopus sp.. What's that all about?

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## Michael

> that looks like a great tank. I have been working for Natural England catching xenopus from the wild for years now and ive been trapping and catching them in very deep waters - they are fantastic swimmers and love deep water and places to hide in! when they are relaxed they will just hang and float at the top of the tank and will start singing at night .... so look forward to that. with regards to your plants on order, i assume you are getting real plants - just be aware that these frogs can be quite destructive as they like burrowing and have strong legs and due to their natural poisonous secretions the plants might not survive - i have had to switch to plastic plants which is a pain during a clean out but are working well. your frogs are lucky to have so much space :-) enjoy them!


They aren't as destructive as people say when it comes to plants. The main drawbacks to plants + ACF is the fact fertilizers can contain heavy metals which are toxic to ACF and the fact ACF really do not appreciate being blasted with high amounts of light.. 

If you use rhizome based plants like anubias and java fern you should be fine, crypts are fine too since they root heavily.. stuff like dwarf hair grass will get kicked up though in my experience. ACF don't really 'burrow' but they do kick stuff around. Obviously floating plants wouldn't be affected by the ACFs tendency to kick stuff around.

The slime coat of an ACF does not poison plants, not sure where this information is coming from but I've kept plants with ACF without any issue, they are not poisonous..

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## gemzjames

ive worked with these animals for a long time and my professor was the guy who discovered many of the rare sub species of xenopus. All Xenopus secrete a secretion which is can be irritant to the skin if they are handled for prologed amounts of time, their secretion is poisonous but obviously not strongly poisonous but it can be harmful to humans and obviously should never be ingested. I didnt mean they poison plants sorry my wording wasnt too great. 

I have probably been using the wrong types of plants so thanks for the heads up :-)

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## Michael

I thought Xenopus excreted a slime coat that just didn't taste pleasant to a predator, never knew it was poisonous. I do not handle my frogs much but on the occasions I've had to I've not noticed any irritation luckily! I always thought they were used as a protein source in Africa, then again they're probably cooked.. :X

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## Tony

> ive worked with these animals for a long time and my professor was the guy who discovered many of the rare sub species of xenopus. All Xenopus secrete a secretion which is can be irritant to the skin if they are handled for prologed amounts of time, their secretion is poisonous but obviously not strongly poisonous but it can be harmful to humans and obviously should never be ingested. I didnt mean they poison plants sorry my wording wasnt too great. 
> 
> I have probably been using the wrong types of plants so thanks for the heads up :-)


I am completely confident that there is no toxins that are harmful to humans. In fact if we could stand the taste, these frogs would be eatable to humans. The only harmful thing that they have is the fact that they can carry some nasty diseases, not toxins.

Mike: I have witnessed the burrowing behavior. My frogs preferred to dig under the decor rather than hide in it.  It has stopped since adding the floating elodia though. They absolutely hate light. With the floating plants my army is always out and about now.

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## Michael

Interesting, I use fine sand in my aquarium yet I've never observed any burrowing, maybe they don't feel the need to because I've arranged my driftwood into caves? They certainly do kick up small stem plants, so I can't recommend those, but my moneywort has been staying in place surprisingly.

I am still having light issues personally. I have a rather high output LED fixture, I've elevated it above the tank more so they're less annoyed by it, but when I turn it in, they tend to go crazy, not really sure how to get around this. Any sudden change of light seems to really set them off, even turning a lamp on in my living room can get them running for cover. I've ordered some amazon frogbit so I am hoping it comes soon to cut down the light further..

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## Tony

I have a 36" tank, the light fixture is 36"(N.O. florescent), but the bulb is only 24". It is kind of weak really. I was worried the elodea would not thrive, but since it is floating and I leave the light on from 6:45 A.M. When I let the dog out to 11:00 PM when I head for bed all is well. My frogs do not usually run for cover anymore with the elodea in there.

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## Michael

I have a 36" tank too. (40B), I'm using a Finnex Ray2.. it's considered "high light" and quite powerful.. actually it's an algae making machine on my non-high-tech tank. I think if I could of done it over again I would have gotten a less powerful light.. I've elevated it a bit and am going to add more floating plants so I hope that helps! I know my frogs weren't fond of it before I elevated it, I only run it 6-8 hours a day then switch to a Marineland Single Bright, which is about the weakest LED strip out there, the frogs tend to become more active then..

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## Namio

Michael had pretty much covered everything about water depth and much more. But I would like to re-emphasize that having a screen top, lid, or cover is a MUST for AFC, even if the water level is 4 inches+ below the tank height.  As previously mentioned, AFCs are very powerful swimmers and they can jump out of water at will, although usually unlikely.  I take care of three adult females at my school and my co-worker told me that these frogs had escaped by jumping out of the tank about two years ago (the water was about 3 inches below the top), so we've been keeping a screen top that completely covered the tank at all time.  The moral of the story is that a cover should be required for these frogs just to take the possibility of escaping out of the equation.

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## Michael

> Michael had pretty much covered everything about water depth and much more. But I would like to re-emphasize that having a screen top, lid, or cover is a MUST for AFC, even if the water level is 4 inches+ below the tank height.  As previously mentioned, AFCs are very powerful swimmers and they can jump out of water at will, although usually unlikely.  I take care of three adult females at my school and my co-worker told me that these frogs had escaped by jumping out of the tank about two years ago (the water was about 3 inches below the top), so we've been keeping a screen top that completely covered the tank at all time.  The moral of the story is that a cover should be required for these frogs just to take the possibility of escaping out of the equation.


Very true. One of my frogs managed to escape even with a glass lid because there was a very very small gap on the back where I was hanging a Whisper filter clip which holds it on the back of the tank (less than 1/2 an inch???).. the gap was extremely small (the frog is a ~7 month old male about 3.5" snout to butt) and he still managed to find his way out.

I had to cover the whole back where the lid meets the tank with tape to stop further escapes until I installed my canister and cut holes for the tubing.. I still covered everything around the tubing up again with tape, because these frogs are just insanely good at escaping when you least expect it.

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## froglett

I never knew there we're xenopus wild in England. I had read somewhere online about there being some in Wales.
I live in Scotland, probably too cold for to survive in the wild.
It seems impossible to even find a shop that sells captive need ones!

Im currently waiting for silk plants to arrive cos the Ebay shop messed up delivery. Once they're in I can hopefully order frogs online if the water tests ok. I might look at getting floating plants as we'll as the silk ones.

I can't wait to get my frogs. I've recently got dwarf ones in another tank and I find them fascinating.

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## packer43064

> That is awesome. I wish I had a tank of that size, I am keeping my 3 ACF in a 40B and it seems pretty spacious, I bet with a 180G you could probably have more than quite a few ACF!
> 
> Honestly I'd keep the water depth around 20 inches (or 4" below max, if your tank is 24" high), I think at that depth the chances of an ACF escaping are virtually nil. (I'd still keep a top though) I wouldn't worry too much about filtration or current, unless it's like a river rapid in your tank or something. I use an Eheim 2217 on my 40B, which I think is a bit beefy for an aquarium of that size and I have no issues. I do keep the spray bar directed toward the glass though to cut down a bit on current. HOB are kind of meh, I don't care for the noise they make and Whispers are the best HOB for these frogs IMO but they take up a lot of real estate inside you tank.. ever since I picked up a canister I don't think I can go back to a HOB again.
> 
> Here's some tips (from a newb who is still learning):
> 
> --Add some floating plants, they love floating plants a LOT. I have read that apparently keeping floating plants actually lowers their instinct to jump and escape (oddly enough I tossed a bunch of my floating plants because they kept getting algae-ridden and my frog flew the coop a few days later -- go figure). At night my frogs all rest in my floating plants with their noses poked out above the water, pretty sure they are sleeping when doing this. They will almost always exhibit this behavior if there are floating plants present so I assume it makes them happier. Some good examples would be pennywort, watersprite, indian fern, amazon frogbit, ect..
> 
> --People say that hiding spaces aren't 100% necessary but.. they really like having hiding places.. I made some caves out of mopani driftwood in my tank and they make great use of it. It just seems to make them very content to have a place to hide out. During the day my frogs almost always are hanging out in their driftwood caves, it just makes them feel secure and reduces their stress I guess.
> ...


Here's a couple pics of the tank. It has since changed though. Added some plastic eggcrate to the back where it's open with weights on top. So it's impossible for them to get out. Added some on the front covers too just in case. So not worried about it being full to 24 inches. I lost an albino male and have since then learned my lesson. Crafty frogs they are. Also siliconed some silk plants to the sides of the tank so they can hang mid-level if they choose. I want to get some plants. If i get floating plants, I'll have to devise something to block the plants from getting sucked in the overflow since it skims water from the top. Probably something from eggcrate again. I'll look into the plants you have suggested and try a few here and there though.

I don't turn my lights on much just when I want to enjoy them. Usually a couple hours a week at night if I get home in time. Will probably have to set an actual plan if I get plants.

My plan is to breed my older female and section off a quarter of the tank for tadpoles. I've bred her a couple of times with the aformentioned albino male. That's the plan at least.

Are there low-light floating plants? I have technically 6 bulbs in the light setup, I doubt anything strong though. Just whatever came with it.

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## Michael

I think the biggest problem I've had with floating plants is since they are so close to the lights they tend to take on algae.. I just removed my pennywort because it was just getting riddled with green algae. I just replaced my pennywort with water sprite which I am reading is a "low" light plant so we'll see!

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