Overstocking Question: 55 tall with Albino Clawed Frogs

I'm aware that this is primarily a place for people who keep fish, however, I'd like to know if anyone can assist with my frog questions.

I've got a 55 gallon tank, tall with 3 Albinos and 3 molten African Clawed Frogs. These guys share a home with 2 goldfish that are about 4 inches each. Originally I just had 3 frogs but one didn't make it then some guy all but abandoned a baby here. Well, I replaced the one that died with 3 babies hoping at least one would survive. All survived. I now have 6 African Clawed Frogs in a 55 tall. My main question is, am I able to keep all 6 in that tank with those two fish safely or should I rehome two of them? Does anyone know?

I worry about them becoming overly aggressive if they feel too crowded. In general they get along but I've seen some scuffs from time to time, mainly during feeding time. Am I just being an over protective mom or do I need to get in there and change things?

Food and habitat: The water level is kept at more like a 40 than 55. There is filtration and an air stone, floating live plants at the top, river rock at the bottom. The water quality is good. I use Prime and have a submerged filter with mature loose media. Water changes are done on all tanks once per week. I'm religious about water changes. The frogs eat mollies, guppies and earth worms all raised here at my home. From time to time they get brine shrimp, shrimp pellets and green peas.

Again, my main question is, does it sound as if there is over crowding and does anyone know if this 'over crowing problem' will cause aggression and froggy murder? Am I just being overly worried or should I remove a few of these frogs.

Sincerely

a frog mom named Faith

SUNDRIP - Art for Life

http://www.sundrip.com

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Comment by Robert Jango on December 22, 2012 at 3:59am: There's a site called Aquarimax.com and if you email your question to them they'll be able to help you. The moderator's name is Rus and he and his wife put out a podcast every Wednesday answering submitted questions. Rus is professional biologist and has kept African frogs many times in the past.

Comment by Faith-Magdalene Austin on December 22, 2012 at 4:43am: Oh heck yeah. Thank you. I didn't know of a frog forum to go to. Thank you for that.

BTW - two of the babies are being rehomed with an individual that I know and trust to research and do her utmost to care for them properly. I'll also refer her to the provided link. We're going to set up a tank for them then introduce them to their new home. It should be a smooth transition to their new home where I'll get to watch them get bigger. I like that idea.

Sorry Nicolas but, I love my goldies, they had to stay. :-)

Comment by Faith-Magdalene Austin on December 27, 2012 at 12:44pm: What I did was adopt out two of the smaller frogs then I removed the last two small frogs and put them in their own tank. My big white girl Sia (albino frog) seems very pleased with just the two goldfish and her man Pete in the tank so I'll just plan on updating a tank for the two babies in the spring. Once the smaller frogs were out of there Sia calmed down and is no longer an angry little b*&$#. The other day she had one of the babies in her mouth and was tearing at it. There was nothing I could do. It was horrible. I did the Poltergeist scream. I had no idea I could reach that octave for that length of time. Finally the baby went limp, Sia came out of her auto response to kill it while it thrashed about. Sia let the little limp one sink to the bottom where she promptly darted off to the corner. I got a friend of mine to come over and we tore down the entire tank and pulled out the last two smaller ones the put the tank back together. It was only about an hours worth of work.

I'll leave Sia's tank alone. She's fine with her two fish and man Pete. No more attacks like that, no more Poltergeist screams. Lesson learned. Leave well enough alone, let that girl be. What's visually pleasing to me may not be what is best for the aquarium system. Lesson learned.

Comment by Faith-Magdalene Austin on January 24, 2013 at 4:04am: The update on this is that two of the baby frogs were rehomed as were the goldfish. Four frogs in a 60 gallon tall remain. I expect it to be much more peaceful. This particular tank is all about the frogs. :-)

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