African clawed frogs require space. They swim extremely fast, jetting from the bottom of the aquarium straight to the top for a quick breath of air and then jet back to the bottom of the aquarium. They don’t have to do this. They enjoy it. They like to hang out and rest on and among a variety of plants, real or artificial. They hide in any dark corners you may have to offer, such as holes in rocks or ornamental pieces you put into your aquarium. They will use these dark spaces to hide and wait for food to get close enough for catching.

If you decide to keep an African clawed frog as a pet, be sure you are prepared to keep him in an appropriate sized aquarium for the size of the frog. From the day I brought mine home, he was always kept in an aquarium no smaller than 20 gallons. When that aquarium seemed too small for him, I moved him to a 55-gallon aquarium.

Not only should you be conscious of the size of the aquarium you keep your African clawed frog in, also make sure your filtration system does not cause too much movement of the water in the aquarium. These frogs live in the wild in ponds or puddles of water that don’t have much movement. Try to recreate this environment as best as you can. Of course some movement is required to help with keeping the water clean, but research the systems available and try to find one that does not cause a great deal movement in the water.

Be careful of the plants you use in your aquarium. African clawed frogs have a thin webbing between their toes. This webbing can be torn on artificial plants, especially if they are hard plastic plants. If you choose to use artificial plants, opt for the soft, cloth-type plants over anything that is made of hard plastic.

Your African clawed frog requires a clean environment. If the aquarium your African clawed frog is housed in is not kept clean, your frog can acquire an array of diseases and/or funguses. I would suggest changing a portion of the water in your aquarium once every week or two, depending on the size of the aquarium. With my 55-gallon aquarium, I only had to change 50% of the water in the aquarium once every two weeks or so. I had an Eclipse filter on the aquarium and it kept the water very clean. This plus the fact that the aquarium was quite large for one frog and a few fish made it pretty easy to maintain.

While African clawed frogs do enjoy swimming up and down in an aquarium, when you are choosing an aquarium best-suited to house your frog, keep in mind that these frogs do breathe from the surface. They do not breathe from gills. Because of this, African clawed frogs need to be able to easily reach the surface. An aquarium best-suited to house an African clawed frog is one that is longer than it is tall. I did not think about this when I purchased my first frog and put him into my 55-gallon aquarium. My aquarium was much taller than it was long. My frog still did very well in the aquarium, but if I could change the environment knowing what I know now, I certainly would.

Any pet a person chooses to keep looks to its owner for all of its needs to be met. When you are considering an African clawed frog as a pet, be sure you take a careful look at the needs an African clawed frog has. Do your best as a pet owner to provide your pet with everything he or she may need to live a long, healthy and fulfilled life. For an African clawed frog, this means space to swim, hiding places and appropriate plants, an aquarium with appropriate filtration, and a clean environment.