Among all species of frogs, African dwarf frogs dwells more in water than any other frog. Infact they can’t survive without staying in water, but sometimes they do come up at the surface to breathe. If they’re totally aquatic, then why do they always jump up to the surface to breath?. In this article, I will explain why they come up on the surface to breath air.
Why does my African dwarf frog keep coming up for air? African dwarf frogs live their entire live in water, but they need to rise up to the surface to breath air because they do not have gills but lungs.
All frogs don’t have gills, but lungs, so they breath like humans.
Hearing this for the first time, you might be wondering how an aquatic animal could have lungs like land animals instead of gills like water animals?
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The fact is, frogs have lungs and they breath oxygen through their skin/body.
So you might be surprised to see your African dwarf frogs jumping up for air, which in reality should be aquatic animals.
Well it’s just normal and all frogs do it.
The truth is, no frog can live 100% in underwater for the rest of its life.
Not even African dwarf frogs could do that.
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This is the sole reason why it is advisable to always keep island or floating leaves and logs in your frog tanks because they will always need to get off from water at least for a few minutes.
Also seeing frogs jump up to breath may be a sign that they’re not having enough oxygen at the bottom of the tank.
So avoid getting them into deep tanks and don’t always fill the whole tank with water.
Make it at least few inches above them, so that they could easily come up to breath.
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And also that enough oxygen could get to the bottom of the water.
Heater and filter and even pump are very important to put in place in frog tanks.
This is because your African dwarf frogs might not be jumping up to breath, but are jumping up to the surface because the temperature of the water is getting unbearable or some chemicals like nitrates and ammonia are building up in the water.
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So get water testing kits and always test their water and try to change it if you detect any abnormality.
A normal temperature for African dwarf frogs is 70-80.
And Nitrates and Ammonia should be 0.
How often do African Dwarf Frogs have to come up for air?
Knowing that frogs do have lungs and need to come to the surface to breath, you might want to know how long the African dwarf frogs can come up to breath air.
How often do African dwarf frogs have to come up for air? African dwarf frogs don’t have gills to breath underwater, but they could hold their breath for 15-20 minutes. After which they will have to come to the surface to breath and submerge again.
Although they could inhale oxygen through their skin in water, but they need to come to the surface to breath air, as they can’t breath air in underwater.
So in the conclusion, your African dwarf frog is coming up to breath air because it can’t do that while submerged in water. So it’s all normal.
