1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Peaceful but nearly blind, so they lose out to fish at feeding time.
This one is best kept on its own, or with its own kind.
Peaceful but nearly blind, so they lose out to fish at feeding time. Keep in groups with slow, gentle tankmates, or in a species tank, and keep a tight lid because they gulp air at the surface.
Frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia, and sinking carnivore pellets, fed with a pipette or feeding dish so quick fish do not steal it.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Females are larger than males (about 33 mm vs 24-28 mm SVL). Males of the close relative H. boettgeri have a small gland behind each front leg and call at night; this is not documented separately for H. curtipes.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-scatterer (floating) · Hard
Mates in amplexus, usually at night; the female lays eggs one at a time at the water surface. H. curtipes tadpoles are small predators that wait at the surface for live prey.
Keep 3-4 frogs together and watch for the male's night-time humming and amplexus.
20-40 L low-water tank (15 cm), plenty of floating plants, a gentle sponge filter and no fish.
Lower the water, then top up with slightly warmer water to mimic the rainy season; feed well beforehand.
20-100 floating eggs, hatching in about 2-3 days.
Tadpoles need infusoria then brine shrimp nauplii or microworms for weeks; many die without constant live food. Remove adults.
A small, fully aquatic dwarf clawed frog from the lower Congo region, very similar to the common African dwarf frog (H. boettgeri), which is the species most often sold. Adults are about 2.5-3.3 cm long. Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; collection for the pet trade is not considered a threat.
American herpetologist G. Kingsley Noble described this dwarf frog in 1924 from the Congo basin. It is one of a few small, fully aquatic frogs in the genus Hymenochirus. It is sometimes kept by aquarists alongside its more common relative, the African dwarf frog.
First described by G. Kingsley Noble in 1924.
8 facts checked with sources
Amphibian (fully aquatic dwarf clawed frog), not a fish. Common names: western or short-legged dwarf clawed frog. Shop 'dwarf frogs' are mostly H. boettgeri or hybrids, so a frog sold as 'Zaire dwarf frog' may not be H. curtipes (Cecere suspects boettgeri x curtipes hybrids are common in the US trade).
Amphibian Species of the World (AMNH, Frost): Hymenochirus curtipes · Noble 1924, original description of Hymenochirus curtipes, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 49 (transcript at pipidae.org)New value. Amphibian Species of the World places Hymenochirus in subfamily Dactylethrinae (its page path: Pipidae/Dactylethrinae).
Wikipedia: Hymenochirus curtipes (cites Noble 1924, Cannatella & Trueb 1988, IUCN 2013) · David Cecere / pipidae.org: Hymenochirus Care & Feeding (established hobby reference)Snout-vent length (SVL). Type series 24-28 mm (holotype an adult male, 24 mm); females at least 33 mm (Cannatella & Trueb 1988, via Wikipedia). Legacy 3.5 cm is close; 3.3 cm used as the sourced female figure.
Wikipedia: Hymenochirus curtipes (cites Noble 1924, Cannatella & Trueb 1988, IUCN 2013) · Noble 1924, original description of Hymenochirus curtipes, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 49 (transcript at pipidae.org)Legacy 'a' (all levels). Cecere describes Hymenochirus generally (mostly H. boettgeri) as bottom feeders; they rise to the surface to breathe air.
David Cecere / pipidae.org: Hymenochirus Care & Feeding (established hobby reference)New value. Legacy 'Congo basin' is broadly right but the range is the lower Congo region only. Noble (1924) called it an open-country (not forest) species.
Amphibian Species of the World (AMNH, Frost): Hymenochirus curtipesLegacy gland and humming claims are taken from H. boettgeri; plausible for the genus but not confirmed for H. curtipes. 'Pointed cloacal tip' not found in a source.
Wikipedia: Hymenochirus curtipes (cites Noble 1924, Cannatella & Trueb 1988, IUCN 2013) · David Cecere / pipidae.org: Hymenochirus Care & Feeding (established hobby reference)Mating descriptions are for Hymenochirus generally (largely H. boettgeri); the tadpole behaviour is Sokol's for H. curtipes. The legacy 'cool-and-warm cycle' trigger was not found in a source. Wikipedia credits Ken Livingstone as first to breed H. curtipes in captivity, but cites only a TV panel show, so not used. Two wild frogs have been found in amplexus in flooded forest (IUCN, via Wikipedia).
David Cecere / pipidae.org: Hymenochirus Care & Feeding (established hobby reference) · David Cecere / pipidae.org: Discrepancies, Rabb vs. Sokol (review of Rabb & Rabb 1963 and Sokol 1959, 1962)Legacy text is correct. Cecere: H. curtipes has wartier skin and is easiest to tell apart as a tadpole. IUCN assessment 2013 (via Wikipedia).
David Cecere / pipidae.org: Hymenochirus Care & Feeding (established hobby reference) · Wikipedia: Hymenochirus curtipes (cites Noble 1924, Cannatella & Trueb 1988, IUCN 2013)