Asian Floating Frog

Spotted Floating Frog
Rice Paddy Frog

Occidozyga lima

Description

A truly aquatic frog, Asian floating frogs are active, hearty, rough-skinned, small, communal frogs commonly found in rice paddies throughout Southern and Southeast Asia. They rarely get larger than 1 inch long and spend the majority of their time in or very near water. Their eyes are positioned on the top of their head in an almost halibut like fashion, enabling them to observe the sky for food and/or predators. They are generally tan or grey with varied amounts of spotting and are occasionally exhibit a light dorsal stripe. With proper care they can live from three to five years.

Natural Habitat

Widely distributed throughout their range, Asian floating frogs can be found from India to Southern China, east to the Philippines, and south to Flores Island, Indonesia. They are locally common in rice paddies, ponds, fields, ditches and ephemeral pools. They prefer shallow water bodies or the shallow portions of deeper waters and areas with dense aquatic plant growth. They are tolerant of a wide range of water temperatures (from below 60 degrees to as high as 95 degrees Fahrenheit), but prefer areas that remain in the 75-85 degree Fahrenheit range.

Artificial Habitat

Thanks to their diminutive size, Asian floating frogs do not require a lot of space and can be kept in enclosures as small as a 2-gallon aquarium or an equivalently sized fish bowl. They require clean (preferably gently filtered), warm (in most cases, room temperature is adequate) water that is heavily foliated. These set ups can be as simple as a gravel based fish bowl with Anacharis, or an elaborately designed vivarium incorporating multiple types of aquatic, emergent and terrestrial plants, driftwood, and rocks. If you plan on feeding your floating frogs crickets, keep in mind a feeding area so the crickets won’t drown.

Diet

Despite their size, Asian floating frogs are enthusiastic and ravenous eaters. In their native habitat they eat large quantities of aquatic invertebrates and small terrestrial insects. This diet can easily be replicated in the captive environment with live or frozen bloodworms and tubifex worms, small (also known as pinhead—1 to 2 week old) crickets, fruit flies, lawn plankton and other small insects. They have also been known to eat small fish such as baby guppies or mosquito fish.

Caveats

Asian floating frogs are communal by nature and prefer to be in groups of five or more (depending on the size of the enclosure; five could easily be kept in a 2-gallon aquarium or fish bowl). Water vegetation and/or driftwood is/are very important as it provides the frogs with both security and resting areas. Given these provisions coupled with clean, warm water, and a regular food supply, they are very trouble free animals.

Additional Notes

Asian floating frogs by their very nature (small, communal, hearty) lend themselves to multi-species vivariums that can be both entertaining and educational. A 10 to 20 gallon aquarium filled halfway and planted with floating and emergent plants (water lilies are an attractive addition) could easily house a dozen Asian floating frogs and a plethora of other small species such as African dwarf clawed frogs, small fish such as neons, guppies, white clouds, gobies, freshwater shrimp and several species of aquatic snails. A larger vivarium incorporating a terrestrial portion could also include small species of lizards such as anoles, small geckos, long-tailed grass lizards and also small tree frogs.