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Setting up Dart Tanks

tbridgehouse

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Hello all,
I am constructing my vivarium and will be buying my first darts shortly after. Its a 20 high, and I am looking to buy some Azureus. Thoughts on whether I buy 3 or stick with a pair? Anyways my main question is I know when I bought my Axi I had to have the tank running for a bit before adding him. Do I need to have the vivarium set up and ready to go for a little bit before adding the frogs or can they go in pretty much when I add the isopods and what not?
Thanks in advance!
-Tyler
 

Mana

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In my experience its always been a good idea to set up the vivarium a few months before adding frogs. It'll give your plants time to establish a nice root system. Which will make them more hardy to the frogs jumping on them. Also it'll give you time to work out any technical bugs with the system. On my 1st viv the water pump broke a week after I set up the tank and I had to relocate my frogs to another temporary enclosure while i fixed it, which can stress them out. I also reccomend adding your isopods and springtails at least a week before adding frogs as it'll give them some time to establish a nice colony in the enclosure before the frogs can snack on them. Just my opinion, I'm by no means an expert. Good luck!
 

bhill368

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I agree. Set it up ahead of time and work out the bugs that may pop up along the way. It may also be worth noting that the species you are looking at getting tend to be a bit more aggressive towards the others. so you may want to keep maybe 1 or a breeding pair in a tall tank like that.
 

salvoz

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You don't need to have it running beforehand assuming there are no fish or other aquatic animals going in there that need a "cycled" water feature, although it is a good idea just so you can troubleshoot any mechanical or other problems (depending on the complexity of your scape) without having to disturb the frogs. I would always go with a 1.1 pair of Azureus if you can find one; sometimes multiple females can be aggressive towards each other and create drama (including eating or harming the other female's eggs) that can interrupt successful breeding. Another option is to get some juvies and when they pair off, sell the spare adults....
 

NinjaNewt

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With Bioactive enclosures it’s always better to have them already setup before you put your animals in. If you set it up and wait a month or so before you put the frogs in that’ll give the isopods and springtails time to reproduce and let the plants develop good root structures and grow out a bit.
 

CaudataCam

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From my experience you should probably stick to keeping a 1.1 pair in the viv of that size. 3 is possible but extra care should be taken into account as females are known to eat other females eggs like salvoz stated above.

Depending on if you have a water feature, you would have to wait longer before adding the frogs to the viv to let the water cycle. I usually wait about a month before adding the frogs in to allow the isopod/springtail population form a nice stable population size.

The plants do need some time for them to grow into the tank. Quickly adding frogs to the viv before the plants are able to get acclimated may cause the plants to die. Another note about plants is that many will have a die off period when first added. Don't worry as they will grow back with a lusher more full appearance given all their growing needs are met.

Also sometimes something might go wrong within the waiting period in which you can use to fix before adding the frogs. You can also fine tune anything that might need to be taken care of such as humidity and temperature control.

Good luck and make sure to post some pics!
 
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