Male Dart Frog Transporting

[berksmike]

I have a lovely group of 6 Epipedobates anthonyi who are prolific breeders.
Whilst I have pulled most clutches to rear them separately I have left one clutch in situ. The result is this morning I found a male transporting about 20 tadpoles. Great to see them exhibiting natural egg caring behaviour!

 

[Kaysie]

That's awesome! I've never been much into dart frogs, but that one's pretty cool looking. And to get natural behavior in captivity is always a good sign.

 

[Azhael]

Lovely sight!
And that´s a nice bunch of tadpoles too, well done.

 

[berksmike]

Thanks for your comments guys.

Just thought Id update you with some pictures of some of the froglets:

And here some of the adults again (the first one is one of my favourite photos and still makes me chuckle!):

They really are a great species, full of character and very hardy so great if you want to get into dart frogs

 

[axolotlfriend]

very cool pic

i really want to get into dart frogs but it seems a little more complicated than keeping sals and a little more cash consuming

 

[Kaysie]

Thanks for sharing the photos with us, Mike.

I assume the 'frogpile' is a case of complicated/confused amplexus? Seems pretty common in a lot of species: if it moves, grab it and try and mate. Who cares if it's not female, or even of the same species (or family, at times!)

 

[Logan]

Great photos,
I love this species. I had thought about getting some in the past because of their wonderful call. My D.leucomelas and P.vittatus call all day and I thought these guys may be a perfect song to add to the chorus. Maybe one day when I get more room. Congrats for sure on the offspring.
Logan

 

[berksmike]

Cheers - they are a great species to keep and like you say they have a wonderful call.
Ive only ever seen that sort of overenthusiastic amplexus a couple of times - otherwise they seem to be able to restrain themselves lol

 

[berksmike]

Just thought I'd post my tad setups.
I'm raising my E.anthonyi tads communally in a deep faunarium with pothos, hornwort and oak leaves:

I recently got some Dendrobates tinctorious "Alanis" tads off a friend and have them in here:

This was the inner part of a RUB obviously intended for storing nick-naks. You get two of these in the rub and they are perfect for raising tads individually i think.

Up until recently I had been using indian almond leaves and/or oak for making my tadpole tea but noticed black alder cones on Pollywog and have started using these:

You do seem to get much more tadpole tea out of these than the almond leaves and they are relatively inexpensive.

Feeding wise I have been using fish flakes, tadpole bites and freeze dried bloodworm/tubifex but have recently found a sinking granule with a high spirulina content with added carotenoid for colour enhancement which I have started using and the tadpoles love it. If anyone is interested I can pass on a link for it.
Cheers

 

[martasauce]

If and when we move back to blighty I want to get in to some frog action.

Are they easy to care for? Do they require heating / cooling? Are they expensive to feed?

 

[berksmike]

Most darts need heating at least during the winter. Most need a daytime temperature in excess of 22C but depends on the individual species. The combination of a lighting unit and a warm room is normally enough to maintain the temps in the warm months and for cooler months I have a heatmat on the viv back attached to a thermostat.

They do require small prey so micro crickets can be bought but its much better to breed your own flies, weevils, springtails, aphids etc to feed them as then you dont have to rely on suppliers. This aspect is the part of keeping darts that probably requires the most practice and its good to start trying whilst you are preparing your vivarium or thinking about species to go for.

Hope this helps

 

[Whatamithinking]

where can i buy the trays you are using for your tadpoles?

Just thought I'd post my tad setups.
I'm raising my E.anthonyi tads communally in a deep faunarium with pothos, hornwort and oak leaves:

I recently got some Dendrobates tinctorious "Alanis" tads off a friend and have them in here:

This was the inner part of a RUB obviously intended for storing nick-naks. You get two of these in the rub and they are perfect for raising tads individually i think.

Up until recently I had been using indian almond leaves and/or oak for making my tadpole tea but noticed black alder cones on Pollywog and have started using these:

You do seem to get much more tadpole tea out of these than the almond leaves and they are relatively inexpensive.

Feeding wise I have been using fish flakes, tadpole bites and freeze dried bloodworm/tubifex but have recently found a sinking granule with a high spirulina content with added carotenoid for colour enhancement which I have started using and the tadpoles love it. If anyone is interested I can pass on a link for it.
Cheers

 

[berksmike]

They came inside a RUB actually but individual deli pots work just as well.

Heres some more transporting pics:

 

[yasmine]

Do you have a fts? I love this species, they have a very loud call.



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