Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im getting some dart frogs, sooner or later, and was wondering if they would get along with RETFs?

Red eyes get a lot bigger so I imagine that might be a problem.

If you already have RETFs, keep whatever new Darts of your choice you get separately, for about at least a full year first, and get some experience with them first before you consider putting them together with RETFs. Although they do require very similar temperatures and humdity, and the RETF's are nocturnal, while the darts are diurnal, so shouldn't be active at the same time, but sometimes are, due to time overlap, there is still the issue of territorality, (which varies with different species of darts,)types of foods, and of course differences in size of both the food items and the sizes of the dart frogs you chose to consider. If you should feed an RETF with crickets suitable for their size for instance, uneaten crickets might cause some damage to your darts that can only devour crickets in the smaller, nearer to pinhead stages. So you'd need to chose the food types for the RETF carefully. You'd also want to chose among the larger darts, as some of the thumbnails are about the size of a medium sized cricket.

Then there is the matter of what you want to do about planting the viviarium. The larger RETFs may damage more delicate and interesting plants that your darts would not, so you have more leeway with planting for a dart frog vivarium alone--for variety and interest.

We just discussed this question in the past few days, but the questions of mixing do come up again and again. I think it is the most frequently asked question of all. One poster on another forum answered it with, "If you have to ask, don't consider it." This kind of answer is not very helpful to the questioner, however true it really is. One thing I think most experienced hobbyists agree upon, is if and when you do mix, the tank size should be relatively a lot larger than what you can keep a single species of the same number in, and well above the somewhat arbitrarily recommended "5 gallons per frog" that is often suggested for keeping darts of any size, in spite of vastly varying propensities for territorality, physical activity, boldness or shyness. At best, this per 5 gallon recommendation is just a general "guestimate." Different Dendrobatidae genera and species do differ profoundly in this respect, as do even individual groups of the same species kept in slightly different environments. It doesn't have a lot to do with their overall size alone. Some tiny, active darts need more space than some of the larger, more lethargic ones.

I hope this helps you make a wise decision.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
6 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
6 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

no, bad idea.