Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, I'm Andrea,new to the forum since I just purchased my first pair of D. azureus. I've had plenty of herps in the past, including painted mantellas. However I had a herp purge a few years back (not enough time while I was in college) But since I recently graduated I desperately wanted my vivarium back! I got the frogs at the recent reptile show in Tampa last weekend and my supplies are arriving today so I can set up the tank this weekend (they are currently in just moss/rocks setup). I'm using a 20 long and plan on doing a streambed with cork curls and a small waterfall. I'm using terra-lite and coco-bedding, a few ferns and java moss. I hope to post some pictures once its done. The pair isn't sexed and if they end up not male/female I realize I will end up having to seperate them, which won't be a problem, however I hope they are a pair.

How do you all feel about the size of the tank? When they reach adult size should I upgrade?

Also, they lid is one of those slide out screen lids (I'm using a UV strip light for plants and a regular flourescent blub) I was thinking about replacing the screen with a peice of glass to increase humidity. My boyfriend seems to think he can handle the task...since I don't believe you can find a glass top to fit those type of tanks. If I do this, will enough UV pass through the glass?? I know glass deflects some but not all UV.

I used a regular aquarium top with my 30 gallon tank for my darts. I made sure there were no holes in it (except one for the cord for the waterfall, and we stuffed paper towel pieces around the cord where it came out to deter escapes). You do have to compare the hoods at the store to make sure there are no holes, though. Another concern with the holes is the escape of fruit flies. No, they really can't be called pepper when you find them in your food. A benefit with this type of top is that you have the light already built in. Make sure you get the one with a fluorescent fixture. The UV light is really for the plants, not the frogs. I always had tons of new growth from my plants, even though the light was shielded with a piece of plastic from the actual tank.

Good luck with your new frogs.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

Welcome to the board, Andrea.

The tank size is fine for 2 azureus, and if you happen to have 2 males instead of a pair, these should get along fairly well together. It's usually the females that can become a problem. I'd just watch them.

You will definitely need either a glass top or you can cover the screen with plastic wrap. Petco usually has hinged glass lids for almost any aquarium size, so I would check with them, but your boyfriend could certainly build one easily enough. The commercial lids are nice because there is a plastic back-flap which is easily cut out to fit wiring for water pumps, etc. You will need to keep the humidity above 80%.

I would dispense with the UV entirely. It will not penetrate glass at all, and plants don't utilize that end of the spectrum. There are some acrylics that are penetrated by UV, but I have no experience with this. (I had read somewhere that glass filters out 98% of UV, but Ed K, our occasional visiting guru about these things, told me it filters out all of it.) You could replace the tube with something like a "sunlight" plant tube in about the 6500 KV range, and also keep your fluorescent bulb.

The darts won't require UV, and they don't bask, anyway, provided you supplement by dusting their fruit flies with a calcium/D3 formula, along with vitamins, of course. The D3 will alleviate the need for UV in order to convert the calcium. A recommended formula is Herptivite and Rep-Cal (without phosphorus) mixed or alternating, or Dendrocare is a nice formula designed especially for darts.

What are you feeding your guys now? If you've had Mantellas before, I'm sure you are practiced with fruit fly culturing. I'd also get some springtails, which are super-easy to culture and don't need many changes at all. Azureus are particularly fond of springtails and if you can get them going in your tank before you put the frogs in, they help a bit with the fungi blooms that always happen in new tanks.

When you are able to post some pictures, be sure to include some of your frogs, including close-ups of their front toe pads. If they're nearly adults, someone here might be able to make a pretty good guess as to their sex. The male's toe pads are somewhat larger and more fluted than the female's.

It sounds like you are going to have a pretty nice tank for them. If you have a pair, it's always good to have some sort of plant with fairly sturdy large leaves for egg laying.

Have fun with this and do keep us posted on the progress.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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

Oh my, both the host/moderator and I posted just the opposite information at the same time.

So here's a source for all you would ever want to know about lighting: I will post a link to Liveaquariua.com. From there go to Resources and then click on the article library. The first article that comes up in the list is "Aquarium lighting, spectrum and intensity, part 1, and part 2," which includes more than you want to know about the various lighting spectrums and what they do, even explains the Kelvin scale. The information is not just about aquariums, but is the whole shebang, explained very well, and is the only source I have ever been able to find that says it all in one place in an understandable manner.
Link

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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

Oops, I left out a step. 1. When the page opens click on lighting first-on the left. Then go from there to the resources and article library.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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

I thought that plants needed UV light, but do bow to Patty's extensive experience. I KNOW that she is much better informed than I am on most (if not all) frog/plant/water info. But I did feel better when I had the lights on for the plants. I do know that it did not hurt them at all, plus it makes a great lighting to see the froggies.

>>Oh my, both the host/moderator and I posted just the opposite information at the same time.
>>
>>So here's a source for all you would ever want to know about lighting: I will post a link to Liveaquariua.com. From there go to Resources and then click on the article library. The first article that comes up in the list is "Aquarium lighting, spectrum and intensity, part 1, and part 2," which includes more than you want to know about the various lighting spectrums and what they do, even explains the Kelvin scale. The information is not just about aquariums, but is the whole shebang, explained very well, and is the only source I have ever been able to find that says it all in one place in an understandable manner.
>>Link
>>
>>-----
>>Patty
>>Pahsimeroi, Idaho
>>
>>D. auratus blue
>>D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
>>D. imitator
>>D. leucomelas
>>D. pumilio Bastimentos
>>D. fantasticus
>>P. terribilis mint and organe
>>D. reticulatus
>>D. castaneoticus
>>D. azureus
>>P vittatus
>>P. lugubris
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

Thanks for the lighting advice, the strip light I have is a "sunlight" bulb for aquariums. I skilled in fruit fly culutres and have one going but I am not familar with springtails but now I plan on ordering them, can someone explain how to culture those?

There are several good ways of culturing springtails. Here is what I do: Use a shallow plastic box with a lid. About 1/2 and 1/2 coco fiber and organic compost. 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick on the bottom. I also add a layer of charcoal bricks, the hunk kind, usually hickory chips, not the formed briquettes. Be sure these are NOT the "easy lighting" kind that have been saturated with starter fluid. Then I sprinkle the entire surface with baker's yeast and a half-handful of brown rice. Some springtail sources will come with a complete kit for growing them. The substrate is kept quite wet. The lid is not ventilated. Add the culture and wait a couple of weeks until it is well started. Then you can just pick up a piece of charcoal brick, which they will tend to swarm over, and blow them into the tank. Add yeast and rice every couple of weeks or so. I renew the culture substrate about once a year, but retain the charcoal pieces. They don't appear to need ventilation except for the occasional opening of the lid for feeding, etc.

You can also seed the tank with them ahead of time, although once populated with frogs, I find that they get eaten up rather quickly. Layers of leaf litter in the tank helps them survive.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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

Patty, do you feed them in the tank, or do they eat the decaying matter?

Once in the tank, they aren't fed with anything extra. They live off of decaying matter, fungi and molds that are always present to some degree.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

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