Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wanted to get some opinions on possible mixing of Phelsuma species. I currently have one male Gold Dust. I will be getting a 26 gallon bowfront tank and I wanted to add a few more Phelsuma. Besides adding a female Gold Dust, could I also add a female Ornate or Peacock. Also, any reason why this tank (with water features) couldn't also maintain one or two dart frogs?

Thanks...

Many people who tried to mix Phelsuma species made very bad experiences. At least, mixing two males of any greenish species is always very risky.
The exception to the rule seems to be P. klemmeri. This species is normally not agressive gainst other Phelsuma and vice versa it obviously is not recognizeds as Phelsuma by others. So klemmeri can live with other small Phelsuma in many cases.
The Dart frog idea is sth many people have. I´d be careful. Phelsuma tend to lick at every new intersting object.
Could end fatal with dart frogs.

Ci@o

Ingo

I would definetly agree. You never know whether the dart frog is wild caught or captive bred and if its the former, then any licking by the gecko would cause death. I personally wouldnt recommend it because of that. The frogs also like a cooler temperature which may be hard to get in a 30g tank. Some mantellas (bastilli or close to that I believe) do well in lower/mid 80's which would be the cooler side of your tank. Still, mixing species is a complicated task that often ends up in problems unless you have a lot of time to keep an eye on everyone. I would stick to phelsuma personally (I plan to make one myself).

"Some mantellas (bastilli or close to that I believe) do well in lower/mid 80's which would be the cooler side of your tank."

No...i have told you once before, mantellas need cool temps. 70's range is preffered. Mid 80's in the cool side? They dont need a 'warmer' side than that. Thats totally false information.

Also im not sure what bastilli is, unless you mean Betsileo.

M.N

I never said they needed a warmer side....Anyway thats the name sorry I can never remember those. This would be a drastic case if you were to use any small frogs. I simply recommended that species since they tend to be hardier than the others. If you are going to mix then do so with those guys, however, I would not recommend making a "middle ground" tank for any reptiles, sorry if thats what it seemed like. A larger tank can happily sustain these since you can have a lower temperature range. I'm just so used to people not following advice that we give at our shop that I have resorted to giving advice that is at least somewhat safe. Since they dont listen to no, maybe I can at least set them up with a half decent tank....I dont know thats just my reasoning since some just dont take no for an answer. In any case, I'll try and refrain from this habit on the forum in the future.

Oh, ok. Thanks for clearing that up .Anyway, I actually sounded pretty harsh in that post before. Sorry bout that.

Anyway, back to the geckos...

M.N

Thanks for the reply. Great idea about the Neon day gecko as well as pointing out that day geckos will lick new things so the PDFs are probably a bad idea. As far as other species go, such as the Ornate, would you say that females are also going to cause problems or just males?

Thanks

I would say with a much larger tank (100 gallons or so) you could mix them if you have appropriate temperature ranges. There are not many WC frogs in the hobby right now, so unless you have some of the Panamanian D. auratus that came in recently, you should not have much of a problem. The problem with P. ornata is they are very skittish and do get to a good size. I would be worried about dart frogs near my adult male. I've kept P. quadriocellata with E. tricolor and D. tinctorius over a decade ago with no problems. This was in a tank that was 4'x4'x4', so pretty big. A friend had P. laticauda angularis in a tank with one lone E. tricolor and after two or three years of cohabitation found his E. tricolor in the mouth of his male gecko. I really would mix only P. klemmeri with any of the dart frogs, and definitely only larger sized ones.
Best,
Justin