Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am about to buy 4 c.b. Pumilio froglets from a friend who I have done business with before. I have a nice 29 gallon for them set up(they are past the shoe box stage),but since this aquarium has about 7 different bromeliad species in it I want to use it for breeding whe nthey are older. The problem is i used ecoearth mixed with organic fertilizer for the substrate. Wil this start to smell in about a year. I also have 2 breeding pairs which are only 11 monthes old and just starting to breed. I have them in two 20 gallon aquariums with false bottoms. Will the low hum of the pump(sound can be heard threw the entire aquarium) disrupt their breeding? Thanks,
Kenny

Background noise doesn't seem to affect dart frog activity. Their hearing is selectively "tuned" into their particular species call frequencies, so to speak. So much white noise such as we hear is filtered out and won't disrupt them.

If you have a gravel drainage area that can be sumped out occasionally, or a false bottom with circulating water, and live plants, your substrate won't smell sour. You might want to "top dress" it with more organic substrate once in awhile. One of my frog tanks hasn't been re-done in 5 years, and although it needs it due to plant overgrowth now, it still doesn't smell bad.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Thank you very much for the info. I have a false bottom that's been going for 2 years,but 5 WOW!!! You seem to know your stuff and I appreciate you taking some of your time to help me. Happy Frogging!!!

I don't even pretend to know my stuff. I really just wing everything because I'm an old lady and have been around a long time. I used to go out and about a lot, got exited about research and activity. Now, I mostly sit on my ass and can't remember what I'm still alive for. But I'm usually right, just can't always remember why, except my way has worked for me.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

How do pumilio do in groups? Do females fight as much as D. Azureus or are they more laid back like P. terribilis?

Kenny

4 D. azureus
7 R. ciliatus
5 Red eye tree frogs
2 Leopard Geckos

Pumilios do best in male/female pairs in perhaps a 30 gallon set-up. If you keep them in groups, you need to have a bigger tank with a lot of plant coverge, and space for territories, so they don't see each other from one bromeliad to another, as I understand it from care sheets. I lucked out with being able to pair off four froglets I got from Patrick Nabors, by sheer luck and accident. Otherwise, it takes a bit of effort to find out which are males and which are females by calling patterns. I just put two of them in one tank and two in another after the nursery/ quarantine period, and accidentally got two mating pairs, a male and female in each tank.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Nothing is as laid back as the P. terribiliis. I guess if you know you are the most poisonous critter on earth, can kill 20,000 rats and 8 adult humans if they dare to touch you, with your skin toxins, and don't realize that in captivity, you don't have this defense any more, you can afford to be laid back. I think the total confidence of the P. terribilis is their charm. Of all the darts, they don't let anything intimidate them--no-how, no way.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Well I'm working on one of their habitats right now. I decided to use pump and make a little screen/square box to keep the gravel off of the pump and use it like a false bottom aquarium,but it saves a lot of room because it isn't raised up all through the aquarium. I bought some live moss from a local nursery that is called scotch moss I like it so much because it is a lime green color. I wonder if it will do alright in a tropical environment. I don't think thats what the intention of the moss is to be used for,but hopefully it will work. Otherwise I am going down to Florida in about a month and I will get some moss down there either from a store or from nature(my brother has a lot in his yard).I bought some coco fiber for an aquarium, I wonder how well those work for spreading bromeliads. Thanks,
Kenny

4 D. azureus
7 R. ciliatus
5 Red eye tree frogs
2 Leopard Geckos

I'm not sure this is what you have, since it's hard to be sure with common names, but Scotch moss is another name for Selaginella brownii, which is a very nice club moss that grows more like a small fern than a pillow moss, so you may want a ground cover type moss as well. The best bromes in my view are the Neoregelias--smaller species. Some may have little barbs along the edges and it might be best to avoid these as they could prick the frogs. I have a few of the barbed ones in a leuc tank and haven't noticed any injuries, but you might want to be safe than sorry.

Another way to hold your pump away from clogging materials is to put it in a food-keeper dish sunk in the false bottom, as a kind of pool. You can puncture holes in this with a hot ice pick for water circulation, and hide the pump and edges of the dish by covering it with largish, smooth stones.

You can also build a false bottom using CocoTek Grow Slabs used for hydroponics. This can be easily pulled apart into thinner slabs for the sides and left thicker for the top that holds the substrate. Then you can put gravel between the glass and grow slabs to hide the false bottom "box." I've just used this for the first time on a new tank, and it's really simple to build and neat. It filters out all of the crud, so nothing gets to your pump to clog it. You can cut out and line pools wherever you want them.
Link

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

I forgot to mention that the hydroponic slabs do need some support like any false bottom top material-- pillars of PVC pipe cut to depth or I Silicone on up-ended Deli-cups of the desired size and depth work well. The hydroponic slabs are made of rubberized cocoanut fiber. The thinner slices for the sides can be just siliconed in place, and you can cut the pieces in any shape you want and silicone them together. If it's too late to consider this at this time, it is definitely an easy, workable idea for future plans.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

The scientific name of the moss is Sagina subulata 'Aurea' and it says small white star-shaped flowers engulf the moss in the spring. Would this be a good type of moss to use afterall?

Also slaytonp you have a lot of frogs! I assume you are breeding them? How well are the imitators working for you? They have always fasinated me and I want to buy some in the near future. Thanks,
Kenny

Also slaytonp you have a lot of frogs! I assume you are breeding them? How well are the imitators working for you? They have always fasinated me and I want to buy some in the near future. Thanks,
Kenny

Sorry about multiple posts, but I'm an old lady and don't have very good short-term memory anymore, so forget second questions if I'm concentrating on the first one. The imitators are great. They are one of the self-sustaining breeders that really put on a show, and are bold in small groups. Isolated pairs aren't as much fun to watch, in my experience, as the interaction of perhaps 4 in a 33 gallon tank with bromes, provided you have at least one male to the female population. A second male is superfluous, as he just stands aside, but the gals are really competitive. The nice thing, is the ladies fight and wrestle, head-butt, bulldog, and seem viscious, but don't ever seem to hurt each other. If you're not into serious breeding, you can just watch the show, let them do their thing, and some tads will be transfered to bromes, morph out and survive. I've had the loser female of a group still try to feed the tads eggs, even though they weren't her own. I've seen a lot of dramas go on-- better than a soap opera.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Sagina subulata is not a moss at all, it is an evergreen herb that belongs to the "pink" family, which includes Dianthus, Carnations and Sweet William, but has moss-like foliage. It is more of a rock garden, outdoors perennial plant, for temperate zones and will not survive in a tropical terrarium environment. It merely resembles moss with it's compact growth. Plant it outdoors and enjoy it there, but get true tropical moss or Java moss for your tank. I can pretty much promise you, it won't survive in a tropical tank over a month or two.

I do have a lot of dart frogs, but I don't deliberately breed them, although they sometimes do it on their own. I just enjoy them for themselves and watch the show.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Do you ever think about selling any of the ones you breed? I would possibly be interested in some if you do. Thanks,
Kenny
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4 D. azureus
7 R. ciliatus
5 Red eye tree frogs
2 Leopard Geckos