Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK so for christmas i'm getting a 40 gallon bredder tank and lights, heat mats, fog makers, and a temp regulator. I stoked for Darts and i don't want them breeding like crazy. Does anyone know how fast they breed? also since it's suck a huge tank i was thinking that maybe i could build a water feature and in that water feature maybe i could put like a newt or something to make the viv look cooler. Will thins work? If not what other animals can i mix in the cage and not risk any lifes?

A 40 might seem huge, but as I found out with my 75, after the addition of plants and a water feature, ground space can be at a premium. Newts are a definite no, requiring temperatures much lower than most darts. I'm sure someone somewhere has done it and it worked for a little while, but I can't suggest it. As for possible tankmates, in a 40, I don't really suggest anything. I've been looking for tankmates for my 75, and am having a difficult enough time with that. I'm sure as you get more and more into dart frogs, you will find that a mixed species vivaria is not well received with most enthusiasts. For now, I'd stick with the darts, at least until you get the hand of caring for them first.

I agree totally, especially with the suggestion that one should have some experience with indiviual dart species before considering mixing with anything else, even different species of darts. They are entertaining and challenging enough in themselves, and 40 gallons really isn't all that big by the time it is planted and waterways installed. I do have a 135 paludarium with a mix of aquarium fish such as small tetras, separated by glass from the terrestrial portion that contains some D. galactonotus, which has been ironically my very first tank and my most successful over all, well before I had any dart experience. I have all of the original darts and almost all of the original fish after 6 years. On the other hand, some interim experiments were near disasters. Introducing some red clawed crabs was definitely not the best idea, and the two crayfish were even worse, but fortunately the frogs avoided injury from these crustacian invasions from water habitat to the land portions where they crashed around like Godzillas destroying the jungle until I removed them.

Sometimes you have to make your own mistakes, and alas, I usually gone this route.
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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
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus