Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 20gallon long tank. And i'm interested in dart frogs. How many could I put in there? And do you guys have any good links for caresheets? Thanks.

The recommended number of darts is about 1 per 5 gallons, but that also depends upon the species and how they get along together. Some are very territorial and must be kept in pairs or the females (generally it's the ladies) will fight. Others get along well in groups. Patrick Nabors at Saurian has some good care sheets as do nearly any other reliable breeders--Black Jungle, Quality Captives, and others too numerous to list, as well as many hobbyists with websites on the subject. Look under "Breeders, Dealers and Stores" above the forum thread.

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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

Not to be nasty..... but with the problems you are having with your Pixie Frog and Bullfrog... I do not think that darts would be a good choice for you.

Mac

That's not fair, Mac. I looked back on the posts about a pixie frog and it was simply a question about substrate. The bull frog problem was someone else's question that Grungg made a suggestion about humidity to. This forum is supposedly here to direct people to information, not to inhibit or intimidate them.

Dart frogs are easy to keep within the boundaries of humidity, temperature and keeping the right numbers of the individual species together. Just considering keeping darts doesn't mean anyone has to have any esoteric experience with other frogs. Many of them are actually easier to keep than pixies and bull frogs.

My very first experience in keeping any frog was building a paludarium, 135 gallon, planting the land portions, designing two water falls, a lagoon, stocking it with some small fish like tetras and putting in 4 D. galactonotus. Six years later, all of the origina frogs are still alive and prospering, and most of the original fish are still there-- something I've never experienced in any tropical fish tank before. The only problem has been that this first enthusiasm has turned into 12 more vivariums and the keeping of 10 other species of dart frogs. It's like an addiction to heroin.

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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

slaytonp, I appreciate you sticking up for me against that dimwit.
Now, dart frogs. I never just buy an animal to have it. I always do my reading first, and ask a lot of questions. I don't know much about these guys yet. I do know they require high humidity and decent temps. And that I would have to use live plants. Are species able to be mixed? I don't know the species yet, but I think a variey of colors would look great.
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1.0.0 Pixie Frog
0.0.1 Firebelly Toad
0.0.1 Firebelly Newt
2.0.3 Florida Bark Scorpions
0.0.1 Emperor Scorpion
1.0.0 Flatrock Scorpion
1.1.0 African Giant Millipedes
2.0.0 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
0.0.1 Chilean Rosehair Tarantula
1.0.0 Hamster!
1.0.0 Ugly Cat
1 Small freshwater aquarium
Grunngg@yahoo.com

I'm actually quite bright. I do apologize however.... that sounded a lot more helpful and a lot less nasty in my head than it did online.

I know what you mean, Mac. I've learned not to try to make a joke or satirize because what comes out is always either misconstrued or sounds much harsher than I intend. Unfortunately, writing something lacks voice tone and facial expressions and isn't always what's in our head.
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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

Live plants in a dart vivarium are a given. You will need a drainage area and a way to sump it out, which can be as simple as airline tubing down one corner and into a siphon bucket, that can be started by sucking on it with a 60cc syringe which tip fits neatly into the tubing, or more fancy automated ways. Particularly do a search on false bottoms. A lot of darters have web sites that illustrate how they have built theirs, but there are many ways that work. I have recently been using CocoTek grow slabs covered with weed inhibitor cloth to filter out any fine soil. You can cut out pools, create streams, cut out a place for a water fall pump, create a drip wall over something like fern bark panels without a lot of highly technical skills. I'm including a photo of a corner bow I did this way. The left side is a drip wall capped with cork bark. I have some P. vittatus in here and they really seem to enjoy the wet areas. The right background is relatively dry, and is cork bark siliconed over cocoanut fiber matting. You don't have to even have a background, but can build up from the center with branches to hold bromeliads and such. I've seen a couple of outstanding tanks done this way.

I wouldn't consider mixing darts until you get some experience with your first ones and learn more about their individual habits and characters. Some are very territorial, can be competitive and intimidating or inhibited by others. Different morphs of the same species may interbreed--not desirable, unless you pull and destroy the eggs, which takes a lot of fun out of it. I've simply never tried it--just start a new vivarium whenever a different dart attracts my attention.

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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

Patty,

You got a better/bigger picture of that tank? Looks like you used glass to seperate the water from the land?
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

Josh, I do have a couple more pictures in my gallery under slaytonp, "paludarium" but none are really good ones, I'm afraid. That was taken when it was first set up, so it's somewhat different now due to various other plants taking over, and the waterway is virtually clogged with plants I have to keep removing, but it's still very healthy, and I've never done a full water change.

The pools and front run are separated by vertical glass from the land area, and there is tall vertical glass behind the right water fall and on either side of the central water fall to keep the water from leaching into the terrestrial substrate. I just had it cut and silconed it into place. The land area also has a drainage area for sumping out excess. Some interesting things have occurred, such as the center "river run" portion is higher than the lower reaches of the land behind it. Looking straight through the water and glass, one can see the frogs as if they are also under water, although the internal portion of this glass is a little hard to reach from the back to keep clean. The water pump is at the left end. The slanted glass collects some of the debris and helps a bit in keeping the pump from clogging too often. I refresh the water from the deeper right pool for partial water changes, and this washes the excess debris down to the slanted glass where I can "vacuum" it up fairly easily.

The terrestrial portion is definitely due for a take-down and replanting after 6 years since one fern in particular has really taken over and is difficult to control, but this will have to be done in summer when I can haul the old substrate outdoors. It has a drainage area under each section and I just sump out excess water from misting with airline tubing.

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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