# Which Ranitomeya can raise their own kids?



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

In the past, I have seen some of my Ranitomeya raise their tadpoles to produce little froglets on their own. This almost always a surprise due to me missing a clutch of eggs that had been laid somewhere. I love that feeling of "Hey, there's a tiny frog in there!"  It made me wonder which Ranitomeya are capable of this feat. The following thread breaks it down pretty well, but I believe the taxonomy has changed since this thread was written.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/ranitomeya/70102-ranitomeya-non-obligate-egg-feeders.html

I saw a reference to Borja Ridge being called vents (aren't they variabilis now?), for instance.

Anyway, can anybody tell me which frogs could be expected to exhibit this facultative egg feeding behavior. I guess fants are out, but which other Ranitomeya are still considered to be part of that fant group and therefore unable to perform this behavior?

I have now witnessed tiny-frog-magical-appearance-syndrome (TFMAS, the BEST syndrome) in Vanzolini and Panguana Sirensis. What species/locales have you seen it occur in?

Finally, is it possible for a tad to survive in a brom pocket or other standing water strictly based on dead flies/algae/etc. that it forages in the body of water it lives in?

Let's hear about your experiences and/or thoughts on "Hey, there's a tiny frog in there!"

Mark


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## drjtnation (Dec 25, 2013)

I did find a baby auratus "Panamanian" in the weeds. I isolated it to better watch it's feeding once I found it. There was a lot of cover over some of the monkey pods I had in there.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## froggorf (Nov 22, 2008)

See the post by JohnC in the previous thread you linked. Basically, the vanzolinii/imitator group which can be seen in the phylogeny of this thread are all capable of facultative egg feeding:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/87651-phylogenetic-tree-picture.html

It's always possible to have froglets emerge from non facultative egg feeders by having the tads survive on detritus/dead flies in the water (I've had this happen with variabilis) but these species are not actively feeding their young.


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

imitator, vanzolinii, flavovittata, and sirensis are all facultative egg feeders. Any populations of those species will take care of their young. 

It's still possible for froglets of other species to be raised in the tanks given the right water sources. I've had variabilis, amazonica, and summersi all tank raise froglets.


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## cmk (Aug 29, 2014)

My chazuta do it all the time.


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