# Imi first clutch - UPDATE + PICS 2/3/07



## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

I have a 2.1 trio of imis in a 20H vert. They laid their first eggs last night/thismorning. When I saw them at first the male was in the cannister guarding them - but has since left and began wandering around the tank, calling again.

Do I need to think about pulling them after 48 hours? Or is it normal for imis to kind of leave the eggs alone? I realize that the first few clutches might be bad, but I just don't want them to get stomped by the other male.


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## Thinair (Aug 27, 2005)

Hi... You can leave them in the viv if you want... IME, it's any extra females in the tank you would have to worry about. I had one of my girls carrying the egg mass around in her mouth for a day or so until she slurped them up! Funny to see this little frog with an egg hanging out of her mouth...

--Carlos


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

The female is still quite plump, and I have seen the male and female courting today - is that normal? Is there a chance that they will lay another clutch?


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## Thinair (Aug 27, 2005)

So far mine seem to lay and lay until they have tads in the water... After that, they expend (the female, anyway) most of their energy on feeder eggs.

I had about twenty eggs or so from a trio in less than two weeks! I wasn't pulling eggs at the time so these were all in various film canisters...

Right now my group have five tads in the water with one almost ready to come out - and today I spotted the male with yet another tad on his back...

So there is a very good chance that you might get another clutch. Hope this helps...

--Carlos


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Congrats! That didn't take long!
To me, for my imitator, they had learned to hide their clutches pretty good, so I took to collecting tads instead. I came to realize real quick that that is way easier to do than to pull the eggs and keep them moist etc...the parents can take care of that!
If you want to go that route, all you have to do is provide a film can 1/3-1/2 full, preferably at an angle for easy entry/exit, and sit back and watch the show.
This method has the added benifit of once in a while catching the male transporting a tad, and the tads usually getting a first meal or two of feeder eggs.
You will know when something is up (a tad being dropped or fed) because the male will call non-stop.
I agree with the other post, if you have another female in there, that is something to worry about.
I love imitator...can you tell?
Congrats again, and have fun!


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## dartfrogs (May 26, 2004)

Hi Aaron,

We also leave the eggs of almost all of our thumbs in the tank and then provide small cups filled with water for tad deposition. We typically get much better results this way than trying to pull eggs. I have not seen a clutch of eggs from our retics in about a year but we pull tads every week. The imitator group can be even more talented at hiding clutches. I would be sure to provide at least 2-3 deposition sites for them to transport and then pull tads whenever you see them.

Richard


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

Thanks to all who responded - you've been very helpful.

I'll follow up with pics if I can (don't really have a great camera at the moment though.)


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

Update -

So I took a film canister out yesterday and pulled out the insert. There were a couple of clutches. One was stuck in the canister so I couldn't see it very well. The other was on the insert, it appeared to show some development in one of the eggs, but the eggs had green algae on them but no mold. I tried to rinse some of the algae off.

So is this egg still developing or is it dead?


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## RGB (Jan 15, 2006)

Any chance you can get a pic of it? If not, take a look at the egg care sheet for some pics of what developing eggs look like. Don't give up on them until you're absolutely sure they're bad.


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, I put them back in the viv where I found them. I know there was development (kind of an elongation on the top of the egg) I have seen it for myself with a few azureus clutches a while ago, so I know what to look for. It doesn't appear that the male is taking care of the clutches in this film canister, although he was at first.

Sorry, I can't get pictures because I don't have a camera. But it just looked like an egg, but with a thin coat of green algae on it - similar to what grows on the inside of the glass sometimes.

So, should I maybe pull that clutch and try to take care of it myself? Any ideas about how to get the algae off the egg, or does it even matter?


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## DaFrogMan (Oct 8, 2004)

I ended up pulling the clutch from the above post. One of the two eggs was definately developing, but I think I killed it when I tried to wash some of the algae off  the water came out too fast and turned the egg upside down. Luckily I got another clutch from the same vivarium. I borrowed a camera, here is a pic.








I think the top four are developing, the bottom one is probably bad.

I also got a clutch from my 1.1 in a 10 vert a while ago. Here's a picture of one of the tadpoles almost ready to hatch.








Enjoy


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