# Controversial sexing technique



## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

If someone has already posted this, or if this is common knowledge then I apologize. I thought this was clever, and thought I'd share what I thought was a sweet tip. 

I did a show in Portland a few weeks ago and a customer of mine bought some auratus from me. He wasn't sure of the sexes and neither was I. One was chunkier and slightly larger than the other, so I assumed it was a female. We weren't sure if he had a pair so here is what he did. He put both of them in separate tanks and introduced known sexed frogs (Cobalts).

Sure enough his auratus female bred with his male cobalt. Before you send me hate mail, let me assure you he flushed the eggs. Got a pair of leucs, auratus, ??? you really aren't sure are a pair? You may want to try this out.


----------



## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

its a cool idea, i dont see anything wrong with it as long as the eggs are destroyed. but then there is always the possibility that the cobalt would kill the smaller auratus. im sure there are some people that would also say thats just a good way to spread parasites.

i dont think its a terrible idea though.


----------



## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

Personally I don't know why somebody hasn't marketed a DNA test... Heck, I could even design it if I knew the mechanism of sex determination in dendrobates. I suppose I could actually go to the literature, but that would mean not getting my lecture notes for class prepared today... Take a little poop, run a little PCR reaction, get a result in hours.

I don't see anything wrong with the mixing animals technique either. I'd worry about parasites. Actually it might be better if the frogs were of similar sizes, most of my tinc morphs would just squish most auratus.


----------



## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Hmmm, that's an interesting thought Dave, wouldn't have thought of that one.

I have wondered the same thing about DNA testing Rob.


----------



## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

DNA sexing would definately be the ticket. I breed a few leucs and auratus, and often have no idea what sex they are when they are getting of age. It's doable for sure.


----------



## iridebmx (Oct 29, 2008)

i feel that would deffinetly be a "cash cow" for the person who ran the test but then i guess everyone would want them sexed before they buy them which would make the breeder pay out of pocket and ,,,,and end result would be pricey frogs................................but i love the idea and hope some one gets the ball rollin before i buy my first azureus! i want a pair of froglets(and kinda sucks not being able to sex them young)


----------



## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

Pretty cool technique and never would have thought of it.


----------



## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

I have heard of that before but totally forgot about it. 

I will have to try that out on some adult frogs I need to sex - no problem throwing eggs out, but I had totally forgotten about that trick.


----------



## Rich Frye (Nov 25, 2007)

It is a cool idea. As long as you do it after the unknowns go through quarantine. If either the unknown frog or known sex has anything wrong with it , thye just passed that along to the potentially healthy frog...


Rich


----------



## drflynt (Aug 18, 2008)

DNA testing is difficult if you don't know anything about the genome. It would be possible because sex determination in frogs is genetic. Unlike some fish or reptiles that use temperature cues, etc.. However, frogs present a particular challenge because sex determination varies between species so the little that is known about frog genomes wouldn't necessarily translate. Also the usual genetic suspects, found in mammals, that participate in sex determination don't seem to be located on sex chromosomes.


----------



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i also do the same thing, i usually do it with a female tinct though as they are pretty aggressive towards other females, so if am not sure about a sex i just place a female in with the new frog and see what happens, if the female tinct goes after the new frog them.... well you know the rest


----------



## DizzyD (Sep 19, 2006)

Funny you posted that julio, that's how I "made sure" about your Patricia. If I remember correctly I received an almost immediate response.


----------



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

hey chris good to hear from you, i placed her in with a female as soon as i got her home and she attacked right away, it was like UFC frogs


----------



## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

I had a young loma partida that I wasn't sure of the sex and dumped it in with an agressive male. It took me a couple seconds to coax the new one over to the film canister that the older male was sitting in but once he got there the older male began calling immediately and so then did the younger one.

By the way, anyone have any female loma partida pums?

-Nish


----------



## bwebb (Apr 4, 2007)

If darts undergo sex (X) chromosome inactivation as other species do, then you may be able to stain the cells with methylene blue and identify barr bodies in females via microscopy. This totally depends on the mechanism of sex determination though, but may be easier than a PCR based method.


----------

