# What species of darts do you allow to care for their eggs?



## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Hi,

I was wondering how many people are allowing their frogs to care for their eggs? Also wondering which species these are? Will the tinc's still do this? Which morph's? I know the tinc's have been bred for production for over 15 or more. My bigger question to this group is this, since I raise killifish. We have a conservation core group of killifish. One of the goals is of maybe reintroducing extinct killifish back into the wild again, as well as making sure they are not lost to the hobby. I would think this might be a goal of people breeding dart frogs too. Question is if these frogs are produced using only fast production methods and they do no parental care, how could they be reintroduced to the wild in the future, if the frogs no longer know how to care for their young? (This is a very complex question as it makes lots of assumptions such as, would reintroduction of an extinct species back to it's original habitat still be allowed?) I'm just curious what peoples response are.

Thank you for your time.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

All of them, auratus, leucs, azureus, bicolor, terribilis and pumilio. W/ auratus, leucs, azureus bicolor and terribilis parental care stops w/ transporting tads though. You can still breed for production and let them care for their eggs and transport tads. I let them raise a couple tads on their own in cups anyway. They don`t seem to forget how to do it in a couple generations as some of these pairs were raised by taking the eggs out and they still know how to transport tads and care for eggs. As were their parents.


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## bellerophon (Sep 18, 2006)

Hey Marc

looks like your answer is pretty much covered but I just wanted to bring your attention to TWI, specifically our Amphibian Steward Network. Seems like we have common goals :lol:


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## evolvstll (Feb 17, 2007)

I have had luecs, tincs, and azureus raise tads in tank. I do supplement 1-2 times a week with fish flakes etc.......
I do notice though the froglets which morph in the tank are quite a bit smaller than those froglets which are raised by me out of the tank.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Lee, Thank you for the information about TWI. I just joined up. How long before I can access the magazine and members section? Looks like just the organization I was looking for. I'm a member of the AKA (American Killifish Association) Looks like some of our goals are mutual. I'm looking forward to working with TWI also. Thank you all for responding. I am curious what tinc morphs are being allowed to transport their offspring? I hear oyopok's/pallid's are the worst for egg care. I have acquired bakhuis tincs from Mack, what a beautiful morph! I have 11 different species/morphs of dart frogs including mantella's.

Please all, keep listing which darts are transporting and or caring for their young. Are specific morphs of tincs more prone to parental care than others? evolvstll are you saying that luecs, tincs or azureus are doing anything other than transporting their young? frogfarm I applaud you for allowing your frogs to do this. Do the frogs do more than just transport their tads? Do you note any protection for example? I know they are not egg feeders per say, but have read that luecs have been observed egg feeding. I'm interested in any parental behavior observed. Mantella are not suppose to protect or care for their young either, but some species such as Mantella aurantiaca have been observed protecting their eggs and another,Mantella laevigata transports tadpoles to bodies of water and feed infertile eggs to the tadpoles, just like some darts do.

So any other parental care observations would be appreciated.

Thanks to all


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## Vivarium Concepts (Mar 6, 2008)

*Marc,
out of the ones we have had transport, the yellowback tincs are probably the most attentive that we have noticed. Both of the parents can be seen watching the water area periodically when tads are present. When the male is transporting tads, the female is very observant as to where the male is going with the 'cargo', and very protective once the tads are in the water area.

Some of the others we have had morph in the tank are, auratus (Costa Rican, Nicaraguan), galactonotus, imitator, intermedius, tricolor, infer alanis.

Some have stated that it seems, tank morphed froglets tend to be smaller than ones reared by hand. I can't say they I have noticed that with ours, and I don't know if the volume of water has anything to do with it, or not.

Our breeder tanks are 20 and 29 gal tanks (with the exception of the tricolors tank, it is a custom size). All of them have a water area in the front of the tank that is usually a couple of inches deep, 3-5 inches wide and runs the width of the tank ( we design our tanks long ways so we can fit more side by side on a rack). 
The triolor tank has the largest water area (approx 16"x 5" x 1.5-2" deep) of any of our tanks, and they currently have at least 6 tadpoles in the water.
I would be interested to hear what volume of water people provide for the frogs in the tank for tadpole rearing, verses what they raise tadpoles in when done by hand*


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## evolvstll (Feb 17, 2007)

All of mine will transport tads if given the chance. With my leucs, they tend to drop em and leave em. I have one pair in particular that has gotten really good at hiding their eggs (in exo 18x18x24). I do not notice any parental care after they deposit em. As VC mentioned my Yellowbacks seem to watch over the water feature. Not seen egg feeding though. I have had my Powders, Infers, and Azureus all transport and have froglets develop in the tank, have not seen much in terms of parental care. I have yet to have my Green Sips transports any tads. As for galacs, my reds just recently started to breed and my yellows are at least 6-8 months from doing so.........so we will see.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

I`ve seen the opposite w/ large pools in sloped tanks. My galacts and azureus would come out huge in there. Maybe from eating their sibs. Which gets to the green legs lamasi tad I had start growing, stop growing when the parents were removed and no more tads were being carried in for food and after 6 months w/ no weight gain I moved the tad to a cup and fed her and shes resumed growth and morphed shortly thereafter.
Tads kept in cups or small dishes morph about the size of their fed counterparts but grow longer and skinny in w/ their p`s but slower and fatter when they are raised alone or in sib groups, not in w/ the p`s.


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