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Auratus breeding behaviour questions
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Auratus breeding behaviour questions
#1
Can anyone either give me a very detailed account of the above or point me in the direction of one please.
Also what is the shortest possible time that one female can lay 2 clutches of eggs in.
And finally if a male auratus is facing away from you are there any visable signs of it calling?
Guys as some of you know we have 3 super blue auratus,i am desparately trying to fathom out whether its 2.1 or 1.2,the problem is observation of these is extremely difficult as one individual is unbelievably shy,so much so that we only see it at egg time,and very occassionally as we enter the room.I really don't want to disrupt the breeding activities which means the normal patience and observation is out for now anyway,but i would love to be able to better inturpret the glimpses we do get.
If it helps with this riddle at all we have just had 2 clutches in 5 days one being the distrupted one i asked about last week,which unbelievably is fertile ,while what we could salvage anyway.
Thanks in advance
Stu
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#2
I have blue/bronze auratus and the female lays a clutch every 7 to 9 days. I've never actually noticed the male calling. When I see him sitting atop the coco-hut, I know that she's inside, laying eggs. And then, it's his turn.

If all else fails, you might try separating one of the frogs and see if you're still getting eggs. If so, swap out a frog. Eventually, you'll be able to narrow down your male(s) and female(s).

Just a thought ~
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#3
guppygal Wrote:I have blue/bronze auratus and the female lays a clutch every 7 to 9 days. I've never actually noticed the male calling. When I see him sitting atop the coco-hut, I know that she's inside, laying eggs. And then, it's his turn.

If all else fails, you might try separating one of the frogs and see if you're still getting eggs. If so, swap out a frog. Eventually, you'll be able to narrow down your male(s) and female(s).

Just a thought ~
hy guppygal,thanks for the reply,great logic! much appreciated. As they are so settled now and becuse i don't really want to disurb things whist they seem so happy and are breeding i would much rather not split them up,i guess i might just have to be patient,and eventually we might sort this out. These are possibly the only ones breeding in the uk at the moment,i know of no others just the ones that have come from understory recently. so if no other details come in we'll have to wait.
Very greatful for your help,and best of luck with your auratus and other frogs
regards
Stu
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#4
Sounds like a plan. I know that you'll be watching them closely and it will finally become clear as to who's who in tank.

kindest regards,
kristi
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#5
guppygal Wrote:Sounds like a plan. I know that you'll be watching them closely and it will finally become clear as to who's who in tank.

kindest regards,
kristi
hi Kristi,they are are first breeding frogs these.They have utterly shocked us by kicking off so quickly,even when we found eggs i thought ah but it will take a while before they are fertile,erm it didn't :roll: We are so chuffed,very slowly the clutches are getting stronger,initial hatches were very poor we have 2 tads out of maybe 6 clutches,but this week we had a hatch of 3/7,so its exactly what everyone told me would happen it appears.Our older mysties have laid once so far only 4 eggs but 3 hatched so itreally seems to back up the theory that the SB's will improve with age,not something to do with how we are incubating them.
ours are laying in film cans,i have seen diferent frogs on top after laying and different frogs in the cans together,i'd really love to know who is who,but honestly just the fact that we have a pair in 3 frogs when they were bought as,youngsters and so few are here would have been enough for us this year... i would have been over the moon with that ,to have all the rest as well is fantastic,we can't believe it. ok we have thrown our all at this for maybe 2 yrs now,but all so soon...
thanks for the help
regards
Stu
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#6
Congratulations on the new babies! The best is yet to come, and that's when the lil darlings morph out of the water. My experience with my blue/bronze auratus is that they lay eggs about 1 clutch a week. At first, my first few clutches had very few viable tads. I eased up on the water, maybe misting them once while they were developing. I always pull the petri dish from the tank and place it in a sealed tupperware container lined with wet paper towels. I add enough water to the dish to where it barely touches the eggs. I'll check on them after about 4 days. Sometimes, the eggs look like they're molding over. When I see this, I'll take a wooden skewer and separate the eggs. So far, so good - I'm getting a lot more live tads now. I tank raise them, making sure that they have plenty of algae and java moss to munch on. Every now and then, I'll add a very small amount of fish food flakes. I hate cup-raising tads - they look so hopeless in those cups. In the tank, they get plenty of food and exercise and I think that they're stronger when they morph out. I'm sure other folks raise their tads differently, but this is what works for me.

kindest regards, and don't forget to have fun -
kristi
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#7
guppygal Wrote:Congratulations on the new babies! The best is yet to come, and that's when the lil darlings morph out of the water. My experience with my blue/bronze auratus is that they lay eggs about 1 clutch a week. At first, my first few clutches had very few viable tads. I eased up on the water, maybe misting them once while they were developing. I always pull the petri dish from the tank and place it in a sealed tupperware container lined with wet paper towels. I add enough water to the dish to where it barely touches the eggs. I'll check on them after about 4 days. Sometimes, the eggs look like they're molding over. When I see this, I'll take a wooden skewer and separate the eggs. So far, so good - I'm getting a lot more live tads now. I tank raise them, making sure that they have plenty of algae and java moss to munch on. Every now and then, I'll add a very small amount of fish food flakes. I hate cup-raising tads - they look so hopeless in those cups. In the tank, they get plenty of food and exercise and I think that they're stronger when they morph out. I'm sure other folks raise their tads differently, but this is what works for me.

kindest regards, and don't forget to have fun -
kristi
Thanks Kristi,ha were having a ball with this its our obsession!! Great tips again mate we are following very similiar lines apart from the tank raising on which i appreciate your sentiments!! Actually posted about this communal raising on here. We are feeding a fair amount of live food to the tads once they get past say ten days growth rates are atonishing ...i hope not too quick,with water temps mid 70'sF.They get cyclops EEZEat first then fish flake.
We actually put the film can..ya know white cut in half inserts into a little glass and pop this into a sealed tupperware,with water in it to create said humidity.Am also removing bad eggs as and when spotted.
yeah we can't wait for little frogs but am slightly aprehensive about the dreaded sls but time will tell,all of us i guess go through that!
thanks again for the help mate,would it be possible to post a pic of your tad tanks please?
regards
Stu
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#8
If you dust your flies with supplements, you should be okay regarding SLS. I know some hobbyists who dust weekly - I dust mine at every feeding, and I've never seen SLS in any of my tads. You're going to enjoy the morphing process - it's amazing how a funky lil tadpole can turn into a beautiful fully formed frog.

I have pix for you - enjoy![ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND][ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
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#9
Wow stunning frogs Kristi,actually they almost look like the blue banded histos,but auratus shaped,beautiful!! When i was little i reared many many tads of our native species,i used to be doing my little bit by getting a small amount of spawn hatching tonnes of tads and then popping most into ponds here and there just before they mophed out proper.but a few we kept fed up and realeased back where they came from,so i have an incling of how cool this will be,my darling has never seen any of this so its going to be absolutly amazing for her. oh and very cool viv too mate,well done !! thanks for the pics I 'know i'm always asking for more :roll: do you have a pic of the tad rearing set up please?
again thankyou and adore your auratus,if we weren't in England i would be banging on your door for some!!
take care mate
Stu
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#10
Stu&Shaz Wrote:Wow stunning frogs Kristi,actually they almost look like the blue banded histos,but auratus shaped,beautiful!! When i was little i reared many many tads of our native species,i used to be doing my little bit by getting a small amount of spawn hatching tonnes of tads and then popping most into ponds here and there just before they mophed out proper.but a few we kept fed up and realeased back where they came from,so i have an incling of how cool this will be,my darling has never seen any of this so its going to be absolutly amazing for her. oh and very cool viv too mate,well done !! thanks for the pics I 'know i'm always asking for more :roll: do you have a pic of the tad rearing set up please?
again thankyou and adore your auratus,if we weren't in England i would be banging on your door for some!!
take care mate
Stu
Doh you're rearing them in the parents tank? are you?
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#11
Stu&Shaz Wrote:
Stu&Shaz Wrote:Wow stunning frogs Kristi,actually they almost look like the blue banded histos,but auratus shaped,beautiful!! When i was little i reared many many tads of our native species,i used to be doing my little bit by getting a small amount of spawn hatching tonnes of tads and then popping most into ponds here and there just before they mophed out proper.but a few we kept fed up and realeased back where they came from,so i have an incling of how cool this will be,my darling has never seen any of this so its going to be absolutly amazing for her. oh and very cool viv too mate,well done !! thanks for the pics I 'know i'm always asking for more :roll: do you have a pic of the tad rearing set up please?
again thankyou and adore your auratus,if we weren't in England i would be banging on your door for some!!
take care mate
Stu
Doh you're rearing them in the parents tank? are you?
got it...i didn't realise i could enlarge the pics ahh mate utterly superb (too many hours with not enough sleep,work/ frogs in day music at night...sorry mate i better get me head down for a couple of hours,) fantastic sorry about that!!!!!
we like that!!
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#12
Actually, the parents are in a different tank. I bought a setup from a gal who was getting out of the hobby. It came with the tank, stand, the parents and one tadpole. Ever since then, I check their tank about once a week and replace the petri dish that's full of eggs with a fresh one. They're a very prolific pair. I'll upload pix so that you can see how their color changes. The tads' color will finally stabilize once they're around 2 yrs old.

Previously, I had raised Leucs in this tank. The parents did their own thing and I eventually ended up with dozens of Leucs. I ended up trading most of them away, including the males, darn it. I had to wait a couple of years before I could find a new male and it was by sheer luck that a froglet I purchased in Sept started calling on Christmas day. Leucs are such a fine frog.

We've been to England once to visit a friend who used to live there. He's since moved to Russian, but he maintains a home in England as well as Spain. One of these days, we'll go back and see him. I have to find someone brave enough to take on 5 dogs, 2 cats, and a whole bunch of frogs. Hmmmm, can't see that happening for awhile, but we're working on it.

have fun!
kristi[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
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#13
Ahh mate i lost a couple of tads today,kicking myself ...anyway i won't dwell onit just done that with me mates here,ha told them all about your auratus,love that even if i did get partly the wrong end of the stick.Kirsti these are super blues too yeah? its the same as blue on bronze,one of ours looks very similar to yours actually,although your colours are so vibrant! utterly beautiful!!
ha we have some stunning leucs,our first frogs,we have 5 in a 2' cube,we have at least 2 males i suspect 3 but 2 confirmed calling ha and a bit of scrapping about a month ago,but i think they have just agreed to share honours as they seemed very evenly matched,we have had a chat with them and they are just being decent and waiting for the ladies to grow up before being bad :roll: :lol: .Sorry mate but i have that mad sense of humour that gets me through life,serioulsy i guess its just a matter of time now before they start breeding no rush though,and we have some panama specials just babies,the afore mentioned mysties,wonderful characters and very soon hopefully our first thumbs.These frogs are our obsession all absorbing long may it continue,my lady is not well so this malarky is partly for her she is equally nuts about them and they take some of the pain away for her,as they are so absorbing,thankyou mate for the pics ( Shaz also loved them) and your thoughts
best always
Stu
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#14
You are too kind. I hope your sweetie gets to feeling better. You do realize that the poison dart frog hobby is an addiction, right? It's so difficult to choose one species over another. Don't worry too much about the tads. Your auratus will produce many more eggs and you'll get the tads hatching and morphing in no time at all.

That cracks me up about your Leucs. Didn't know you learned how to talk 'frog' so quickly - as long as they understand that you mean business. And once THEY get down to business, I hope you have a lot of froggy friends to take the offspring off your hands. Don't you just love the way the males call? I have a single male Leuc and a male Cayo Nancy. The Nancy sounds a bit like a high pitched coach's whistle and he's been calling often, which makes me think he and the missus are starting a family. They're still in quarantine, so this ought to be interesting.

My auratus are blue/bronze and we're smitten with their coloration. I'm not sure I've ever seen a super blue auratus - do you have pix? I'd love to see your frogs and tanks -

kristi
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#15
guppygal Wrote:You are too kind. I hope your sweetie gets to feeling better. You do realize that the poison dart frog hobby is an addiction, right? It's so difficult to choose one species over another. Don't worry too much about the tads. Your auratus will produce many more eggs and you'll get the tads hatching and morphing in no time at all.

That cracks me up about your Leucs. Didn't know you learned how to talk 'frog' so quickly - as long as they understand that you mean business. And once THEY get down to business, I hope you have a lot of froggy friends to take the offspring off your hands. Don't you just love the way the males call? I have a single male Leuc and a male Cayo Nancy. The Nancy sounds a bit like a high pitched coach's whistle and he's been calling often, which makes me think he and the missus are starting a family. They're still in quarantine, so this ought to be interesting.

My auratus are blue/bronze and we're smitten with their coloration. I'm not sure I've ever seen a super blue auratus - do you have pix? I'd love to see your frogs and tanks -

kristi
ha mate i think by comparison things like opium are mild,this is not going to be easy to kick have a look at our frogroom thread ..Stu & shaz's dart room on here,with the frogroom pics FTS etc,you'll find it,its not quite as detailed as i'd like time pressures an all, but you'll get the size of how hooked!!
Well my close friends call me Dr Stulittle,its the stockmans banter thing really :oops: ha but shhh it works lmao,
thanks for the words about shaz mate
speak soon
Stu
opps i forgot citrons sorry guys,they'll never forgive me for that ruddy primadonnas
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#16
Recent developments,have led us to believe we have a female high trio, finally Shaz saw a calling male, the invisible one, and we have just had 2 clutches of eggs in 2 days,so unless a female can lay that quick twice,I'd be amazed but would welcome any knowledge to confirm that could be possible,then I guess its qed on this.
Stu
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#17
Sounds like a second female ...no worries, if they all get along.

Just make sure everybody gets feed and dusted heavy - to replenish needed resources.

Watch the lone male carefully for weight loss from increased breeding activity and be prepared to possibly have to separate somebody.
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#18
Philsuma Wrote:Sounds like a second female ...no worries, if they all get along.

Just make sure everybody gets feed and dusted heavy - to replenish needed resources.

Watch the lone male carefully for weight loss from increased breeding activity and be prepared to possibly have to separate somebody.
Great and welcome thoughts Phil,the male we just don't see until laying time,super shy,dusting every feed, terribly difficult to monitor him,from what we see they all seem to get along,the 2 said ladies come out and feed together and sit together,roost together ,grateful for the experienced eyes though,duly noted!! just gotta get the hatch rate up now and we'll be having headaches as to what to do next,although i am making a prototype multi tad enclosure to explore all avenues. I have got to explore as much as possible to find the best method for us. Much to do my friend,my arms falling off from cutting glass all day
thanks again kiddo
Stu
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