Dendrobates tinctorius 'Yellowback'

[Todd S.]

Hey guys, I got some shots of my new Yellowback viv and a few photos of the female exploring it.
Full tank shot

Selaginella SP Ecuador filling in nicely

Begonia burkillii sprouting new leaves

Stalking flies from her vantage point atop the coco hut.

Exploring the area under the rock ledge.

I hope you all enjoy. I'll try to get some shots of the male later this week

Todd

[Philsuma]

Good Stuff Todd !

How did you make that background and what is the lineage on those Yellowbacks ?

I had a 1.1 pair of "Sauls" that didn't have anywhere near the bright yellow, especially near the tip of the nose.

[Todd S.]

I didnt make the background. I got it in exchange for a bunch of plants from a semi local frogger.
I believe it is originally from Saurian.

My Yellowbacks are from Lisa Chesney and are Sean Stewart line.
To be honest I never liked Yellowbacks until I saw some photos of her breeders. Upon looking around I noticed more and more Yellowbacks having better color than they did when I originally got into this hobby. I think its mostly due to the good supplements these days which include color enhancers

Todd

[frogfreak]

That yellowback is a stunner! hock:

Beautiful frog, Todd.

[Cindy Dicken]

Looks good Todd!
Beautiful frogs.
What are the other plants in your tank?

[Todd S.]

Thanx!

Pilea SP and Philodendron SP are the other 2 plants.

[Stu&Shaz]

hey Tod don't know why i haven't found this before,man that is a truly stunning tinc...wow,buddy how does that measure for size against other tincs...am i right in thinking that saul/yellow back are the same and smaller than some others?
thankyou
Stu

[Todd S.]

Stu,
As I understand these are the Saul Yellowbacks and are amongst the giant forms of tincs.
That female is only 8-9 months out of the water.

There are atleast 1 other locale of Yellowback in the hobby over here. Those being Monts Atachi Bakka Yellowbacks

Todd

[Todd S.]

Apparently I forgot to post some shots of the male!

Here he is!



Enjoy!

Todd

[Stu&Shaz]

Stu,
As I understand these are the Saul Yellowbacks and are amongst the giant forms of tincs.
That female is only 8-9 months out of the water.

There are atleast 1 other locale of Yellowback in the hobby over here. Those being Monts Atachi Bakka Yellowbacks

Todd

Faboulous Todd,it looks like abig frog, always difficult from pics,i have obviously got mixed up somewhere.We occasionally see Mt achibakka here,more of a pale yellow.How big are your Sauls expected to get? the male is equally stunning.We are starting to see some imports from suriname they come from Rana in holland,but they are very expensive,i hope to see some at our frogday in october,they are ment to be huge,compared to our tincs we see over here,but 'im unsure as to whether they are F1 or WC,i'm not altogether happy with keeping WC,more wanting to stay with the captive bred. Attchbakka is listed at 150 euro each,the photo is of a much paler individual,than your saul. Beatuiful frogs Tod may you have every success with them, do you guys give them anything different from the normal diets to help keep this size?
regards
Stu

[Cindy Dicken]

That boy is sporting a set of clubs!
Good looking frogs, best of luck with then.

[Todd S.]

Thanx for the compliments guys!

I think one of the most important things is the tadpole care. If done right the froglets morph out at a larger size and more healthy. SInce I have not raised any tadpoles in years and there are new ways of doing so I am currently learning from others on their experiences. 1 theory over here is also keeping the adults separated until they are 1.5 -2+ years old before breeding them. This helps them attain a size closer to WC and some people are report bigger more fertile clutches. Often skipping the first few infertile clutches that tend to be common in new breeder pairs.

Im not sure of the difference between the 2 Yellowbacks. When I first entered the hobby around 2004 I was completely unimpressed by the Yellowbacks. They lacked much of any coloration . most of the time being a yellowish white to the color of the inside of a lemon. I believe with the advancement of color supplementations we are getting colors much truer to the natural form.

I believe I will expect this pair to be quite large. Bigger than my female Azureus (And she is huge!) Im told the Yellowbacks are near Giant Orange size?


Todd

[frogfreak]

Hey Todd

What size tank do you keep the single frogs in while the mature? I've been thinking about doing the same thing.

[Stu&Shaz]

fascinating thoughts and theories Todd,thanks again,thought prevoking stuff
regards
Stu

[Todd S.]

What Ive been doing is moving the female to her permanent viv and then holding the males together awaiting a mature size to put the male in with the female permanently
IE,

Currently I have the female Yellowback in her permanent home while the male is in with his other male siblings along with 2 New River males (As I understand they have all been raised since morph out together.)
About 6-8 weeks ago I separated the group 10 (5 New River, 5 Yellowback) into male and female groups. A few weeks later when the Yellowback viv was ready I moved the permanent female into her new home and she has been there since.
I intend to do the same with my New Rivers.

In addition I have done the same thing as far as my Oelemarie. The female got placed in the new permanent home while the male is still in the original home hes been in for several years now. about 2 1/2 months left Id say and I can finally add him permanently to the new enclosure.

If I were to have to house each separately... id say no less than a 10 if you can do that. a 20 gal would be better.


Todd

[frogfreak]

Thanks Todd,

I too, don't think we're getting the frogs to their potential size because they start breeding at to young of an age.

[Todd S.]

Indeed, I think too many people are way too focused on getting them breeding (As was I when I first entered as well as reentered the hobby) I have been talking to a few froggers over the course of this past year and many of them have said that breeding them at a young age as most of us do has a bit to do with why our captive bred animals are much smaller than the wild caughts. In addition to a few of these froggers, it has been noticed that having patience pays off with bigger clutches and often skipping the first few typical infertile clutches as well as healthier tadpoles and in turn healthier froglets


Todd

[Stu&Shaz]

very interesting this,guys do you think that this is relevent to all dendrobatids,i have become very aware of this with tinctorius, the lack of size!!! but not so with say auratus and leucs,i'm gonna say especially auratus as the leucs seem to take their own time anyway. Ha the wonders of beginnerdom,i had no thoughts about our auratus breeding,i was told,feed the hell out of them they will make quite big frogs,i did exactly as instructed giving them a hugely varied diet,and i think they are quite big for auratus,but honestly i don't know,but i have experianced poor hatchability of clutches,although this is picking up.It would be exceedingly difficult to impliment this with other non sexable frogs,unless all were kept in solitary. All that said real interesting,so just appicable to tincs,with relevence to size?
regards
Stu

[Todd S.]

I think the D. tinctorius are going to benefit the most from this new practice but I think it could be applicable and beneficial to all of the dart frogs.
I have 1 friend who strongly believes that each frog should be raised individually until it is fully mature. Giving it no competition for food, no stress from more dominate frogs. Understandably though, pretty much noone in this hobby has the means to do this with their entire collection.

Todd

[frogfreak]

This is a great topic, Todd

If you think about it, in the wild, I would imagine that each frog would have it's own space and would not seek out a mate until it felt the urge/need to breed and then separate again. That's not what most of us are offering the frogs are we.