Dendrobates azureus courting and Egg Developement - Pics

[joneill809]

Thanks! Yeah but I will see it ... If I don't stain it I may just put shelf paper on the flat surfaces assuming I'll have some spillage on there... Steal away. I used them because I wanted to slide them out, then carry them like trays to a table for water maintenance.

[joneill809]

No lids! Finally "finished". I ended up painting the vertical surfaces and apply white shelf paper to the horizontal surfaces. The shelf paper served two purposes - it provided some water proofing, but it also reinforced the long span of plywood. I applied a shelf paper to both sides of the shelf, and it was noticeably sturdier...
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I need to make a few minor adjustments to the upper shelf, but I don't need it just yet. I will look into smaller cups as well to save on space. But for now, no lids and more room!

[Philsuma]

Very nice Jim. Solved the problem of both needed space as well as maximum air flow. You are a truly evolved hominid (bipedal) with opposable thumbs !

[joneill809]

You could house them individually, which I also prefer, in small 'condiment cups" - basically a double shot glass of space, and still have your room / space for them.

Hey Phil. Do you know if the 2 oz side Dixie condiment cup is about right? They are approximately 2.5" in diameter.

[Philsuma]

2.5" ?....I do believe so. 'Solo' brand and they sometimes come in a kinda opaque plastic - not totally clear...almost 'frosted' looking.

[joneill809]

Condiment cups (or the less respectable moniker they go by on Amazon - Jello Shot Cups) arrived today so I made the switch from this:

To this:
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We will see how they work out long term but I like the improved access. More tadpole goodness:
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[Rusty_Shackleford]

Jim did you go from 4oz cups to 2.5oz cups?


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[joneill809]

Hey Jon! I was using "short" deli cups that were ~12 oz (350 ml). They took up a lot of room in my limited space so I made those stacked sliding shelves, then Phil suggested condiment cups. These are roughly 2 oz. Overall it's reduced the volume of water available to a tad by about 50% for more mature tads but about the same for younger tads (I was raising the water levels over time). With the change in cup size and addition of the shelving system I was able to triple my tad rearing capacity and abandon the use of lids. I'll keep you posted on any effects I observe from the reduced cup size.

[Rusty_Shackleford]

It was just hard to tell from the photos what size cups you were using originally. I've never raised tads in anything that small. I've always used 16oz cups. I'm interested to see how it works out with water quality and growth of the tads. Keep us posted please.


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[joneill809]

I will! I should have much easier access to the cups now so monitoring and maintenance should be easier.

[Philsuma]

Jim...when I went 'small' like you are....I was sure to vacuum the detritus / frog poo every 3-4 days, at least. And cut back my 'hard food' / fish flake somewhat. More leaf, spirulina, biofilm....less tad bites and 'fish food protein".

[joneill809]

Thanks. Been feeding NLS. I have some veggie tabs I can break up and blend in to their diet. Will keep you posted. I have three about to come out of the water in the next few days ... That should start the steady train week over week. I dried out the pairs viv again and they have slowed down. I'm thinking 2 months on, 2 months off. Is that a reasonable cycle?

[Philsuma]

you'll hard pressed to stop them , especially for on-off months. I would try to limit them to 1/2 of the YEAR.

[joneill809]

Well today was my first mass OOW day - 5 of 6 from the same clutch all climbed out! Put their cups in a holding tank before work and when I got home I found:
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I forget how tiny these guys are...this is the first clutch coming OOW since cycling over the holidays and all I have around are 3 to 4 month old froglets :
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[joneill809]

I have been line feeding my azureus to accent their blue tones - if you feed them enough you can stretch their bellies and turn them powder blue check out these fatties:
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They are starting to look like blue leucs (no offense to leuc lovers out there). I think I need to back off the flies a bit. A few other shots:
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[Philsuma]

lol...yeah, leucs are more of a poster-frog for fatness, but Tincs can get there too.

[joneill809]

So I was wondering why my in-viv tads seemed to bulk up faster than I was used to with pulled tads. I figured they were scavenging dead flies that fell into the pool area, but it turns out they are actively hunting flies that are skimming along the surface. Caught one incident on video. They grab the fly by its legs, then pull it under for a nice meal. Pretty cool (well, not for the fly) .

Here's a screen grab of the successful assault. Small, but voracious.

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[frogfreak]

Nice video! They will feed on rotting leaves too if you toss a few in there.

[joneill809]

Well I nearly caught it on video, but this tad took out three other tads today. Casually swam up to a freshly deposited tad, grabbed it by the back just above the tail and dragged it into the shadows. I noticed two others were already missing. Plenty of food in there (plant material and flies) but now it's hunting tads. This pool is pretty large too - 18" wide x 4" front to back x 2" deep. I'll let this play out, but man is this little guy aggressive!

[frogfreak]

I've never seen aggression when tank raising them. How old is the viv?