How many Dart Frogs to increase % of breeding ?

[Mark31580]

If I buy 5 or 6 PDFs of the same morph, the chances of them mating and producing tadpoles is :

A.) Very Good
B.) 50-50
C.) Not Likely


My favorite is the thumbnails D. Reticulatus, and the Fantasticus.

[mack]

Froglets purchased 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chances of getting at least one pair 0% 50% 75% 88% 94% 97% 98% 99%

i copied this info from the black jungle web site which i recommended to you earlier. the second line of percentages corresponds to the number of frogs purchased in line 1. as you see, anything around 5-8 frogs gives you a pretty good chance. these numbers are, however, just pure statistics. they do not account for skewed sex ratios, which are fairly common in thumbnail species. you might e-mail phil tan of http://fantasticus.net. he breeds both retics and fants and should be able to give some insight. maybe rich frye knows, if so hopefully he'll chime in here.

so obviously getting a pair is fundamental, as most often(but not always) a pair will breed. beyond that your skills at reproducing the habitat of the species you would like to breed is the second most important factor. this is mitigated by the difficulty level of the frog. some frogs, like the ventrimaculatus, accept a pretty wide range of conditions. retics in particular have a reputation for being hard to care for (i wouldn't know, i'm not brave enough to try them yet). you seem to share my ability to pick the most difficult paths....i am always drawn to a plant\fish\frog only to find out that it is in the diffucult to impossible range. oh well, challenge keeps life interesting. one day in the not too distant future i'm gonna have me some retics.

good luck,
mack

[RichFrye]

Hi,
I have found that putting three retics in a viv will almost always result in a 1:2 or 2:1 trio. Retics breed easily but need TONS of springtails until almost fully grown.
Fantasticus females can be very mean to other females. I have also observed a female Fant eating another female's eggs after being laid.
Imitators sex male heavy , at times. Standard lamasi sex female heavy.
My retics are out more often than my Fantasticus.
There are better starter frogs IMO.

Rich

[Mark31580]

When you say there are better starter frogs, do you mean the chances of me losing the frogs are good, with no experience?
Mack, check out the 65 gallon frog tank @ glasscages.com.
My plans are still for the 180 gALLOn viv. I am thinking about building it into a wall? But This tank has 6 subsections. I can try my hand with 6 morphs, separated in one unit. I think i may go with one morph in the 180, and hopefully learn to breed them.
Rich, when Im ready, you have retics and fantasticus available?
I live in nyc.

[RichFrye]

Hi Mark,
Retics and Fant are not quite as hardy as some other frogs. Terribilis make great starters. So do most tincs. Fants seem to hide a bit more than some other Thumbs, making it hard to keep an eye on their health. Once Fant settle in to their viv , they seem to do well. But moving them can be very stressful to them. Very.
Retics are small (very) and some of the same the same problems can occur with them.
I am not saying that you would loose any Retics or Fants , just think there are better beginner's frogs.
Also the size if that viv will ,potentially, make it very hard for viewing them being soo small (retics). The Fants may disappear into a viv of that size. I love bigs vivs. If set up "right" for viewing nothing beats a big enclosure.
I do currently have both available. I can also talk about other frog options. With anyone .

Rich