Howdy from Austin

[joneill809]

I'm Jim from Austin TX. I've been in the fish hobby for 25+ years mostly focusing on keeping shell dwellers from Tanganyika (I have 4 species) and I recently added Tang cats (lucipinnis) to the collection. I've been lurking for about 6 months and researching / building / rearranging my vivarium. My daughter got us into the hobby...she said "I want a frog" when she walked past the fire belly toad display in Petsmart. Not one for doing something simple, I Googled "frogs" and pulled up a page of images. She immediately focused on "the blue one" which got me researching.

I now have two azureus ("big spot" who we think is a girl and "little spot" who we think is a boy) purchased from Tobias @ Dendroterra (I wanted to see the frogs and buy local ) that were 3 and 5 months old when originally purchased. They are now about 8 and 10 months old and doing great! I started with melanogaster and in the past 6 weeks I have started parallel hydei cultures. Our springtail population has struggled a bit, but I have recently ordered some isopods as pets (orange and canyons - my son likes bugs) and a potential clean up crew.

Big spot and little spot are housed in an 18x18x24 Zoomed which I prepped following many of the recommendations I found here! It has lots of ledges and caves and it's heavily planted. I was pleasantly surprised at how much climbing the azureus actually do (which also reinforced the single species per viv recommendation). They are bold and out all the time and they have NO fear of my kids when their faces are pressed up against the glass. The enclosure has a custom Lexan top with 5 x 2" screened in vents in front, 1 internal 120 MM circulation fan, 2 x 40 MM variable speed exhaust fans that I alter during the winter and summer months depending on the humidity in the house, 2 x Exoterra fixtures with 4 CFL 6500K lights on a 12 hour day and blue led "night lights" on a 14 hour day. I also have a Monsoon mister going.

I'll be posting some issues I've run into on the forum. I'm looking forward to participating - I lurked for a while to get a feel for the forum. So far, DartDen seems to be the one I come back to most consistently for good advice and great discussions. Thanks for keeping this wonderful source of information going for so long, and hopefully I'll have something to contribute.

[Philsuma]

Hi Jim and Welcome to Dart Den !

You are in an excellent geographic area for Dart Frog keeping - the "Texas Triangle". Lots of hobbyists there, so you should be in good hands for local help, supplies and even livestock.

Azureus are excellent dart frogs - iconic even. There are few 'blue-er" animals to keep in one's home...well...maybe a Tang, but ya can enjoy the frogs a little more IMO. I've had them both.

Please hang around, read and post often !

~Phil

[joneill809]

Thanks for the warm welcome! My choice in fish will bore most people - most shellies are brown with brown stripes Looking forward to meeting other froggers in the Austin area!

[Chuck Lawson]

Thanks for the warm welcome! My choice in fish will bore most people - most shellies are brown with brown stripes Looking forward to meeting other froggers in the Austin area!

But they make up for it with interesting behavior (I used to have a breeding group of Lamp. ocellatus years ago that were always fun to watch).

Welcome to the board!

[joneill809]

Thanks!

Yeah they are awesome to observe. I have L. multifasciatus, L. caudopunctatus, L. brevis M'toto, and L. ocellatus 'gold'. The multies are my personal favorite, but the punks are very cool. My occies are bulldogs - they regularly attack me while cleaning their tank with all 1.25 inches of their fury. Funny thing is that group is the only one not readily breeding -- too pre-occupied with harassing me If anyone is ever interested in multies, punks or brevis PM me - I have a few to spare...

[Chuck Lawson]

My occies are bulldogs - they regularly attack me while cleaning their tank with all 1.25 inches of their fury.

That was always the best part -- if they weighed 30 lbs and had opposable thumbs, they might be the dominant life form on the planet :mrgreen:

[Bchbum16]

Hey glad to see another fish person going frog! I keep a few multies myself. I also have a pair of German Blue Rams, some P. Gertrudae, and cherry shrimp (I have multiple tanks don't worry).

[joneill809]

Seems to be a common path, fish -> frogs!

I always loved German Blue Rams - I thought about them again recently, but opted for more shellies None of them have displaced multies as my favorite. Funny how a "few" turn into dozens in short order

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Hey Jim, welcome!!! Good to see another fish head and Austinite. I'm Jon and I'm a reformed cichlid nut from way back, and I lived in Austin for 10 years. It's cool you like the shell dwellers, I always had a fond place in my heart for shell dwellers. I wish I would have seen your post 2 weeks ago, I just sold my last 4 white calvus fry. I was looking for another Tanganyikan fan that wanted some. I look forward to talking to you more about all things cichlid and Austin, oh yeah and all dart frog things too. Say hello to Caroline at Amazonia for me.

[joneill809]

Hey Jon! Thanks for the warm welcome!

White calvus are beautiful, but I am maxed out on space!! Multies, brevis, and caudopunctatus have been breeding like crazy. I have to swing by Amazonia one of these days to trade in some fry so I will tell Caroline hi. Most of my stock came from Dave at DRAF in San Antonio (including a couple dark red comps - lufubu - that I'm still waiting on to really color up). Brevis were from River City Aquatics, and most of my plants (I know I know, not correct for the biotope, but hey, they help with the nitrates) were from Aquatek.

I'm really glad I found DartDen back in December when I started my researching and my search for a local vendor. Looking forward to learning a new hobby!

[Bchbum16]

Seems to be a common path, fish -> frogs!

I always loved German Blue Rams - I thought about them again recently, but opted for more shellies None of them have displaced multies as my favorite. Funny how a "few" turn into dozens in short order

I have come to notice this path as i have seen in many different peoples comments about used to being in the fish hobby. I love my rams and they are probably one of my favorites. My multies are new to me (only have had them for about a month now) and are still fairly young.

[joneill809]

The multies certainly cannot rival the beauty of a ram, but what an attitude! I started my colony with 8 multies (just under 3/4 inch) and within 2 months they started breeding. Today at any given time there are 30 to 40 individuals out - they take over just like a creeping fig Truly a fascinating fish - good luck with them!

[Bchbum16]

Thank you! I find both really quite beautiful in there own ways and i love the personalities that both have! Very interesting fish!