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Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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Multiple transports
#1
Have any of you experienced a parent transporting a tad between pools of water? I had an imitator tad in 1 film can (it was a white can and I could see its silhouette wiggle around from time to time). I peeked in through the top yesterday and it was empty. Is changing up tad locations normal? I haven't ripped the viv apart to try to find it since there's other activity going on as well, and I'm not about to tear into it. I'm just curious about their behavior is all
Josh
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#2
Well I guess I was wrong, in the white film can the tad was just hiding in a little debris at the bottom. There were no feeder eggs in it so I dropped a couple of Zoo-med micro tadpole food pellets in to be on the safe side. On another note though, I took a peek in one of the black film cans that I saw a different tad get transported to and there's been heavy calling coming from "Joker" almost every night and there were at least 9 eggs in there for sure that I could count. Maybe another 1 or 2 tucked away or buried, I didn't really want to disturb them. Does that seem like an excessive amount of eggs to be fed to 1 tad to you guys? *Note* I'm not paniced/worried/etc etc. We are just letting mother nature do her thing in our house and watching what happens. I'm just curious to any experiences you guys have had that seem kind of out of the norm?
Josh
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#3
I had a benedicta move a tad from one can to another. I went to pull it about a week later and it was gone from the 2nd film can never to be found again. I pulled all the cans and carefully inspected and emptied. No other place a frog could put a tad in the viv. Oh well.
Scott - North Dallas
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#4
JayMillz Wrote:Well I guess I was wrong, in the white film can the tad was just hiding in a little debris at the bottom. There were no feeder eggs in it so I dropped a couple of Zoo-med micro tadpole food pellets in to be on the safe side. On another note though, I took a peek in one of the black film cans that I saw a different tad get transported to and there's been heavy calling coming from "Joker" almost every night and there were at least 9 eggs in there for sure that I could count. Maybe another 1 or 2 tucked away or buried, I didn't really want to disturb them. Does that seem like an excessive amount of eggs to be fed to 1 tad to you guys? *Note* I'm not paniced/worried/etc etc. We are just letting mother nature do her thing in our house and watching what happens. I'm just curious to any experiences you guys have had that seem kind of out of the norm?


To address the issue of 'is it possible for a tad to move'?
The tads are the ones which decide when they get off the parents' backs. If they like the water in the brom, can, etc. they slither off. I can imagine that while being fed , if the tad decided for some reason the water was no longer to it's liking it could potentially get back on the back of the parent once again and take another ride. I can't personally confirm this ever happening, but it's far from out of the realm of reality.
I don't understand if the female has laid clutches and you wonder if there may eventually be too many tads to feed ("nine eggs in there") , or if you are talking about feeder eggs being produced in large amounts.
Clutches are not meant as feeders, they are meant to be fertilized.
Many fecund thumbs like imis will produce tons of clutches and feed a decent number of tads. There's nothing out of whack with that. What you will want to do after awhile is cycle them down because non-stop high production is not a natural thing.
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#5
What methods do you use to cycle them down Rich?
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#6
It depends on species , time of year and other variables, but usually an adjustment in misting, temps and food . When all else fails you can remove all of one sex.
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#7
Thanks for the info Rich. My confusion is why would there be 9 eggs in the same can as the tad when there's a hundred other places in there for clutches to be laid. I'm guess maybe they were laid to be fertilized and not all being deposited for the 1 tadpole to eat, and the fact that the tadpole and the eggs are in the same location is just a coincidence maybe? It just seemed odd to me that so many eggs were in the same little pool of water as one of the tadpoles.
Josh
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#8
If there is a true clutch of eggs anywhere, they were to be fertilized.
Feeder eggs are literally dropped down , one by one into the tad receptacle.
Ims can have tons of clutches all over the place all the time. They are very fecund.
Pics?
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#9
1st pic is a farther away shot of the canister they are choosing to use (1/3 of the way from the top, left side. 2nd is of the eggs inside, you can see the tadpole on the left side.

[Image: B703FFD5-DE30-47E4-A7A4-78F208EF3843-799...8db99f.jpg]

[Image: 75B356A0-04B6-42F6-9AAC-000266669073-799...aaf6f5.jpg]
Josh
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#10
Those are feeder eggs .
I have on very rare occasions seen where a female will lay a clutch, to be fertilized ,very close to a tad. And they slowly slid into the tad cup. But that's rare. The non-feeders seem to have more gell/stickiness.
Imis have great spurts of all things breeding.
If the natural process is your goal things look good to me.
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#11
Rich,
With your pumilo, approx. how often will the female drop off a feeder egg? I know they're from a different genus and might not have the same instincts or obligate behaviors. I haven't owned any pumilo to experience their behaviors first hand...yet. Do they stock pile up on eggs like that too? It's good to know that one tad isn't going to go hungry any time soon. It's odd though the other tad I've been watching doesn't have any feeder eggs in its canister. I hope he/she doesn't get too butthurt over the parental favoring going on and pull a Cain & Able when they morph out lol
Josh
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#12
I can't quantify a real average , but I would say it's not out of character to see three or so feeders in any one can.Sometimes way more , or none for days.
There's no real pattern to what I've seen , but largely due to the fact I have hundreds of cans in each viv.
Not to sound jaded, but in nature one female and one male produced from a pair in the wild over a decade-long imi lifespan keeps a population static.
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.


If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.

My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
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#13
True story, I just learned about that in Biology last semester and we have covered it again in my Animal Diversity class recently. The trend was more offspring for the less parenting involved and vis versa.
Josh
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