Is a D. tintorious "Cobalt" morph a good first frog ?

[dustin_grey]

At this very moment (midnight) I am starting to set up my very first viv. And soon (well not "soon" but "someday" I want to put a PDF in the viv. Ive been looking through some sites and I think Ive picked one out. Its a very pretty dendrobates tinctorius surinam cobalt. Something like this:



My question is whether this is a good choice for a first frog? And will I be able to feed this frog pinhead crickets (at least I believe thats what they are called, super tiny)? Or will I have to culture fruit flies?

I know its probaly best to culture the fruit flies, and most likely thats what I will do, my main worry is running out of fruit flies. Theres a pet store up the road that sells the pinhead crickets which would subsitute.

Thanks a ton .

[Cindy Dicken]

Dustin,
cobalt tincs would be a good choice for your first frogs.

What size tank are you working on?

I would recommend only feeding crickets as a last resort. Crickets are nasty, most of the time it is hard to find the approriate size to feed the frogs. Also since crickets are nocturnal, as soon as you put them in the tank to feed the frogs, they will run and hide, so unless the frogs catch site of the crickets as soon as you put them in the tank, they are probably going to miss their meal. Then the crickets will stay in the tank and grow, nibbling on you plants, frogs. Then as the crickets mature they will chirp at night. Iamb not a big fan of crickets, fruit flys are so much easier! If you will get your fruit flys a few weeks before you get your frogs, you can practice on culturing your flys. If you will get into the habit of setting up cultures every week, you should not have a problem keeping fruit flys available for the frogs.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com

[dustin_grey]

Right now Im working with a tank around 40-45 gallons, and it seems pretty big to me. Can the cobalt tincs live together? Or are they territorial?

Yes I can agree that crickets get both disgusting and annoying, but I never knew Id have to worry about them chewing on my frogs! Yikes! How long will a fruit fly culture last me as far as feeding goes? Will I need to buy them all the time?

Thanks for your help, and by the way, your site is wonderful! I noticed it was one of my bookmarks while reading your post .

[Cindy Dicken]

Dustin,
while tincs would be a good choice for a beginner frog......I would not recommend trying to keep a group of them. With that size tank you might want to look in to doing a group of leucomelas ( one of my favorites), or
galactonotus, auratus, or some of the phyllobates such as terribilis or vittatus.
Tincs are a good beginner frog from the stand point they are hardy, easily obtainable, able to eat larger food items. However they are territorial.
More than likely they ones you would purchase would be juveniles, and they would do fine together until the start to reach sexual maturity (around 12 months of age). At that time you will start to see them battling for position to breed ( males VS males, females VS females) so unless you had the room to separate them should you end up with something more than a male female pair, it could cause problems.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com

[Cindy Dicken]

Oh, and as for the fruit flys, they are very easy to culture.
You will start out having to buy some flys, but if you culure your own, you won't need to purchase them all of the time.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com

[dustin_grey]

Ahhh thanks a ton! Ill look into it a little more before I make my final choice of frog. And the culturing doesnt seem too bad at all.

Thanks for the help!

[dmartin72]

Easy, but one of the easiet ways for a newbie to get into trouble.

Oh, and as for the fruit flys, they are very easy to culture.
You will start out having to buy some flys, but if you culure your own, you won't need to purchase them all of the time.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com

[dustin_grey]

Heheh maybe a couple weeks before I get my frog Ill get a practice culture and make sure I understand it all. Ill have enough money in a month or so, so I should be all setup by then.

If I have any trouble with the fly culture, theres a great pet store up the road from here and I know theyd help me out.

Thanks guys! Hopefully in a month or two Ill be able to show off my frog!


Im so excited!!!

[Cindy Dicken]

Dustin,
I did suggest that you get the hang of culturing fruit flys before you get your frogs.

And David, what would you suggest?

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com

[dustin_grey]

:oops:

Sorry, I knew that, I was just saying that I decided to take your advice. My fault.

EDIT:
You said that tincs might not be a good choice because they are territorial and may fight over the tank. What if I were to purchase a sexed pair? Would the male and female still have problems?

[Cindy Dicken]

Dustin,
a sexed pair would be fine.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com