fuzzmacphail

hi my name is alan and i am new to this hobby,so new i dont have any dart frogs!i have 2 whites tree frogs for the last 5 years tho.im planing on selling my bearded dragons soon as my partner is expecting a baby at xmas.the thing is i locve frogs,so i will have a 4foot long 2foot tall 2 foot deep tank to spare.can anybody please point me in the right direction as to which dart frogs would be suitable,numbers etc for a tank this size.many thanks looking forward to talk to fellow frog ppl!also im in scotland uk so any one around this area please drop by!cheers

atlfrog

Hey and Welcome to the board! Your best best is to get a trio of Aurtus or Leucamelous. The tank you describe sounds like a 55gallon tank. I have a trio in my dinning room in a 55gal and they do just fine. Although you have amphibian experience, which is great, it is best to start off with beginner species that are tougher than to jump into the hobby head first. I mean no disrespect but the requirements food, temps, humidity, etc must be met properly for the survival of the frog. Of course you know this already. Smaller species of frogs usually eat smaller insects that are not readily available in your or anyone's area (internet only sometimes) unless you have a breeder there and can be difficult to some to reproduce. Overall this will give you a chance to enjoy the frogs more and gradually get into the hobby at pace that will have success in. Please be warned, take a good look through this site as their are discussions and topics that are very important to the hobby as well as keeping amphibians. IE: Hybridization of Frogs, etc. They will all help you in your long journey ahead. I hope this helps yeah! You will be addicted like the rest of us! LOL

"Addiction is like candy, you eat one piece and the rest of the bag looks better and better by the second."

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Merek Matthew Cardew :: ATLFROG.com
HTTP://www.blogtalkradio.com/reptilian-fish

fuzzmacphail

hey
thanks for replying!i was aprihensive at first incase nobody would talk to me.i belive my tank is 100 uk gallons 120 us gallons.you were talking about food stuffs,springtails and fruit flies.i take it these need to be cultured?what type of plants would you recomend?i would hand mist the tank but would like some type of water fall at the back to water the plant and keep humidity up.iv read lots of things about darts but alot of it is ppl trying to sell one type of eqiupment for a company.i am thinking of eventualy breeding rarer species to help protect these 'jewels of the rainforest',as small animals such as these i think are over looked by ppl.thanks again for the advice mate

Knoxter

I think leus will be your best bet. They contrast the background, they are active all day, have a beautiful call, and they are inexpensive. An all around good beginner frog.

IMO, I think you should focus on housing your frogs. That's where you will need most of your knowledge. The frogs are not that hard to take care of, but the plants can be a little tricky.

Good luck, and welcome to the site.

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Marc

My frogs- Vanzolini, El Dorado (ong&gold), Cayo de Agua, Almerante, Gold Dust, Yuris, Imis, Inters, Taras, O Lamasi, Iquitos Vents, Varis, SI.


I appreciate everyone here. Without you, there would be no DFF. Thank you for your support.

Socalsam

Welcome Alan and I also recommend the Leucs. I think Hands down the best Beginner PDF. You will be happy. I promise.


Sam

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A few frogs.

atlfrog

Nahh there is never a reason to fear anyone of us. This site is here to help, there are a lot of good people on here. Sorry about the tank size, I miss read it. LOL I looked at it again and realized, oh crap he's right. Well fruit flies and springtails do need to be cultured but they can either be bought or cultured by you. Depends on what you want to do. Plants, I am nooooo expert on. Matter a fact me and plants are like a great white shark and a baby seal, unfortunately I am going to kill it if it is in my presence, but simple suggestions I can recommend that are easy are Pothos, ferns, and bromelaids. Some of the rest of the folks on here are far better than myself. To be honest, I use pothos an that's it in my tanks as it is the only plant that seems to know to get around the ring of death. Odd thing is I am very good with plants outside or around the house. Go figure. All of my habitats are enclosed systems as I need to hand spay very little as condensation collects enough to water the plants. The key thing about humidity is how you set up your tank. Waterfalls are only for estatics purposes in my opinion but here's something to remember. Not all dart frogs are safe around water. Deep enough the frogs will drown. In leucs I do have a water source but it is shallow enough where 3 or 4 strokes they are out or they can float with their feet touching the bottom. Best to research all dart frogs and/or buy books that have new data in them. Well I hope this all helps.

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Merek Matthew Cardew :: ATLFROG.com
HTTP://www.blogtalkradio.com/reptilian-fish

fuzzmacphail

thanks again for all your replies!this is all very helpfull!im looking through lots of old threads to pic up tips.i also manage to kill most plants within a few hours.prehaps with the fact that darts NEED certain plants this should change.ill set up the tank and let it 'grow' in i think.make sure i can get everything stable!yeh i have a shallow water dish for my whites tree frogs as they cant realy swim.im finding it realy hard to find places in the uk that sell darts of any kind to be honest.iv tried uk sites forums but i cant log in.read your thread on it also.hopefully by xmas ill of got a few frogs and a kick ass set up.oh one more thing the tank size thing,how many Aurtus or Leucamelous would be suitable?im guesing from older threads mixing one or two diffrent species is frowned apon?Edinburgh zoo did have a great setup with 2 or 3 tanks a tad smaller than my tank but they seemed to have 2/3 diffrent darts in each tank!unfortunatly Edinburgh zoo no longer keeps reptails or amphibians as they only want to keep criticaly endangered animals.shame on them i say!lol.ranting over.lol.thanks again

atlfrog

Actually not all dart frogs need plants. I have tanks that only have pothos and they have shallow containers, leaf litter and film canisters in them for egg and tadpole depositing and so on. Each dart frog species have their own requirements and that is where your research will come in. Your one lucky bloke though, Europe has one of the finest collections of Dart Frogs in the world, outside of being wild in my opinion. I would take a serious look around because I know there are several breeders in the UK, just be aware of reputation and quality of the animal. In a 120gal tank you could house a large colony, but I must be honest with you, I would let that tank grown in and learn to stabilize the temps and humidity within that tank as it is very large before putting frogs in it. I would also just get a a 30gal tank from a yard sale or from your local pethop and work with a trio like that until you feel comfortable and you can regulate the temps/humidity as well as health of the animal until you are 100% sure you can handle a large tank. When you can not see your animals because of how big it is might make you a little more anxious about the hobby and since when frogs die their bodies disappear pretty quickly it will be hard to know if it is just hiding or it perished due to some illness, wrong feeding regiment or otherwise. Have any other questions please ask.

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Merek Matthew Cardew :: ATLFROG.com
HTTP://www.blogtalkradio.com/reptilian-fish