# I found my first dart frog eggs this morning



## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

I've been misting alot lately to try and get my cobalts to lay, sence they are plenty old enough and split into pairs. Instead I found eggs in my azureus tank. I hadn't even realized that they were old enough yet. I looked back and found that they are a year old. Time flies I guess. I haven't even split them up yet, so now I have to figure out who did it.

Pictures are pretty much useless at this point because all I have is a keychain camera. lol And these things are tiny. All you can see is 4 dots. They are actually quite a bit larger than that, but have a clear gel egg with that little developing tad in the middle, but you cant see the gel in the picture. To give an idea, all those eggs are touching each other.














couple of the suspects


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

thats awesome man, congrats!
i really love dart frogs, they are so cool.
i was thinking about trying to keep dart frogs for the purpose of breeding them but decided against it. 
were you trying to breed them or is that just what happened?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

yea I definitely want to breed them. I have 13 so far and getting more soon hopefully. I got them all as either tadpoles or young froglets to save on money, but now most are old enough. I split my 5 cobalts up into 1.1 and 1.2 and have been misting alot trying to get them going. But I'd mist the other tanks at the same time, and ended up triggering my azureus. I still have all 5 of them in a 10 gallon and was tring to figure out sexes so I could split them up too, I didn't even realize they were old enough to lay eggs yet. I think I have 3.2 of those, so now I have to be careful not to split the already breeding pair when I split them up.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Congrats!

How do you tell who is the breeding pair?


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

damn, thats awesome man. 
how much work/money do you put into them... as compared to piranhas? 
i still think about doing it, the thing is im trying to save cash and i already have one hobby (piranhas) that i drop money into. 
only thing that scares me about PDFs is that, it seems the money is all in the actual frogs, as opposed to piranha where the money is in the tank/filter/accessories, the piranha do cost a grip if you get something huge, but... you know what i mean. 
seems like pdfs are 60 bucks a piece and if i make a beginner mistake, i just lost 300 bucks. any tips to get into it cheaply?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

To tell who is the breeding pair, I'm probably going to have to so some stalker style observing. Once they lay once, they should keep doing it. So I'll just have to look for courting behavior, calling, laying, guarding the eggs, that type of stuff. Just gonna have to wait for them to do it again basically.

If you get in touch with people in your area, or get tadpoles, its way cheaper to get started. Its really best to get them from a person, rather than a website. dendroboard.com is a great resource when it comes to these frogs. They also have a classified section with some really cheap stuff every time I'm broke. hehehe.


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

Now I found egg in one of the cobalt tanks!







I guess when it rains it pours. I seen them courting heavily yesterday morning. He was sitting there calling away, while she stroked his back with her little hand(something they tend to do before laying. its like froggy foreplay). Then they spent the whole day in there coco hut. I cant tell how many eggs are back in there, I dont want to disturb anyone, but I can see at least 4-5. I need to leave them for a couple days to make sure he jizes them up good. lmao.

this should be sweet, because they will all be becoming frogs at the same time, so I'll have azureus, and cobalt froglets at the same time...


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

thats awesome man!
are the frogs in your sig your personal frogs?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

yea those are old pictures of the cobalts. I need to borrow a decent camera and get some new shots. I'd really like to get some shots of tads morphing too. They dont do much, but look like any other tadpole, then the last week before they come out of the water, they change a ton every day. Its really something.


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## mdrs (May 1, 2006)

what are you keeping now, jayson? do you have any thumbs? ever see yourself taking the leap into pums?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

Right now I have 5 cobalts, 5 azureus, and 3 green/black auratus.

I'm planning on getting luecs next, but definitely plan on having a frog room eventually. So down the road, I'll be getting smaller, more expensive, less common, harder to breed, species. I just figure its better to start with the cheaper, easier, guys first. Hopefully, I can just sell the babies they produce, and use that money for the thumbs/pumilios. I really like the looks of reticulatus, fantasticus, bastimentos, and solarte. So they are all on my wish list for down the road.

btw, the cobalt eggs were not fertile, and the azureus eggs that were for sure fertile died. I think it got to cold so I'm going to set my incubator up again for next time.


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## tison 30 (Feb 29, 2008)

Do you have Costa Rica 'Green and Black'? I saw one of your threads on dendroboard and i didnt realize it was you until i saw the name. Im getting some Costa Rica 'Green and Black Wednesday or friday, im meeting a guy half way to pick 3 up and im pretty excited because its my first frogs.


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## mdrs (May 1, 2006)

Jayson745 said:


> Right now I have 5 cobalts, 5 azureus, and 3 green/black auratus.
> 
> I'm planning on getting luecs next, but definitely plan on having a frog room eventually. So down the road, I'll be getting smaller, more expensive, less common, harder to breed, species. I just figure its better to start with the cheaper, easier, guys first. Hopefully, I can just sell the babies they produce, and use that money for the thumbs/pumilios. I really like the looks of reticulatus, fantasticus, bastimentos, and solarte. So they are all on my wish list for down the road.
> 
> btw, the cobalt eggs were not fertile, and the azureus eggs that were for sure fertile died. I think it got to cold so I'm going to set my incubator up again for next time.


they'll produce, eventually. i'm currently working on my next pet project. i have a second hand 275g octagon i bought from a show i plan on putting thumbs in. i was thinking imitators but i'm not sure i want to buy definite wild caught. i won't buy anything that isn't captive bred. the shitter of it is, i have to buy A LOT of them to even hope to see a frog for the first few months till they've bred enough to fill the tank. let's be honest, i can't afford enough to fill it at once.

glad to see another PDF lover on the boards.


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

wow, 275g octagon







That must have been expensive for whoever bought it new. It should look really nice though, all planted up. I get what you sayin, its gonna be hard to find the frogs. They say leucs use the whole viv and do good in a group. Thats why I want those for my 55g. Then I found a 40 or so gallon hex last week someone threw out because of a crack. So I get to set that up when ever I finally get done with the 55.

What species do you have so far? Or will these be your first?



Tison said:


> Do you have Costa Rica 'Green and Black'? I saw one of your threads on dendroboard and i didnt realize it was you until i saw the name. Im getting some Costa Rica 'Green and Black Wednesday or friday, im meeting a guy half way to pick 3 up and im pretty excited because its my first frogs.


yup they are costa rican green/blacks. A warning, they are way more shy than my tincs. The tincs only go into a coco hut to sleep, the auratus wont even leave the hut to eat, they just sit in the doorway and wait for flies to come to them. So dont get discouraged if you dont see them much. You might have better luck than me though. From what I hear, some people get auratus and they are shy, other people get them and they are out all the time. Another warning, darts are addictive as hell! If you like them as much as most people who try them do, your gonna want many more eventually.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

What are you planning to feed them?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

There is a few things to feed darts, but mostly they get flightless fruitflies. They are easy to breed by the thousands, and the frogs love them. Being really cheap makes it a bonus too. Darts are expensive to get setup, but then they dont cost much of anything to keep.


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## mdrs (May 1, 2006)

Jayson745 said:


> wow, 275g octagon
> 
> 
> 
> ...


this is the first i'll have em. the tank was home made, though. i got it for $60 and the dude delivered it.


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

Very exciting! congrats!


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

so are you going to raise the young ones and just have a whole bunch or are you trying to sell any of the tadpoles?


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Jayson745 said:


> Another warning, darts are addictive as hell! If you like them as much as most people who try them do, your gonna want many more eventually.


Exactly why I am not getting any. Ever. (Well... maybe not ever.







) I have enough with addictions right now. Crested geckos. Getting into gargoyle geckos. Super interested in tarantulas since I got my first two. I can't even fathom the frogs.







They are very interesting though.


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

Nick G said:


> so are you going to raise the young ones and just have a whole bunch or are you trying to sell any of the tadpoles?


I'd be selling then after they become little frogs.


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## tison 30 (Feb 29, 2008)

Yea i just got 3 Costa Rica 'Green and Blacks yesterday and only one hides and the other 2 are always out and about. i thin ill end up getting more there just so damn cute haha and seem very addicting.


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