Breeding azureus for a clueless owner

[harpy]

Okay, last night I had my "Eureka!" moment when I discovered my male azureus carrying a single tad. I put in a petri dish with water last night, hoping he would deposit the tad there. He did not. The tad is off his back, but I have no idea if he found a deposition site or if the tadpole fell off and subsequently died.

I searched with a flashlight from outside the tank this morning, and dicovered 2 clutches of eggs. The first is in a coconut-covered petri. The other clutch is in a film cannister embedded in the background.

I cannot tell if any of them are good or not (inexperience). I would suspect there could be a 3rd clutch somewhere, from where the tad came (I suppose this doesn't have to be).

I'm not in the hobby to become a breeder, just to enjoy the frogs. That said, I find myself very much wanting to pull these eggs and give it a go.

I do not know how to pull the eggs from the embedded cannister, so maybe I'll leave them be?

I may pull the petri dish ones, but first to read up again on best practices.

Will they be okay if I just lightly mist them and put a cover on them? Or should I leave the petri uncovered, mist a 32oz container and put the lid on that?

Thanks!

Greg

[harpy]

I re-read Saurian's "So your dart frogs have laid some eggs" and I have a question.

It recommends that if you pull the eggs, to keep them at around 75 degrees. Well, the tank is around 75, but my house is probably 68. Think this is okay?

Also, what if I am not present when the tads emerge from the eggs? Will they be okay for some length of time before moving them to water?

Thanks,

Greg

[sbreland]

If you leave them in the viv, no real need to mist them as the humidity and the parents will pretty much take care of that. With that said though, if you see the clutch starting to look a little dry a little stritzer won't hurt, just don't soak them. Pulling the canister may be a wash if it is truly imbedded and won't easily slide out. If it will, you can just pull out the canister and incubate the clutch in there... no need to try to take the eggs out of the canister. Air flow over the eggs no matter what route you choose is important and is often difficult to accomplish outside of the viv without drying out the eggs, therefore what I normally do is leave the eggs in the viv to develop til just before they are ready to hatch and then remove them. My container is a large sterilite bin with water in the bottom and a rackset in the water so that there is a platform just above the waters surface and then it is covered. The humidity stays high and I have a small heater in the water which keeps the water warm and also the air inside the bin. Works well and serves the purpose of holding the eggs for a few days til the tads hatch. My end all suggestion would be to leave the eggs in and keep a close eye on them and try to time your removal just before they hatch.