aggression among fants

[nburns]

For those of you who are caring for fants, have you seen aggression among yours? In a 20 gallon tank I have a male and what I thought was a female (much larger and fatter than the male). The other day I noticed they were both in a film canister and the male was sitting on top of the other frog. I watched this for a couple minutes and then I broke them up but the male went right back over to the other frog and sat on it again. This behavior leads me to believe the frog I thought was a female is actually just a larger male. This is the first time I have noticed this and it does explain why I haven't seen any eggs. They have been housed together for about 14 months. Anybody with experience with fants have any input?

[Karel]

I also have Fantasticus (banded and standard) and haven't seen this behaviour but....I also have pums and I have seen this behaviour with a pair of Colons, they have tadpoles now so don't assume because of this behaviour that your dealing with 2 males, can still be a pair. Just watch them closely for a couple of days.

[rozdaboff]

I have an adult group of breeding Standard fants (4) and a juvenile group (4) of Yellow Fants - and I haven't noticed any aggression. The breeding group I believe to be 2.2 (confirmed 1.2) - and I have not observed male-male, female-female, or male-female aggression. I have had mine since fall 2005.

Body size as an indicator of sex in Fants can be a little misleading IME. But typically, the males are "thinner" than the females.

[nburns]

Thanks for the responses. I haven't noticed it before and they do spend sometime together in film canisters and they will even sleep together in one of the broms. I do think the male is pretty aggressive so I'll just have to watch them and keep trying to make little changes to help things get going if they are in fact a pair.

[kyle1745]

I have seen aggression between 2 males, and actually lost one of the due to this at the time it was 3 males and a female.

[markpulawski]

It has been my experience that 2 male Fants will be so preoccupied with each other that it inhibits breeding, I have always felt that with Fants and standard lamasi 1.2 is a great ratio. If you have 1 frog substantially bigger than the other it probably is a pair, if they are young the female just has not come around yet and the male is trying to induce breeding behaviour. Just be patient and don't mess with them, you will probably see eggs show up in the near future.

[nburns]

They are about 20 months old. The issue is I had 4 and have slimmed the group down to these two. One I know is a male and the other is large so I just assumed (for about a year) that it was a female. Since I haven't had any eggs and now I saw this aggression I was wondering if was two females but maybe now that the group is down to just a pair things will begin to fall into place. Before I was sure there was more than one male and probably one this one that appeared to be female. Thanks for all the input. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for some eggs here soon.

[JWerner]

I keep a couple groups of standards and bandeds - 3.2 or 2.3 groups per enclosure. I have not witnessed aggresion at all. Egg eating occurs from time to time. My believe is if you have multiple lay sites at varying levels and dense plantings, your group should be fine.

[nburns]

I know that some including yourself have had success keeping groups but what if that group is made up of one female and several males? I would assume with that type of ratio there would be problems.