Female aggression in R. imitator 'intermedius'

markbudde · #1 (**permalink**) 02-08-2010, 04:48 AM

I caught my female intermedius fighting tonight for the first time. I'd seen the males fight plenty but never the females. The larger female is pinning the smaller one against the glass (which must be difficult on a smooth vertical surface). You can see the one on top is choking the one on the bottom. The bottom frog was freaking out and looked like she was struggling to breath, so I split them up. This is exactly the same as what you see in fighting males. The smaller female is the one which is actively breeding right now. I figured I'd document it here in case anyone is curious.

here is a short video.
Untitled on Vimeo

johnc · #2 (**permalink**) 02-08-2010, 10:02 PM

Very interesting stuff Mark, and the video is great documentation. I keep my two pairs of imitator in different terraria so it's interesting to observe this through others. Thank you.

Philsuma · #3 (**permalink**) 02-08-2010, 10:07 PM

Great informative post.....

iljjlm · #4 (**permalink**) 02-09-2010, 02:16 PM

Mark, what size tank are they in. I WAS thinking of putting 4 together, but not sure now.
I have 1 for sure male and not sure of the others.
Dave

markbudde · #5 (**permalink**) 02-09-2010, 03:02 PM

2.2.1 in a 55 gallon. It was 1.1 but offspring have grown up.

Tricolor · #6 (**permalink**) 02-09-2010, 05:54 PM

Nice stuff! If anybody wants to part with a male Nabors line let me know. I have a female and need a male. Thanks john

EricM · #7 (**permalink**) 02-10-2010, 05:57 PM

Mark,

I keep a group of chazuta intermedius together in a 10 gallon and the females exhibit the same thing you caught in the pic. It looks very much like tinct frog females fighting for dominance, where one frog gets on top of the other and rocks side to side trying to push the other into the ground. My intermedius will do this on a Monstera leaf, so the plant bounces with action. I see the behavior maybe a couple times a year and I think it is just a reshuffling of the pecking order. I don't see frogs aggressively pursuing each other nor do I have frogs that hide. All the individual frogs come out within sight of the others without aggression.

I also have a F1 group of the aboves offspring and have never seen the behavior in that tank, not yet anyway.

My group has been together for almost 6 years and I haven't lost a single frog, plus they have raised many offspring. I keep a lot of thumbs in groups including all my imitator and intermedius, they are much more intriguing to watch that way.

I'll try and shoot a pic next time I can
Eric

johnc · #8 (**permalink**) 02-17-2010, 06:17 PM

Eric, you said you keep a group in a 10g - what's the actually male.female ratio please? It seems to work for you and I am tempted to experiment.

earthfrog · #9 (**permalink**) 02-17-2010, 09:30 PM

I had my D. imis, 1:2 wrestling for awhile. I finally had to sell the less dominant one just to save her life!
I've noticed a phenomenon in nature that's common across species---that is the jealousy of the unmated female against the mated one.
It also happens in dogs----a female that has recently been mated will incur aggressive attacks from rival females, even if they had previously been living tolerably together. Fascinating stuff.