[Peekskillfrogger]

Hi guys... Im in the process of setting up a 65 gall for a small group of pdf's (wanted imitators, but looking at more terrestrial species atm) I plan on seeding the tank with micropods and tropical springtails and I culture melanogaster. It is my hope that whatever frogs i get will breed in the viv, but atleast for the moment im not really interested in rearing the tads. there will be plenty of broms in the tank along with many shallow water dishes and a small waterfall and plenty of micro fauna, so I think theres a chance that some tads may make it on their own, I hope so anyway (that would be really cool). But I dont have the additional time or space to dedicate to raising the tads.

So here it is: Is it wrong to leave the tads in the viv and allow the parents to fend for their young, or do i have a moral obligation to try my hardest to ensure the tads survive to adulthood?

 

[fieldnstream]

Plenty of people leave tads in the tank to slow down reproduction. The "parenting" instincts are there already. If you are more interested in watching neat behavior, just leave them in the tank. If you have a rarer species/morph/locality then it might be prudent to try your best to raise all offspring. If you keep more common species (etc...) then I don't believe that anyone will call you out for leaving tads in the tank. People raising obligates leave them in the tank because there is a higher survival rate for parent -raised froglets (I have no direct experience with this, just read posts). I think the only moral obligations are to provide your frogs with the best possible captive life. Keeping line data (if there is any) would be appreciated by most froggers, so would keeping parasite loads small by not having a multi-species display tank. Other than that it is up to you to decide what you believe to be best. Being totally honest about your froglets (possibility of hybridization, outcrossing, etc) would be appreciated by all if there are any doubts.
Good Luck!

 

[oneshot]

You might find (within all the bickering) this thread useful (especially posts 19 and 20, I believe, by Ed)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/oophaga/64745-difficulty.html

I did eventually end up picking up 2 different pumilio (they are each in their own tanks and doing well, btw ) and enjoy them even though they are not breeding. So personally, I don't think it's bad to not want them to breed. With a big tank like that you could put a small group of Tricolor and let them breed on their own. Just my .02

 

[oneshot]

And one other thing. You might find that once you see the little tads or baby froglets, that you might just "find" some extra room for a grow-out tank...

 

[Peekskillfrogger]

I started into this hobby with the undestanding with my wife that i would only have 1 viv. I already have two I got away with the 20 xh cus its in my office but any more and Ill have no room cus ill be on the street lol. Im not going to mix species in the 65 gal, but i do want a group of frogs (looking into leucs, auratus, and imitators atm. Im really leaning towards a small group of chazuta imitators but im not sure a 24" high tank offers them the vertical space they need to thrive. Im in no rush to stock this viv with frogs so im going to continue my research. I learned from my reefing days that its better to start slow and do things right the first time. Once the leaf litter is beggining to compost and I see a healthy population of microfauna, ill get some frogs.

I absolutely want there to be baby frogs, and Im going to set up the viv to give them the best shot possible, but i want it to happen without me having to get directly involved. I dont want 100 frogs a month but 5-10 babies every few months I could deal with. Id like to get a morph thats hardy yet colorful and in demand so finding a home for the froglets wont be hard. Ill be ordering the frogs from understory so keeping track of lineage should not be a problem

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

I actually cull any eggs I get. But I only keep readily available species

 

[momkris]

The imis would be great in a tank like that. Just make sure there are plenty of spots to for them to deposit tads. My group of "green" imis do very well in there
40 gal vert and are very good at taking care of their own young.