Is this an open exhibit like NAIB, or just large tanks cut off from visitors?
To break down their worries based on my expiences with NAIB:
They shouldn't decimate the butterfly population. Thats something to worry about with birds and bats. You guys seem to be looking at terrestrial species, and caterpillars are mostly arboreal..... some might get nabbed but decimating the population?
Resident lizards would probibly stay away from them in they are from the same area as the darts (they'd recognize them as aposematic ideally) and it it might need to be tested to see if the lizards would go for them. Otherwise you'd just need a lot of breeder frogs to flood the population quickly, then a frog or two picked off here and there isn't an issue.
Animal tracking.... in walk ins like at NAIB you don't. Unless they are working with an SSP or studbook species (which I probibly wouldn't recomend to put in there) I don't see why bloodlines would really matter, a large exhibit isn't the best place to try and track bloodlines. They will just become a population that interbreeds and over time will become inbred without new frogs coming in. The tricolors at NAIB were just some froglets pulled out of the hidden life exhibit where the original group bred like rabbits.... the tricolors did well and have become established and breeding in the main exhibit.
As for visitors seeing them, thats a matter of a big and bright PDF. Thumbnails wouldn't go over well, but some bright tincs or galactonotus might catch a number of eyes. The more heavily planted the "forest floor" is, the less likely they are to be seen. Lots of leaf litter is their best backdrop. D. auratus are "bright colored" on their wild backdrop of said leaf litter, but they loose their "brightness" when put in our extremely green tanks.
The tricolor at NAIB fit the boldness factor, its just that they look like mud. The morph there isn't terribly bright to begin with, but the species as a whole tends to be diet dependent on coloration, and in large places like the rainforest exhibit, you can't exactly suppliment their diet. I'd stay away from the diet dependent colored species/morphs.
I worry about phyllobates after the recent "finger tingling" thing. Especially if they are worried about them being eaten (but if the sailfins are from areas that have PDFs, they should know to leave them be) or what not.
To break down their worries based on my expiences with NAIB:
They shouldn't decimate the butterfly population. Thats something to worry about with birds and bats. You guys seem to be looking at terrestrial species, and caterpillars are mostly arboreal..... some might get nabbed but decimating the population?
Resident lizards would probibly stay away from them in they are from the same area as the darts (they'd recognize them as aposematic ideally) and it it might need to be tested to see if the lizards would go for them. Otherwise you'd just need a lot of breeder frogs to flood the population quickly, then a frog or two picked off here and there isn't an issue.
Animal tracking.... in walk ins like at NAIB you don't. Unless they are working with an SSP or studbook species (which I probibly wouldn't recomend to put in there) I don't see why bloodlines would really matter, a large exhibit isn't the best place to try and track bloodlines. They will just become a population that interbreeds and over time will become inbred without new frogs coming in. The tricolors at NAIB were just some froglets pulled out of the hidden life exhibit where the original group bred like rabbits.... the tricolors did well and have become established and breeding in the main exhibit.
As for visitors seeing them, thats a matter of a big and bright PDF. Thumbnails wouldn't go over well, but some bright tincs or galactonotus might catch a number of eyes. The more heavily planted the "forest floor" is, the less likely they are to be seen. Lots of leaf litter is their best backdrop. D. auratus are "bright colored" on their wild backdrop of said leaf litter, but they loose their "brightness" when put in our extremely green tanks.
The tricolor at NAIB fit the boldness factor, its just that they look like mud. The morph there isn't terribly bright to begin with, but the species as a whole tends to be diet dependent on coloration, and in large places like the rainforest exhibit, you can't exactly suppliment their diet. I'd stay away from the diet dependent colored species/morphs.
I worry about phyllobates after the recent "finger tingling" thing. Especially if they are worried about them being eaten (but if the sailfins are from areas that have PDFs, they should know to leave them be) or what not.
