[Dane]

Am I mistaken, or is it widely agreed that it's acceptable to allow related frogs to breed? I'm getting to the stage where I'm beggining to think more and more about breeding my darts (and so are they, from the calls I've heard). I've gotten frogs from 4 different sources, but only in groups of the same species. i.e. both of my Vents are from the same breeder, etc. Is it the norm for people to breed frogs in this fashion, where the pairs are undoubtably related, and possibly siblings of the same clutch? Would I be wise to seek out frogs from different sources for pairing purposes? Obviously my ultimate goal is to sell the offspring, and I'd like to be able to offer frogs with the most desirable genetics, not just some albino six legged froglet that could be his own grandpa. :lol:

 

[melissa68]

Trades!!! That is how we were able to diversify our breeding stock.

Good luck!

Melis

 

[KeroKero]

Its acceptable, but not the *best*. If you can try and get animals as unrelated as you can (while staying in the line/morph/species) but if you have siblings breeding together, it happens. Trading is a great way to get new bloodlines, and asking around can lead you to other sources for "outcrossing"

 

[Mantellaprince20]

I have heard that some dendros, such as vents, have about 13 different bloodlines running around right now. They typically have different patterns, and colors from one another. Seeing how they are very different in some aspects, I would not like to see them get crossed, however, than it is almost impossible not to breed relatives. So, It is a lose lose situation in my opinion. I mean, you can lose the different morphs, or you can breed relatives, so, the choice is yours.

Ed parker

 

[bbrock]

I have heard that some dendros, such as vents, have about 13 different bloodlines running around right now. They typically have different patterns, and colors from one another. Seeing how they are very different in some aspects, I would not like to see them get crossed, however, than it is almost impossible not to breed relatives. So, It is a lose lose situation in my opinion. I mean, you can lose the different morphs, or you can breed relatives, so, the choice is yours.

Ed parker

It gets very complicated because I am convinced that many of the so-called bloodlines in the hobby have been invented out of thin air simply because someone decided that frogs looked different enough to call them something different. Sometimes this is done innocently enough out of ignorance about the frog's genetics but sometimes it is out of greed. The end result is that things are a real mess. In some cases mixing bloodlines is a form of hybridization but these invented bloodlines are just causing us to inbreed our frogs more than we have to.

 

[steelcube]

In addition to that, husbandry issues can "create" these "new bloodlines"...

ie: blue legs -> green legs, grey legs -> olive legs... From my observation, food intake can cause these changes.

SB

 

[bbrock]

In addition to that, husbandry issues can "create" these "new bloodlines"...

ie: blue legs -> green legs, grey legs -> olive legs... From my observation, food intake can cause these changes.

SB

That's a very good point!

 

[steelcube]

A way to get a bit of diversity for rare frogs is to get another frog (more frogs) from the breeder where you get the bloodline in the first place. If the frogs are close to WC, there should be enough genetic diversity between siblings.

Also it would be great if the breeder can provide a list of people who bought the bloodline, so that people could trade and have a bigger gene pool.

This is better than inbreeding, I think.

 

[bbrock]

A way to get a bit of diversity for rare frogs is to get another frog (more frogs) from the breeder where you get the bloodline in the first place. If the frogs are close to WC, there should be enough genetic diversity between siblings.

Also it would be great if the breeder can provide a list of people who bought the bloodline, so that people could trade and have a bigger gene pool.

This is better than inbreeding, I think.

Yes, I agree. Generally when a new population of frogs comes into the hobby, we have one shot at getting the gene pool as diverse as possible. The two ways to do this are as Steve already described. An individual hobbyist can obtain as many of the group as possible, or can coordinate with other hobbyists to establish a captive population with as many of the wild founders as possible. Too often an importation comes in and all of the animals perish except for one or a few breeding groups and even then, the different groups often lose contact with each other so the "lines" get developed from a single hobbyist's small breeding group of maybe 2 or 3 animals.