[A.Newton]

I got four A. Galactonotus Red--presumably two female and two male but after two days, I can see three of em but the smallest male seemingly disappeared.

Should I overhaul the tank and find it out whether live or dead? Don't want it to corrupt in the tank.

Big thanks in advance.

 

[fishingguy12345]

There's a great chance that the frog is simply hiding. Frogs need time to settle in to their new environment and for all you know it could spend every minute you're not in the room out and about in the tank.

For what it's worth, unless you were sold them as 2 sexed pairs then there's no reason to assume they are 2 males and 2 females.

Pictures of the frogs and tank would probably be helpful. (But again, I wouldn't go hunting through the tank as of yet to get pictures of the frogs).

 

[Llehctim]

For what it's worth, when I got my terribilis (one of the boldest frogs), one of the three stayed hidden under the same leaf for one week straight. I know because I could just see the tip of his/her snout. I know I may have freaked a bit if I couldn't see it, but was very interesting to observe. Not sure how bold galac's are compared to terrib's, but I would give it time to adjust.

 

[Philsuma]

don't panic. don't trash the viv. Just hang on and wait - could be many weeks. They hide. And even if it's dead - then so be it. Just ride it out.

 

[SpaceMan]

Sometimes I won't see a frog or two for a while, and will do a deep paranoid search through the leaf litter. 9 times out of 10, they were just hiding, and a lot of times it's because of social pressures in the tank during courting. If it's persistent, I'll sometimes separate the impacted frog, or the primary instigator of the conflict.

The other 1/10 times the frog has perished. In the instances I've lost frogs, I've usually found their remains, but probably just because of dumb luck.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

Posting photos of the viv is going to be very, very helpful -- more so than digging around, since live frogs hide better than people seek, and dead frogs deteriorate pretty effectively in typical viv conditions. Experienced eyes on the visible frogs and their viv can tell pretty reliably what #4 is likely to be up to. Make sure to include shots of the ventilation areas, but don't bother the frogs.

Details on where you got the frogs, a little run down on the viv build, temps, etc would be helpful too.

 

[A.Newton]

the tank is 18*18*24. I got it from a friend of mine with partial setup. He just moved in town so his house has some AC problem. After he finishes his basement, I’m quite sure he’ll return.

temp: 78.4 F humidity 99%

With this said, a 100% newbie here. Basically the tank had run for a month except for those broms before the frogs went in.

following the advice, I found all the four. The vendor thought they’d be 2 males and 2 females. He handpicked them. Well, it’s a say, huh?

my condo is quite hot these days too I put the tank right next to my vent room and runnin AC at its max

One of the female which does have a more pronounced round belly is a climber

the Viv

 

[fishingguy12345]

Here's what I see:

1. Very bright light - frogs will hide to avoid bright lights
2. Not much plant /wood cover (shade) - frogs will hide in whatever cover they can find.
3. Your terrarium looks fairly dry. How often are you misting and for how long?

I would not put 4 Adelphobates galactonatus into an 18x18x24" terrarium. I keep my trio in a 39x18x19" terrarium. Here's what it looks like (only one of the doors opens, so there's no full tank shot)

 

[A.Newton]

Once an hour, 35 seconds

those plants are supposed to grow lush and cover lots of area. Hopefully.

is this guy stuck there? Should I help him out?

that’s the disappeared guy

 

[Socratic Monologue]

How much of the top screen is covered?

 

[A.Newton]

How much of the top screen is covered?

Half by the canopy

the meter says 99% prob it looks dry in the pic it looks quite wet in my eyes

 

[SpaceMan]

Probably not stuck, but I'm not familiar with this species. He's probably just hiding and finds that brom axil safe and secure. You could also try temporarily removing the other two frogs to see if they're the reason he's hiding.

 

[fishingguy12345]

the meter says 99% prob it looks dry in the pic it looks quite wet in my eyes

Humidity gauges are pretty much useless. They frequently get water inside the probe and then read around 99% pretty much permanently.

My recommendation is to cover more of the screen, you can use pieces of plexiglass, glass, even plastic wrap. With how often you're misting, your tank should be soaking wet, but, unless the pictures are misleading, your tank looks quite dry. This says to me that you need to restrict the ventilation.

 

[Philsuma]

you only want 15-20% of the top/lid/cover screened - the rest glass.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

It isn't 99% RH in there. If it were, there would be condensation since the inside of the viv is at least one degree higher than ambient from the lights (glass that is lower temp than the dew point of the air is where and why condensation forms). The meter is giving false data. False data are misleading. Misleading data leads to poor husbandry decisions. Poor husbandry decisions kill frogs. Therefore, RH meters kill frogs.

A couple things about your viv that are going to make it hard to interpret and implement sensible recommendations you'll get about misting and ventilation are (A) the background. It doesn't hold any water, so affects how much moisture is held and then released in the viv.

And (B) the sphagnum layer under the leaf litter is going to mess with the moisture cycle in the viv too. It holds a lot of water and doesn't let go of it very easily, which is kind of the opposite of what we want in a dart viv (a few wet - slightly dryish cycles per day is best, IMO). Note that FG's substrate seems to be pea gravel -- about the opposite of sphag in terms of water holding capacity. Interestingly, in your photos all the frogs are off the ground. I don't keep galacs so don't know what this might suggest, but it may suggest something.

And (C) having the viv in the path of an HVAC vent is going to affect ventilation; how much depends on the exact air flow, I suppose, and whether the HVAC is running or not. Buying and using an IR temp gun would be a good idea to keep a close eye on temps in different spots, since the area near an HVAC vent is pretty volatile in terms of temperature.

 

[fishingguy12345]

Note that FG's substrate seems to be pea gravel

Filter foam with pea gravel on top . 80-90% of the top is covered by a piece of glass.

 

[A.Newton]

just about a week I'm already thinkin about doubling the size of the tank hahaha didnt expect frogs to be so fun

 

[dartsinmanhattan]

I have three red galacts in a 75 gallon converted aquarium. I've had them for almost four years. When you can't find them--look up. They tend to climb when they're stressed. My smallest frog didn't make an appearance for two weeks when I got them. I finally spotted him in a plant pocket at the very top of my rockwork background. To this day, he won't eat with the rest--on feeding days he climbs into the same planter pocket and waits for me to sprinkle some flies for him.

 

[A.Newton]

I have three red galacts in a 75 gallon converted aquarium. I've had them for almost four years. When you can't find them--look up. They tend to climb when they're stressed. My smallest frog didn't make an appearance for two weeks when I got them. I finally spotted him in a plant pocket at the very top of my rockwork background. To this day, he won't eat with the rest--on feeding days he climbs into the same planter pocket and waits for me to sprinkle some flies for him.

I now kinda regularly see the four--three in a group and the rest. I always saw two--the biggest--eating and they kinda pooped all over the place but on the ground.

my closure is quite small so the flies kinda crawls to every corner. hopefully they're all well fed