Atelopus eggs!!!!

[clownonfire]

For the past few weeks, I have been working with other hobbyists in a Facebook group called The Captive Reproduction of Atelopus Project (****), created by Corey Wickliffe. The group includes Atelopus enthusiasts Ray Coderre (stemcellular), Colin Clark, Jason Soo-Juchems, Dennis Nilsson (he's behind Atelopus.com) and Dendroboard's moderator Shawn Harrington (sports_doc). As you can see, I'm the junior of the bunch...

Well ----->Egg mass was laid underwater by Shawn's female just outside the spray zone of the waterfall in his breeding tank, amongst the roots of the floating plants, after just one week.

Now for the feeding of tadpoles if they develop. His tank is only three weeks, thus no algae has developed yet... But this is another ball game.

I asked Shawn if I could share this with you. He welcomes all comments and/or suggestions.

Eric

[bshmerlie]

How long does it take for the eggs to hatch and how long as tad poles?

[clownonfire]

How long does it take for the eggs to hatch and how long as tad poles?

I'll try and have Shawn answer himself...

[berksmike]

Good luck with these - love the paludarium setup.
Must admit have been fascinated by this genus after watching the waving behaviour of Atelopus zeteki on David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood - unfortunately the last film of this frog in the wild.

[clownonfire]

Good luck with these - love the paludarium setup.
Must admit have been fascinated by this genus after watching the waving behaviour of Atelopus zeteki on David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood - unfortunately the last film of this frog in the wild.

That is a great segment, and sad at the same time. The Atelopus hoogmoedi do not have the same semaphoring behaviour as the A. zeteki. But they are still fascinating to watch.

[berksmike]

Gorgeous toads tho nevertheless - what sort of m/f ratios you keep them in?

[clownonfire]

Gorgeous toads tho nevertheless - what sort of m/f ratios you keep them in?

Personally I have 2 males : 1 female in the breeding tank. If a couple starts amplexus, I'll transfer the other male back to the tank to avoid distraction.

[Eric Walker]

that deserves a big WOOHOO

[Kurt]

Nice. I have been to Shawn's house and the frog room is very impressive. Better than a lot of zoo collections I have seen/worked with.

[clownonfire]

Nice. I have been to Shawn's house and the frog room is very impressive. Better than a lot of zoo collections I have seen/worked with.

I've read today Shawn mentioning his frog room as the "frog pit"... I can just imagine.

[Kurt]

Yeah its deep in the ground, under his massive garage.

[clownonfire]

Tads anyone (from Shawn's eggs)...??!!!!!

[rcteem]

Tads anyone (from Shawn's eggs)...??!!!!!

Any updates? I keep forgetting to ask him every time I have him on the phone...

Can you post pictures of your tanks?

[rcteem]

I know they need a lot of oxygen in the water right? I would recommend a canister filter or tickle down filtration as that is what we use at the Smithsonian...hope next season will be better for all of you!!!


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[kerokero]

Oxygen is super important, but in this case I really worried about the water flow.... if you don't have the water flow the oxygen doesn't even begin to be an issue. Shawn's tank was run on a Zoo Med turtle filter (with a waterfall to attempt to add oxygen) which *WITHOUT* the filter media in it, the filter maxes out at 79gph. With filter media in it, you only get about 80% of the estimated gph. Zeteki tads are recommended to have 250-350 gph of movement in the tank.

Good water movement in the other breeder tanks have been achieved by using both a nice big canister filter (LOVE those things!) as well as submersible water pumps (to make sure the whole tank has water flow around the rocks). Wouldn't hurt to use multiple canister filters. I do have a bit of a love affair with trickle down filters as well!

I'd love to have a large set up with canister filters, at least one trickle down, and maybe even a sump. Then again, I'm a fish nerd, and it's not always that easy to ask a frog person (much less one that raises tads individually in 16oz containers) to set up a tank like this, run it for months so it's biologically active enough to support the tads, all for what may end up being a clutch of eggs that result in what Sean saw

A lot of hillstream loach keepers will also put airstones in front of the water outputs to increase dissolved oxygen in the tank too, but I don't know how effectively this works?