Tadpole Propagation

Ultimately, if you keep Dendrobatids, you will eventually come to this topic, so we will attempt to briefly go over some of the important points to successfully breed Dendrobatids in captivity. As far as breeding goes, most Dendrobatids can be broken down, somewhat, into three groups… Ones that will lay eggs in bowers, ones that lay eggs on plants, and Egg-feeders. Many of the larger frogs such as Phyllobates, and Epipedobates, and those in the D. tinctorius group will readily lay eggs in a secluded covered spot called a bower. A bower is anything the frogs can find cover under to carry out their breeding activities. It could be overlapping leaves, a petri dish under a coconut shell, a flowerpot, or a film canister. The male frog usually initiates breeding by calling to a female. If the female is willing, she will follow the male around, stroking his back until he leads her to his bower. This process may take hours. When the eggs are laid, the frogs return to keep them moist. In the wild, the male frog will check on the eggs until they hatch, then carry the tadpoles to a source of water, after which all parental duties end. In captivity, the eggs may be removed at this point to be raised apart from the parents. It generally takes about 8-14 days for the eggs of most species to hatch into tadpoles.

There are many different methods to raising tadpoles. The easiest method is to raise the tadpoles in individual containers until they metamorphose into froglets. Other methods include raising them in groups or using containers floating in an aquarium with a filter to clean the water. We feel that the individual container method is still one of the better methods. Cleaning the water in individual containers can be time consuming, but it reduces the risk of cannibalism or spreading diseases through a group of tadpoles. Once the tadpoles are placed into their individual containers, they can be raised on a diet of high quality tropical fish food. Other items fed to tadpoles include spirulina, chlorella, and mosquito larvae. The water should be changed as it gets dirty, depending on the size of the containers they are being kept in. Obviously, an 8-ounce cup is going to need changing before a 32-ounce cup. The tadpoles should be treated similarly to tropical fish, and similar water quality precautions should be followed, such as treating hard water before using it for the tadpoles. If kept in the mid 70’s, the tadpoles should metamorphose into froglet in about 6 – 8 weeks. Before the tadpole absorbs all of its tail, the water level in the cups should be reduced to avoid drowning. Placing the cup at an angle of less than 30 degrees will also aide in allowing the froglet an easier transition out of the water. Froglets can be managed similarly to adult frogs, except that they are smaller, and so the food items should be adjusted in size, accordingly. Some hobbyists prefer to raise them in smaller enclosures to assure that they can find the food items with ease.

If the frogs are laying the eggs in the provided hut, then life is simple! You just need to remove the lid, or whatever they laid their eggs on, preferably about twenty four hours after they have laid them, (to allow them time to fertilize them) and place the eggs in a container with super high humidity. Before you place the clutch in the humid spot for incubation, clean any debris away from the clutch, and remove any obviously bad eggs with a pair of tweezers, or the corner of a piece of paper towel. Add a small amount of de-chlorinated water, just enough to wet the bottom of the lid or dish the eggs are in. Keep the eggs at around 75 degrees, and you will either begin to see development within a few days, or the eggs will go bad. Many dart frogs do not start out laying good eggs, but may do so after a season or so of bad eggs, but some lay good eggs right from the start.
While the eggs are developing, remove any obviously bad eggs, and keep the clutch damp. After between fourteen and twenty days, the fully developed tadpoles should erupt from the eggs. I assist tadpoles which have erupted, but are having problems getting out of the gel around them, but don't generally break them out of their egg.
At this point set the tadpoles up in a cup with a shallow layer of water in the bottom. The water should be de-chlorinated, or you might consider using spring water, I find the newly setup tadpole to be the most delicate stage of the whole process. Make sure the water is near the same temperature as the tadpole has been, so it doesn't shock the tadpole. If the tadpole seems active you can put a very small amount of good quality flake fish food on the surface of the water, a couple of specks the size of a pepper corn would be about right. You can also wait two or three days before feeding the tad the first time, they do not do much the first few days. As the tadpole begins feeding, water changes every two to five days are required to keep water quality high. You may need to keep a lid on the cup to keep water temps high enough, since evaporative cooling can bring the temperature of water down as much as five degrees. Check the actual water temperature, and keep it in the seventies most if not all the time. The tadpole should emerge at around sixty to eighty days, depending on species, and conditions. When the front legs pop out of their skin, you will want to lower the water level to a quarter inch or so, and stop feeding them. In a few more days you can set up your new frog in a container similar to those I recommend in my froglet care sheet. The new froglets will take their first food within a few days.