# Frogs & Toads > Dart Frogs (Dendrobatidae) > Beginner Discussion >  Dart frog questions

## Brett

I've been looking into dart frogs lately (D. tinctorius, to be exact) and I would like to know:

-Isn't D. tinctorius supposed to be the best poison frog for beginners?
-How many can live comfortably into a 10-gallon tank?
-What kind of plants should I buy?
-What are the ideal day and night temperatures?

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## Paul Rust

> I've been looking into dart frogs lately (D. tinctorius, to be exact) and I would like to know:
> 
> -Isn't D. tinctorius supposed to be the best poison frog for beginners?
> -How many can live comfortably into a 10-gallon tank?
> -What kind of plants should I buy?
> -What are the ideal day and night temperatures?


*-Tincs are an excellent beginner choice, very bold and active.*
*-One Tinc in a 10g tank. If you want multiple frogs go with D.auratus or D.leucomelas.*
*-Any tropical plant that you like, Tincs don't climb so they won't destroy plants.*
*-Day temps around 75F-78F, never over 80F, Night temps around 70F.*

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## John Clare

I'm going to disagree with Paul here and say that you can keep a sexed pair in a 10 gallon.  It's not ideal, but I know a ton of tinc breeders in real life who just use a 10 gallon for their pairs, and I have 2 pairs set up that way myself.

As for the temperatures, my tincs get down to about 65 °F (18 °C) at night and up to about 75 °F during the day.

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## Paul Rust

> I'm going to disagree with Paul here and say that you can keep a sexed pair in a 10 gallon.


*I'd agree with that, how else would we get babies huh.*

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## Brett

There's something else I don't understand. Do I keep the plants in their pots when I put them in the tank, or what? I know it may sound like a stupid question, but I've never really dealt with any sort of live plants, so I have no idea what to do.

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## Paul Rust

> There's something else I don't understand. Do I keep the plants in their pots when I put them in the tank, or what? I know it may sound like a stupid question, but I've never really dealt with any sort of live plants, so I have no idea what to do.


*You can do that but if you want a true vivarium try this.*
*2-3" of aquarium rock for drainage.*
*2" of coco-fibre or other substrate to plant the plants in.*
*Top it all off with sphagnum moss and leaf litter.*
*Seed it with springtails.*
*Put in seed pods and other hiding spots.*
*Darts will be very happy.*
*This setup will take care of itself and you won't have to clean it.*
*This sounds like a lot but it is really basic.*
*Look at my albums and others as well for pics of various setups.*

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## Ebony

Hi there Teh Frog Whisperer, I think it depends on the plant. Some plants need soil and some don't. I have some in pots and some just in the sphagnum. When I do have the plants in pots I re-pot them up with sphagnum on the top and bottom of the new pot. It just separates the frog from the soil as allot of soils have growing agents and pesticides in. I hope this helps :Smile: .

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## Ebony

Sorry Paul, We posted together :Big Grin: . 

Teh Frog Whisperer, I would go with Paul's set up. Sounds awesome.

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## Kurt

> *You can do that but if you want a true vivarium try this.*
> *2-3" of aquarium rock for drainage.*


I would use LECA like this - http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2...tore_Code=BJTS It weighs considerably less than pea gravel.




> *2" of coco-fibre or other substrate to plant the plants in.* 
> *Top it all off with sphagnum moss and leaf litter.*


I plant my plants in sphagnum moss. It works well with my bromeliads, which have grown so well that I had to build a new tank for them. I am hoping to set it up next week some time. Still building the top. On top of the sphagnum is a thin layer of leaf litter. I have a few plants that were planted in my tank, but there are others that popped up on their own from lord knows where.

If you do use coconut bedding, make sure to put a fine mesh in between it and the drainage layer (LECA or pea gravel). It would probably be a good idea if you went the sphagnum route as well.

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## Brett

How should I keep the humidity high and constant? Would I have to buy a mister, or just allow little to no air circulation? Also, what kind of supplemental heating should I use during winter if my room gets cold?

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## Kurt

Currently in my dart tank, I have a piece of plate glass, which is about an inch shorter in length than the tank, resting in the top frame of the tank. There is a folded up paper towel in the gap between it and the tank's upper frame to prevent fruit flies escaping.

A new design I have recently built, is a piece of plexi-glass that is the just a 1/16 of an inch shorter in length and width than the inside dimetions of the frame. Since you can cut and drill plexi-glass, I cut a window in it and using silicone, glued a piece of ultra-fine mesh over it. It will be installed on the new dart tank.

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## John Clare

Unlike most other frogs, dart frogs tolerate low ventilation very well, so most of us keep the humidity up by restricting the "vent" on the tank.  For example, the only air flow into and out of these tanks is through the narrow mesh vent at the top:



The brown balls at the bottom of both terrariums are LECA (Light Expanded Clay Aggregate).  There is water down there and it keeps the soil above the LECA wet and the terrarium stays humid.  I also mist the terrarium every 1-2 days.  Both pairs of Imitator dart frogs in those terrariums breed on an ongoing basis.

The downside to having such restricted air flow is that it promotes algae growth on the glass, which you have to clean off every once in a while if you want to have a good view of the frogs.

Folks with automatic misting systems can have much better ventilation because they don't need to rely on restricted ventilation to achieve high humidity.

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## Paul Rust

*That is a fantastic setup John. I have an automatic misting system so I use fans to control humidity.*

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## Brett

Thanks for the help, but how do you attach the bromeliads to the sticks and stuff? And where can I find that kind of bromeliad, or any kind of "air plant" for that matter?

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## Paul Rust

> Thanks for the help, but how do you attach the bromeliads to the sticks and stuff? And where can I find that kind of bromeliad, or any kind of "air plant" for that matter?


*There are probably as many ways to mount them as there are people who have them. This is how I usually do it.*
*I drill a 5/8" hole in the mounting material.*
*Then i pull the roots through snugly.*
*Next i use Liquid Nails around the base of the brom to glue it it place.*
*After the adhesive sets I wrap wet sphagnum moss around the base to hide the mount.*

*I buy my broms from:* http://www.michaelsbromeliads.com/

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## John Clare

I usually "engineer" the wood so that there is somewhere to stick the bromeliad into.  With the two setups above, in two cases I used toothpicks/cocktail sticks to attach the broms to the siliconed background - the broms then grow in roots after a few months to attach themselves.

I get my broms from Black Jungle because I only buy small growing species that hold a lot of water (not dwarves or miniatures though), so I get to see the plants in person and I get expert advice too - you can also order online from them or phone in an order for specific species.  My favourite is _Aechmea gamosepala_ - most _Aechmea_ species are huge but this one is very small by comparison - only grows to a max of 7 inches wide or so (about 18 cm).  Most of the bromeliads sold for terrariums are from the _Neoregelia_ genus and generally grow significantly larger.



The Tarapoto imitator pair in the terrarium with it love it, and it's full of tadpoles.  The only downside is that this species usually dies off after flowering (it takes a while to do that) but it produces seeds and several new plants from its base too.

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## Brett

Where can I buy plants for my poison frogs? Can I get them from Wal-Mart, or would pesticides and stuff like that be a concern?

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## John Clare

> Where can I buy plants for my poison frogs? Can I get them from Wal-Mart, or would pesticides and stuff like that be a concern?


Pesticides/herbicides would be a concern to me if purchasing plants from a normal shop like Wal-Mart.  To be safe, I advise you to purchase from a vendor like BlackJungle.com or Joshsfrogs.

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