Mixing color morphs of the same species?

[D3monic]

I know personally if I where to purchase a pair of frogs at $250 each I would like to be able to sell or trade the offspring and not be shunned by the rest of the dart frog world. No one can blame you for questioning why, hell I had the same thoughts when I first started "who the hell are these arrogant bastards trying to tell me what to do with MY animals" but after doing some research I figured out why. Now honestly the odds of OUR frogs ever making their way back to their original local is pretty darn slim. Dart frogs are treated like pure breeds and people go through great lengths to make sure that their lineage can be traced for example

These frogs, Oophaga pumilio "San Cristobal" come from the Isla san cristobal.



Their grandparents where collected from here.



It tends to make people upset if they have been going through such great lengths to track said lineage to hear someone talk about destroying the gene pool.

I hope this helped clear it up for you a little.

[rudukai13]

Why does one batch of mixed frogs "destroy the gene pool"? Especially if the crossbreeds are not allowed to come into contact with any other "pure" animals after they are born?

[Grimm]

I see.....Im not to sure, maybe something similar to an Auratus "San Felix", "Camo", or most likely of the "Reticulated" morph..There are a lot of Auratus morphs for sure.

I found this, it seems to be farly similar to this thread, except it has a lot of bigger words being used hahahah

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/bre...ng-morphs.html

[rudukai13]

I hope not to offend anyone by saying this, but it seems to me that most of the arguments against an individual breeding his/her own specimens (after accounting for the danger of then loosing the crossbred animals into the pure gene pool, a fear that I completely understand) are of one way or another of saying "I don't like it, so don't do it"...

[rudukai13]

Originally Posted by Grimm

I see.....Im not to sure, maybe something similar to an Auratus "San Felix", "Camo", or most likely of the "Reticulated" morph..There are a lot of Auratus morphs for sure.

That's what I was originally referring to. Not mixing different species, but the different color variations within a single species.

[RecycledAgain]

Hence the proverbial Slippery slope...

Breeding the morphs is generating a new line, as to traits I have no idea probably a washed out mix.

I agree with Grimm, The Green and black colors Pop in a leaf litter tank and the Campana almost shimmer in a green mossy tank.

Dan

[FwoGiZ]

I see you are asking for more than the basics arguments. I strongly suggest you take books or even better, University classes in Biology, Zoology and try to specialize in conservation... along with the basic genetics, you should be able to understand the even more complicated reasons NOT to mix, even different morphs. You should also read about chytrid fungus and 6th massive extinction and maybe you won't be saying what Dan sarcasticly said about the "so called progress"
This is a very delicate subjects and you are slowly getting aware that the frog hobby is a lot more strong than you might have thought, everyone knows everyone and rumors goes fast.. it is a small hobby.

Else, let me reiterate some points.
Different morphs means different needs. Only that is a good reason.
Personally my MAIN arguments is and always will be; if you are asking, then it means no. about that precise famoux mixing questions.
If you want to breed them, up to you. I personally wouldn't enjoy having to kill the too many offsprings I will have because I can't sell them and trust me, you will have too many.
My only question and probably everyone's else would be: Why? Why breed dif morph when you could just breed the same morph, and even be able to do money out of it! If what you want is breeding, then get a group of the same specie/morph. If what you want, is a nice collection of different frogs/morph, then get more tanks... as simple as that.

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[rudukai13]

I read up on the chytrid fungus and sixth extinction like you suggested. As somber as both topics are, I still fail to see their involvement in the current discussion.

Perhaps I might have a solution to the problem that everyone might find a bit more agreeable. If I were to set up two seperate tanks, and purchase sexed pairs of two different morphs to be kept in each seperate tank, this would allow for breeding of the pure gene pool and continuation of the original, natural frog lines. If I still wanted to venture into crossbreeding, I could then simply switch one of the frogs from each tank to the other, allowing the morphs to crossbreed for a single generation, then switching the parents back to their original tanks and quarantining the crossbred frogs from all others.

[RecycledAgain]

Froggers are Passionate ... I was trying to politely head that off. One other thing to consider.. Your talking about frogs that live for 15-20 years in a hobby that suffers a large turn over, I think I heard that the average is 3 yrs before getting out of the hobby.

What do we do with the offspring then?

Dan

[rudukai13]

Obviously it'd require a commitment. I won't commit to being the caretaker of a living animal unless I'm willing to commit to taking care of it for it's entire life span. I see it as the same thing as buying a dog or cat - you don't buy a dog or cat to have it for a few years and then sell it, you take care of it through it's entire life.