Mixing color morphs of the same species?

rudukai13 · #1 07-21-2010, 02:43 PM

Ok, I know that it's strongly discouraged to mix different species of Dendrobates, but I can't help but notice that even among species there are variations in colors, labled as different "morphs" on dealer websites. Would it be detrimental/permissable for one to put two different morphs together in a tank, provided that the frogs were still the same species? For example -

Dendrobates Auratus "Black and Green":

Dendrobates Auratus "Campana":

D3monic · #2 07-21-2010, 07:21 PM

No, these "Morphs" are entirely different populations of that species. Campana should only be breed with Campana and black and green with black and green.

rudukai13 · #3 07-21-2010, 10:53 PM

Er...Can you explain why? I'm not sure I understand the detrimant...

Grimm · #4 07-22-2010, 12:42 AM

The reason they are different is because they evolved in different areas, meaning they would rarely, if ever, cross paths.

Basically if the frogs look different, dont mix them. And even if you are planning a huge viv, if you have to ask if they can be mixed or not, chances are you are not experienced enough to keep them together. Do a search on dendroboards for "mixing" and you will find about a million reasons why not to mix.

RecycledAgain · #5 07-22-2010, 04:54 PM

Morphs are variations of the same species of frog. (they can and will breed)The reason there are morphs is because they are from separate isolated areas that contain/trap the type of morph from its cousins,usually geographically.

You have obviously seen how passionate some people can be against mixing . Your innocent question is the crux of what most of the dart frog community is afraid of. "ohh I like those yellow frogs and I like those blue aswell"... The end result is baby frogs that just don't exist in the wild. Unlike the hybridizing in reptile community we would like to keep the frog lines pure. I know that sounds a bit simplistic, but I hope that answers your question a little better than "Don't Do It"

Dan

froggsong · #6 07-22-2010, 05:02 PM

I'm going to chime in here, just to open discussion a bit, not to start any arguments or anything like that.

I understand that keeping the lines pure is obviously a good thing, for various reasons.

My question is:

What makes it so wrong to have both? Wild type (which will likely become more valuable), and "designer" morphs?

RecycledAgain · #7 07-22-2010, 09:06 PM

The catch is you cant always tell what frogs are misrepresented. The second catch is that informed and especially uninformed think that they are responsible and are unwittingly spreading false frogs.

I think the emotion comes about because of principle. Some folks preach re-release in to the wild when we fix it, some just preserving what will be lost in the wild due to so called progress.

Dan

rudukai13 · #8 07-22-2010, 09:53 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the biggest concern is that these inter-bred specimens would somehow make their way back into the genetic pool either mis-labeled as "pure" animals or sold to irresponsible individuals. If the frogs were bred for personal enjoyment, never released to the public, and carefully kept seperate from the other "pure" animals (after being born, of course) would there be as much of an objection?

Grimm · #9 07-22-2010, 10:09 PM

No one is going to stop you if you want to go about mixing your animals. However it goes against pretty much everyones way of thinking and you will probably end up getting flammed for it haha

If you have no experience with either morphs seperately, then how are you to ever know there is a problem with them together? Typically when mixing is experimented with, the owner has a deep understanding on each specific animal's tendencies and daily patterns. Once housed together (in a LARGE enclosure), observations can be made to determine if either of the animals is suffering because of it.

Why do you want to mix anyways? Both morphs will look just as great in seperate tanks, plus instead of having 2 different ones, you can get a pair and start breeding them

rudukai13 · #10 07-22-2010, 10:31 PM

Let me just clarify - I'm in NO WAY asking about cross breeding between two seperate species. I'm talking about allowing different color morphs within the same species to breed, purely out of curiosity as to what traits will be more dominant over others. And the motivation behind mixing in the first place would just be to have a larger variety in the animals in a particular enclosure.