I have read many accounts of interspecific aggression occurring between frogs of similar colour or belonging to the same genus, and have experienced this aggression between tropical fish. Conversely, Hesselhaus shows photographs of Dendrobates pumilio fighting with D. tinctorius, neither being similar in size or colour. So, I was rather worried when I had to find alternative accommodation for two Phyllobates vittatus frogs when their tank started to leak.

Having seen the combination of animals kept by both Mick Bajcar and Kevin Du Rose, I put them in with a trio of Grey legged D. tinctorius, as their tank was heavily planted with bromeliads.  I also added a cluster of empty film containers for them to hide in and spent the next two hours watching for signs of aggression between the species.

Over the following three weeks, I noticed that the vittatus were more active and visible than before.  The Grey legs - which were considerably larger animals - would sit peacefully side by side with the P. vittatus whilst eating wax moth larvae from a Petri dish.  When the largest female Grey leg wanted the vittatus to ‘clear off’, she would give it a gentle back-hander, or a soft push away. I even observed her climbing over the vittatus when pursuing crickets.

I put the species together only because I did not believe that there would be any possibility of them interbreeding. As my D. tinctorius are predominantly terrestrial and the vittatus mostly arboreal, there appears to be a fair chance of them getting on together. I know that E. tricolor can be safely housed with D. auratus and D. tinctorius, but which other safe combinations have other members experienced? By ‘safe’, I mean unlikely to prejudice breeding.

Faxed article: regrettably, the author was not recorded.