Aggression / Territoriality #

TL;DR #

Aggression can occur in any species of dart frogs. Look for signs of aggression between frogs and be prepared to separate them if it occurs. Aggression often takes the form of wrestling with territorial calls from males being forced and staccatto than mating calls.

Do well in groups #

• Dendrobates auratus
• Dendrobates leucomela
• Epipedobates anthonyi
• Phyllobates (all species)
• Ranitomeya (all species)
• Ameerega (all species)

Do not do well in groups #

• Dendrobates tinctorius
  • females are territorial, limit groups to breeding pair or two males, one female
• Oophaga (all species)
  • males are territorial, small groups can be ok but do best in breeding pairs

Videos of aggressive behavior #

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNMQyy4tJNo
• https://youtube.com/shorts/PKE1B3VdeCs?si=bLId4HNVBS-DdNw5

Sources #

• González-Santoro, Marco & Ph, Jack & Palacios Rodríguez, Pablo. (2021). Aggressive behaviour, courtship and mating call description of the neotropical poison frog Phyllobates aurotaenia (Anura: Dendrobatidae). Herpetology Notes. 14.
• Chaloupka S, Peignier M, Stückler S, Araya-Ajoy Y, Walsh P, Ringler M and Ringler E (2022) Repeatable Territorial Aggression in a Neotropical Poison Frog. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10:881387. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.881387