Epipedobates anthonyii come from a region of South America comprised of northeastern Peru and southwestern Ecuador.  Until recently, they were grouped together with Epipedobates tricolor and in fact are still today thought of by many as E. tricolor.  These are medium size dart frogs that are primarily terrestial in behavior although males will seek out high spots from which to call.  Their call is truely delightful and has been compared to that of a canary.  Multiple males will compete in calling duels so a group of E. anthonyii can be fairly noisy although we love to hear our singing.  Females of the species which tend to be larger than the males will approach a calling male when ready to breed and be grabbed from behind in a so-called head amplexus.  Mating tend to produce 20-30 eggs and the male will guard the clutch aggressively against intruders, including the female that laid them!  After the tadpoles hatch the male will allow the tadpoles to swarm up onto his back and carry them for 1-5 days prior to deposting them in a water source.  The tadpoles are not cannibalistic so they can be raised together.  Upon morphing out of the water, the new froglets are muddy brown and quite small yet are capable of taking fruit flies.
     We have three forms of E. anthonyii - Santa Isabel, Salvias and Tor Linbo's 'strong' line.  Both the Salvias and the 'Strong' are representations of the Salvias/Pasaje complex.  The Santa Isabels are Sean Stewarts line that we obtained from Yuri Huta, the Salvias came from Jon Werner and the 'Strong' were obtained from Tor himself at the 2006 IAD meeting.  We have enjoyed great success in breeding the Santa Isabels but have found the Salvias to be a bit more tricky to date.  These frogs tend to be some of our more heavily photographed frogs as you see from the photo album!  Our Santa Isabels are kept as two groups of four (two males and two females) in two 25 gallon high vivariums while the Salivas are kept as a group of six in a 37 gallon high setup.  Lastly the 'Strong' are a group of three males and one female in a 29 gallon vivarium.