Difficulty: Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
- Lettuce or spinach
- Fish food
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Step 1
Tadpoles are herbivores, meaning they require plants to feed on. A bit of romaine lettuce or spinach is a great food source. Boil these first, in order to soften them and make them easier to eat. Ground fish flakes are a good food source as well.
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Step 2
Feed tadpoles every third day. Do not keep more than a few tadpoles in a standard aquarium. If they are overcrowded, they will not undergo metamorphosis as quickly.
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Step 3
Change the water in the tadpoles' container just before feeding. If the water is too fouled, tadpoles may not have enough oxygen.
Comments
bekmac00 said
on 7/15/2009 To change or not to change. That is the question.
As a tadpole virgin with an abundance of tadoples in our locak water hole I will conduct a rudimentary experiment. Matching containers, equal no of tadpoles, equal light, food etc. Variable- one will have its water changed. Will let you know!!
jkhamlin said
on 7/14/2009 I've seen tadpoles die from shock from changing the water. It happens all too easily. And again, they don't need oxygen in the water, as they will gulp air whether or not there is any oxygen content in the water.
http://tropicalis.berkeley.edu/home/husbandry/raisetads.html#Anchor-Environment-48213
http://faculty.virginia.edu/xtropicalis/husbandry/TroptadcareNew.htm
FrogDoc said
on 7/10/2009 So, you've raised thousands of tadpoles and never changed their water and they didn't die? Great. It's possible. But I'm not sure a mom with a little kid will want a stinky cloudy mess of a goldfish bowl in their home for weeks. I HAVE changed their water and they do NOT die because of shock, so your earlier comment stating that they will die is incorrect. I'm not sure why it would benefit me to give advice on something that doens't work. So, bug off.
jkhamlin said
on 7/10/2009 Step three is very incorrect. I am a biologist as well. I have raised thousands of tadpoles. It's not hard to reach that level, and if you knew anything about frog reproduction, you would know that. They produce hundreds to thousands at a time. You don't have to worry about oxygen levels. They gulp air to compensate for this. Frogs tend to lay their eggs in stagnant, low oxygen ponds to avoid predators such as fish (which do require the oxygen). In fact, they thrive on a dirty, low oxygen environment better than in a clean, high oxygen environment. You apparently just don't know much about frogs.
FrogDoc said
on 7/1/2009 Step three is not incorrect. I've raised thousands (yes, thousands... I'm a frog biologist) of tadpoles and have never killed them because of shock. Of course make sure the temperature of the water is similar. And it is not only the oxygen depletion you need to worry about... buildup of nitrogenous wastes will cause bloating and tail kinks.