What to feed my tadpoles

[MartinW]

Well, I went out and caught 4 tadpoles, some minnows, and some baby catfish. I tried feeding my tadpoles regular tropical fish flake food but they haven't eaten any yet. Will they eventually start eating it or do I need to feed them something else?

Martin

[Phil Beaudoin]

Try going to a pet store to get tadpoles. If you're going to keep them, boiled romain lettuce will work, as well, Zucchini boiled will work. Of course, I know this works for most True Frogs, these could be toads though, chances are if they're small and black they are toads, if they're large and brown there most likely frogs.

----------Thanks,
------------------------Phil Beaudoin

[Edwin]

Tadpoles mainly feed on decaying plant matter. You could try feeding it algae wafers, which are found at any petstore.

[17730turtlegirl]

get some algae covered rocks for them and put them in the tank they love it

[stretch]

I've been feeding my tadpoles with tropical fish flakes with an algae ingredient since I had them and its working just fine. I've had them for over a month now. They're already popping legs, and they look very healthy.

[Dozer]

They wont "eat". The nibble off the sides of whatever you keep them in. Just keep tossin' the flakes in They are most likely toads if they are small and black, like Phil has stated. I raised 3/4 tads last year and 'til this day, the toads are growin'

[Emily-Fisher]

Flakes are OK to feed to him although I would try to avoid freeze dried foods as much as possible. Chopped, boiled, and drained lettuce is the best. You can freeze it to and break off a piece every time it's feeding time, then drop it into the water. You should also put a piece of egg shell in the water. The tadpoles nibble it and absorb it's calcium through the water which helps them grow faster. Change the water at least once a day or after feeding time and make sure that the water is dechlorinated!

[Dozer]

The water can be changed like every week. I like to keep on the cleaner side and change half the water every two days.

[Emily-Fisher]

Mike, the water can be changed every week if you are tryinbg to kill your tadpoles. If you want them to live then the water HAS TO BE CHANGED AT LEAST ONCE A DAY! Changing the water daily is the key to healthy tadpoles.

[Dozer]

Mine never died. Thats water with a filter and oxygen supply as well. Still water MUST be changed every day or other day. I shoulda cleared that up. My bad.

[Sean_.E.]

First off the ammount of food you give the tadpoles and how often you change the water depends on the size of the tadpoles, species, number of tadpoles per container, container used...etc

Actually you should NOT change tha water daily. Changing the water everyday is not good for the tadpoles and can kill them. Changing the water daily is like keeping the tadpoles in a bottle of distilled water and putting them in a new bottle everyday, It's not natural. In the wild tadpoles do not live in COMPLETELY clean water, do they? Tadpoles will often eat their own feces (not a bad thing).

The bottom line is: changing the water daily is not good for the tadpoles. I would suggest u change 25% of the water twice a week. Use your judgement though, Obviously if the tank is farly large you can change it less often (maybe 3 times every 2 weeks) as opposed to a small jar which will need to be changed more often. If you have live plants in the container with the tadpoles that helps filter a and oxigenate the water a little bit aswell as create a more natural environment.

When I raise bull frog and green frog tadpoles I put live plants in with them and change the water (25%) once a week. For large tadpoles I leave 5 gallons per tadpole. You can use distilled water or tap water that has been let in the sun for 5-6 days

For food, all the previous suggestiond are good. You can also but commercial tadpole bites.

If you could tell us the species and/or appearance of the tadpoles. If you described the enclosure, that would help too!

Hope this help!
Sean

[Dozer]

I just wrote what worked for me

[Sean_.E.]

I understand! It's good to explore and experiment with different methods! The information that i provided is from research and personal experiance. It is what I find best!

[Dozer]

We are talking, however about a VERY hardy species of toad. This rather tends not to work out for other amphibians because temperature and many other factors become a worry ( things like pH, carbon levels, etc. ). Do not take this as a general "rule". DIfferent sepcies need different needs

[Oliverian]

When I first got my tadpoles, they were starving. I wasn't around when they arrived, so my mom put some fried chicken in there and they went crazy. I feed them everything--various fish foods, boiled eggs and yolks, boiled lettuce, sometimes dead insects, rabbit pellets, and one time I put stillborn guppy babies in there and they loved those. It might just be some species who will eat such a variety, though. Good luck!