Tadpole trouble :(

[jbigtoe]

In my classroom we are raising tadpoles. One of them hasn't been growing very well. It is smaller than the others. It is in a separate tank than the others. No frogs are in this tank. Does anyone have any experience in raising the tads? How to feed them? Water changes?

The eh instructions I have for raising them is from "grow a frog". The food sent with them looks a bit like dirt. I haven't had much luck getting the tads to mature with this. Someone said to make a soup of goldfish flake powder and feed that to them. Other ideas, on how to care for and help sickly tads?

[KLHreptiles]

well thats teachers for ya but heres some good dart frog tadpole food http://www.dartfrogconnection.com/br...pole-food.html

and some good hiding spots http://www.dartfrogconnection.com/br...eafs-2-qt.html

or u could get the kit http://www.dartfrogconnection.com/df...dpole-kit.html.

what are you feeding them and do you have them altogether in one big tank or all in their own tank and what dart frog tads are they.

KLHreptiles

[KLHreptiles]

i would just get this http://www.dartfrogconnection.com/df...dpole-kit.html

[jbigtoe]

What are you feeding them and do you have them altogether in one big tank or all in their own tank and what dart frog tads are they.

KLHreptiles

I would appreciate helpful comments about Aquatic Clawed Frogs and their tadpoles (filter feeders). If it is helpful to anyone else I have tried a strained version of the fish flake soup to remove any of the bigger pieces. This really seems to be helping them out, but the little sickly one didn't survive. The tads are being kept in a tank with two sides connected by a tube. Each side is a 6x6 cube. Two tadpoles per tank.

Any teacher comments should be directed at a teacher blog or forum.

[Geoff]

I suspect that it's probably the small water volume and poor water quality that's inhibiting the tadpoles' development rather than the food. A 6" cube is very tiny for two tadpoles. You may find these old threads helpful:

This is about maintaining water quality: http://www.frogforum.net/aquatic-cla...pole-care.html

This contains information about feeding tadpoles:http://www.frogforum.net/aquatic-cla...us-laevis.html

[jbigtoe]

I suspect that it's probably the small water volume and poor water quality that's inhibiting the tadpoles' development rather than the food. A 6" cube is very tiny for two tadpoles.

Thanks so much for your helpful comments. This place we got the tadpoles from said that the 'tube town' was a great little tank for raising a couple tads. We have not had a lot of luck with the instructions we were given. They say to do a 25% water change once a week. I have found that changing more often seems to keep them happier. I saw the tub of tadpoles in one of the links sent to me, and that seems like a great way to keep the water fresh. The sellers also said, NO TAP WATER period. But I saw that people do use dechlorinated tap water or tap water that has set for 24 hours.

I have also heard conflicting information about aerating the water or filtering for tads. It would seem that filtering would be counter productive for them, but are they sensitive to the water movement?

[Geoff]

The advice you were given by whoever supplied the tadpoles was poor and misleading. Essentially, it all boils down to judging the best means of maintaining good water quality and a nutritious diet and there are many ways to achieve those things, some of which were described in the links I gave you. With regard to water movement, it's important to bear in mind that these animals originate from bodies of still or slow-flowing water, which means that they cannot withstand excessive turbulence. A gentle air current passing through the water provides slight water movement, which is beneficial to the water quality and won't adversely affect the tadpoles providing they're not swirling around in a miniature whirlpool.