So yeah... guess what my fiance came home from work with today? Tadpoles, in a water bottle. He said there were like hundreds of them in a big puddle on one of the locations, so he scooped some up, thinking they prolly wouldn't last very long in the puddle, which will eventually dry up. So i now have.. a few tadpoles, i think 3 or 4.. but the water in there is so dirty you can barely see them. So there could be more.. I'd love to watch them transform, and then let them go somewhere, can you do that? i mean would they be ok? I'd be willing to keep them too, we have extra tanks around. We were thinking we could set them up in a 10gallon, taking some rocks from the guppy tank to help cycle. But i wonder should i put the water thats in the bottle in with them? its really dirty.. but it is what they were living in. I've no idea, who knows what else is living in it! Also, Do they have the same basic requirements as fish? do they need a filter/heater/air bubbles? Any advice or websites would be extremely helpful!

Off to do some research and see what i can come up with.

Do you know what species they are? That'll determine tank size and whatnot.

They have basically the same requirements as fish except for a different diet (they sell tadpole food at most petstores and you can also feed live insects and/or frozen foods). They can be pretty messy so get a good filter. You shouldn't need to add anything else to the water besides a basic dechlorinator.

If it was me, I'd probably add the water they were living in to add bacteria and help them transition. But that's just me, it shouldn't matter much .

Oh, and I'm not sure if they'll need a heater because that depends on the species and your house's temperature.

Ive no idea what species they are.. He says the water prolly has a bunch of cow poo in it, so he brought me a bottle of cow poo.. how sweet!

our house is usually kept around 72, atleast thats what i try to leave the AC on, david puts it on 70.. so maybe a heater would be good? i think we have an extra one, but its not the kind you can adjust.. I think it just sets at 75 or 76, its what we use in our guppy tank. I read online that if its too cold they won't change as fast, or at all, is this true?

Also, should the tank be filled up all the way? david says it seemed like they were staying in the shallowest part of the puddle.

Once they're in clearer water, I would take some pictures and try to get an ID on them.

Hmm, yeah, a heater might be a good idea. Yes, warmer temperatures can speed up growth.

At this stage the aquarium can be filled most of the way but I would decide based on their behavior. If they're having no trouble swimming and getting food then the amount of water isn't a big deal. As they grow, you'll need to lower the water level and add areas for them to get out of the water.

Thanks Stephanie, What would we do without you!

Frogs generally aren't silly. They know full well where they lay their eggs. Some species can develop from egg to tadpole to frog in a matter of days. In some cases, the drying up of a source of water is actually a catalyst to encourage the metamorphosis process. There's some research to support that some frogs actually change their life cycle with the dryer seasons, developing faster, and during particularly wet years, they remain tadpoles much longer. If they're small and black, they may even be toad tadpoles... toadpoles? Of course, a good drought will always be harmful to an amphibian population that requires a water source to reproduce... but I just wanted to point out that what we sometimes see as 'rescuing' an animal in the wild isn't alway necessarily so.

I have tadpoles too! I have about 20 though.......i have had them from spawn and they are now just growing their back legs......i have them in a baby bath with normal cold water and lots of pond weed and they are thriving! I fed them on lettuce and goldfish flakes from tiny babies and they are now absolutely huge so i have obviously done ok! now that they have got their back legs i have added bricks for them to climb out onto and i feed them with small pieces of liver but there a few pond shrimps and stuff off the pond weed so they must feed off that too.....good luck with your tads i hope they do aswell as mine have lol i will post pics later if i can get some good ones!!! xx

Wow rav, thats really cool, maybe in a week we'll try to go back out there and see what happens with the rest of them. amphibians are so interesting aren't they? I'll tell david about that, but i think he really wants to see them grow up, i kinda do too.

Right now there in a plastic bucket with about a a gallon or more water, After i finally got them in clear water i got to find out we have 6 iI wanna get them set up in a 10gallon tank, but i need to get a new filter cartridge. Im gonna try and take some pics. So i can try to figure out what they are.. With my luck they prolly are toadpoles..

You dont need a water filter or anything in there for them mine are thriving and dont have a filter or heater or anything.......they are basically living how they would in the wild in a pond only in a smaller pond made from a baby bath lol.....i will be returning them as frogs back to the lake i got them from i cant wait to see them full grown its been really rewarding watching them grow from tiny tadpoles to tadpoles with legs lol xx

Do you have some kind of cover on there baby bath? I'd kinda like to put them outside.. but i dunno, we have alot of birds and cats in the neighborhood that frequent our yard... as well as our own dogs..
Got any pics of yours? Sorry if the pics are too big.

The USGS has a pretty extensive site on how to identify tadpoles by species. Start with Frogs of Oklahoma to narrow it down a bit, and go from there.

Thanks Ravnos, I'll try to figure it out!


Heres a pic of the bottle when he handed it to me.. anyone want some aquafina? bleh

No i got no cover on the bath they are in my garage tho and they are doing brilliantly! They are getting their back legs now i will get pics for you tonight! xx

Normally they don't take very long to change..

Put in some boiled spinach and algea wafers.

Once they grow all 4 legs they normally don't eat for a week as they eat their tail, so don't be worried if they aren't eating right away. Also they probably wont all change at the same rate, and some tree frogs are horrible swimmers so you have to be careful when they start growing so the froglets don't drown while the tadpoles still have enough water.

They do need really good filtration, in the wild they actually do have good filtration, either in a moving stream or in a pond where there are other critters that clean up such as bacteria, snails, fish, and so on. As well as the stuff sinks to the bottom and tadpoles stay near the surface most of the time.

This morning was the first time i got to sit and really get a close look at them, i fed them some fish flakes, they seem to like them. It's neat, this morning they were all kinda laying on the bottom in the rocks, and when i put the flakes in you could tell they smelled them or something cuz after a min or so, they started getting all excited and came up to eat.. But there not very coordinated.. like they know the food is on the surface, but they just kinda randomly swim around hoping to get some... there so cute! As i sat and watched them eat i noticed they all have little tiny back feet!!! Soo cute!