# Supplementing Tadpoles ????



## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Previously, on one of the sponsor videos that I watched, they dusted the tadpole bites with Sera Micron. So, I have been doing this when feeding my tads. My question is...

Is it possible to... or... Would there be any benefit to dusting tadpole bites with Repashy Calcium plus ICB and Repashy SuperVite?


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

No one ???


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## BrainBug (Aug 25, 2010)

Could you link the video?

How does a powder stay on a pellet? Seems like once it hit the water it would just come off and dissolve.


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Here it is...it was a Josh's Frogs video..."Poison Dart Frog Tadpole Care". Starts talking about it at 4:00.

Josh’s Frogs How-To Guides » Poison Dart Frog Care

This is what made me think that it may be possible to dust with supplements if it would be helpful. I haven't done it (the supplements)...have been waiting for responses. Don't want to do anything that might harm the little guys. I have, however, dusted the tadpole bites with the Sera Micron...not sure if it's coming off, though...my tadpole tea is a little too dark to tell for sure.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Hi Wendy,

This is a complex topic.... and would require a lot of typing if we go through the whole thing.. 

It depends on what you are trying to do with the tadpoles... I would use a good quality flake food as a source of supplements instead of trying to adding dusting supplements to the water... They are made to be utilized in that manner and supplements added to the water are likely to simply add to the bioload of the tank. Using Sera-micron is a little different as that is a whole algae product and not a basic dust. 

Tadpoles can uptake calcium and other ions from the water, and a balanced food (like good quality fish flakes and tadpole bites) are a good way to provide a balanced diet to the tadpoles. One of the things that people often overlook is that these tadpoles (In general) are much more carnivorous than is commonly thought. Adding a good quality source of protein the to the diet can really reduce cannibalism and increase the growth rate of the tadpoles. If you can get blackworms locally they are a good source as a couple added to the water will survive as the tadpoles chew off the ends... other people use frozen thawed bloodworms (but drain them first or you can really put stress on your water quality) or even chopped earthworms or live daphnia (frognet.org archives).

People should also keep in mind that with a few exceptions (R. ventrimaculatus for example) do not have the same chromatophores as the adults. They have a different skin structure which changes which carotenoids they can store... they also can use astaxanthin instead of beta carotene as a source of vitamin A... 

I'm pretty tired so I'm not sure that I didn't just ramble all over the place.. but does that help? 

Ed


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Ed said:


> Hi Wendy,
> 
> This is a complex topic.... and would require a lot of typing if we go through the whole thing..
> 
> ...


Yes, thank you, Ed! I was hoping you'd chime in.

I'm currently feeding the tadpole bites dusted with the Sera Micron and fish flakes... and I've got some Indian Almond leaves and moss in there for them to munch on, so I guess I wasn't doing too badly. Now to just get some worms in their diet.

You mentioned frozen, thawed bloodworms... would there be a problem using the dried bloodworms (in a can similar to fishflakes) that you can buy for Bettas? Seems that those would be even easier.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

WendySHall said:


> Yes, thank you, Ed! I was hoping you'd chime in.
> 
> I'm currently feeding the tadpole bites dusted with the Sera Micron and fish flakes... and I've got some Indian Almond leaves and moss in there for them to munch on, so I guess I wasn't doing too badly. Now to just get some worms in their diet.
> 
> You mentioned frozen, thawed bloodworms... would there be a problem using the dried bloodworms (in a can similar to fishflakes) that you can buy for Bettas? Seems that those would be even easier.


I was more tired than I thought.. that did ramble around a bit.. 

You can use dried bloodworms but it is possible that the tadpoles can ingest air bubbles trapped in the dried bloodworms. 
Frozen bloodworms can be purchased in a small ice cube tray like package allowing a small cube to be popped out and thawed. If you don't have enough tadpoles for a whole cube (about the size of small to medium sized olive) you can cut the cube in half with a knife. I would thaw them in a cup and feed them out using tweezers. 

Ed

PS: you could have sent me a pm for the thread... I don't see everything on here when I swing through.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Well, as long as you're here 

I ground up fish flakes, tad bites, algae wafers, and, dried blood worms, into a powdery consitencey to feed tads. Is there any reason to not do it this way? Would the grinding eliminate the possible injestion of air bubbles from the dried blood worms?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

frogface said:


> Well, as long as you're here
> 
> I ground up fish flakes, tad bites, algae wafers, and, dried blood worms, into a powdery consitencey to feed tads. Is there any reason to not do it this way? Would the grinding eliminate the possible injestion of air bubbles from the dried blood worms?


Grinding up the larger items into a powder opens up the premade items to oxidation and breakdown of various items in the food including fats and oils. 
I personally would only do this with a limited amount say no more than 2 weeks worth. 

Ed


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Thanks again, Ed. I never would have thought about air bubbles. I think I will go ahead and pick up some frozen bloodworms. I'll definitely have to cut them up, though...I only have 3 tads! Lol! I just want them to morph as healthy as possible.


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## vugger#1 (Jul 20, 2009)

Wendy I also use Josh's method for the tadpoles. Dusting the tadpole bites is really just the way of getting the Sera Micron in the water without over doing it. Some of it stays on the bites but most of it just floats away in the water then the tadpoles find it and feed on it. Feeding a good quality fish food a few times works great also. I have done this for the last 2 years with great rewards. I think if you look at Josh's website you will see the fish food they use and sell.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

perhaps a better way to get the sera micron to the tadpoles would be to use a gel diet.. this would allow a variety of nutrients to be suspended into unflavored gelatin, which can then be frozen or refrigerated for use. 

There are a lot of different variations out there (look at fish gel diets) and they can be customized to the tadpoles being fed. 
As an example if you look on page 78 of this book Amphibians: Guidelines for the Breeding, Care and Management of Laboratory Animals you can see one example used for Ranid tadpoles. 


Ed


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

Oh....I almost forgot....another thing that I have fed a couple of times is live fruit flies. I just shake about 6-10 right into the tad water. Is this a good/bad thing? I figured it would be a good food source...simulating what they would naturally find in the water (bugs).


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

WendySHall said:


> Oh....I almost forgot....another thing that I have fed a couple of times is live fruit flies. I just shake about 6-10 right into the tad water. Is this a good/bad thing? I figured it would be a good food source...simulating what they would naturally find in the water (bugs).


 
Nothing wrong with it. 

Ed


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## WendySHall (Aug 31, 2010)

K...I'm done for now. Lol!


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