# Tadpoles Stuck



## ExoticPocket (Dec 23, 2010)

Ok. So my anthonyi laid a clutch of 11 eggs. 1 of them was bad and died and the other ten hatched. I have moved 8 of them to a tadpole rearing tank. But there is something weird with 2 of them. They seem to be stuck in a curve... I have used a toothpick to see if I could clear some of the egg mas off them but there doesn't seem to be any.... Help please!!! What do you think it is??? I will post a picture or 2 of them. I don't know if this helps but when they try to swim, all they do is start spinning in circles up to the top of the water and then when they hit the top of the water they just float back down.









Thats the 2 of them.










Thats one of them.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Doesn't sound stuck. Sounds deformed. Depending on where the deformation has occured it maybe okay once it metamorphs but it is often hard to keep them alive as they often starve as the kinking prevents the tadpole from feeding readily. 

Ed


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## ExoticPocket (Dec 23, 2010)

Ok so should I just keep them seperate from othe other ones right now?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

ExoticPocket said:


> Ok so should I just keep them seperate from othe other ones right now?


It is up to you if you want to house them seperately. They probably have a deformation that is going to make it harder to feed. If the deformation is of the spine outside of the tail then it won't go away if they survive to metamorphosis. 

Ed


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## Zoomie (Jul 3, 2011)

Exotic, if you don't mind, please keep us updated. I am certain that there is something for all of us to learn here.


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## ExoticPocket (Dec 23, 2010)

Well what happened is I put them in the container with other tadpoles. The next day I noticed that their tails were in the normal position. They were able to swim around fine but they were both smaller than the other tads by a lot. They survived until they got there front legs. They morphed and then they died. They were considerably smaller than the other morphs so maybe they got out competed.


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## johnc (Oct 9, 2009)

In my experience, and not just with dart frogs but with other amphibians too, if for some reason the tadpole can't get out of the jelly in a timely manner, it can get stuck with a curved or wobbly tail. I don't think this is genetic, just an artifact of having restricted movement for too long.


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