Raising Tadpoles 2020

Yesterday the final Musketeer passed away.  On Wednesday, I noticed the fella was mostly staying on the bottom of the container. On Thursday, I could tell he was really struggling and thought I would lose him that night.  He made it to Friday, but was barely responsive and passed later on in the day.  I felt a bit helpless on what to do. I tried supplemental air and such, but that didn't appear to have a noticeable effect.  

And so the 2020 tadpole school closes. Hopefully things will go a bit better if I have any tadpole classes in 2021.  At least the first group had a perfect graduation rate.

I wonder how many tadpoles have celebrated Thanksgiving.  On last Wednesday, I noticed that the Musketeer has very tiny rear legs.  I'm not sure if they've been there for quite some time and I've only spotted them recently as I had to be at just the right angle to see them.  I've been too busy for the past week to get a good picture of the legs.  Hopefully the fella won't complete metamorphosis until next spring vs becoming a froglet in the middle of winter. 

Anyways here's a quick photo of him:

In this photo you can see them as little bumps on the sides of the tail, but not very well:

I'm happy to say he still appears to be doing well.  I'm hopeful that it's just a case of metamorphosis pausing until next spring.  I wouldn't mind having my little pal spending the winter with me. I gave his container another cleaning earlier this week and a new hiding leaf.  

Anyways, a clip of him:

The fella still appears to be healthy.  Due to the algae buildup, I gave his container a good cleaning. As seen from the below photo, he really likes to use the hiding leaf whenever possible.

Yes, more sads. On late Tuesday/early Wednesday I lost the larger of the Two Amigos and this afternoon I lost the other Amigo.  The larger of the Two Amigos seemed normal up until the end. The other Amigo starting showing signs this morning of something not being well by often being stuck upside down when swimming.  I feel like I've let this poor fellas down. I really wish I knew what has been the root cause of them pausing development.

The Musketeer seems fine, for now at least.  Some happy pictures and a video of the fella below:

In a last ditch effort to encourage growth (and also because the jars were really getting dirty) they have been moved to larger containers.  The Musketeer got his own critter container.  The Two Amigos got a presupposed storage container. It works well, but sadly isn't nearly as transparent as the critter container.   Both containers contain the new amenity of hiding leaves which everyone seems to love.  Everyone still appears to be in good health. 

A photo of the Musketeer masterfully using the hiding leaf:

A photo of the Two Amigos are using their hiding leaf:

And of course a video:

The three remaining (the Musketeer and the Two Amigos) seem to be enjoying the tadpole life. So much so that they have have apparently paused metamorphosis.  They should have all have made it to the froglet stage by now.  I've read about some species of tadpoles sometimes doing this then resuming next spring/summer but I haven't read that about this particular species. 

A photo of the Muskateer:

A photo of the Two Amigos:

I'm starting to get a bit more worried about the remaining members.  On late Monday/early Tuesday the 4th Amigo passed away.  I don't know the root cause of what's causing them to die off on me.  They seem to stop growing and then after a while show symptoms of illness.  The three remaining members appear to be healthy but not much in the way of further development.  

First image is of the remaining Musketeer and the second is the Two Amigos.

They're continuing to grow.  Some sad news once again though, the small one of the remaining Three Musketeers passed away late Sunday/Monday morning.   Three are nice and healthy, I'm a bit worried about the 4th Amigo as while the fella is larger than the one that passed away he's still a bit small compared to the three others.  There's another mosquito larvae in the 4th Amigo's jar I need to evict.

The Two Amigos:

The 4th Amigo:

Uninvited guest in the 4th Amigo's jar:

Of course the videos:

. . . a pair or rear legs developing on one of the Two Amigos!  Wasn't surprised that one of them would be the first since they're overall the largest/healthiest of the class.  It was hard to get good photos of the legs as they're small still small but if you look closely at the photos below, you can make it out.

An update of the smallest of the Three Musketeers.  The fella appears to be doing better after changing out the jar(and some prayer) and such. I'm caustically optimistic. 

And of course the video clips: