Raising Tadpoles 2020

Exactly what the title says, I've never raised so many at once before so I'm going to have to find an additional container or two soon after their front legs come out as they will soon want to come out of the water when that happens. Glad that all 12 aren't the same age so it will be a little staggered.  In the meantime here's another clip of Bubbles:

It's Bubbles this time.  I've been looking into where exactly the front legs develop in tadpoles.  From what I've read the front legs develop within or around the gill sacs which are the two reddish dots in the photo below.

Eventually it gets to the point where the water in a tadpole container needs to be changed.  For the replacement water I use well water, as the tap water contains chlorine.  I empty about half of the water from the container and pour it into another container.  The pouring into another container is a safety measure in case any tadpoles are accidentally poured out.  I let the replacement water and the container sit in the same environment for some time to allow for the temperatures to equalize.  Then of course I slowly pour the replacement water in.

Going a bit off-topic, I've noticed that the tadpoles have been doing fine without me blowing bubbles into the water to dissolve some oxygen.

Metamorphosis is surely in progress now. It's interesting to note that their front legs also develop at the same time, they just aren't noticeable till they pop out from inside the body.  After that, it's not long until they come out of the water and are ready to graduate. The first image is of Bubbles, the second the Three Amigos plus One, and the video is of course the Three Amigos plus One.

I noticed on Saturday that Bubbles had a set of rear legs, sorry for the photo not being the best (it's hard to get a good shot when they're moving around so much.) I plan to take some more photos on Monday. Other members of the class have also gotten their rear legs.

I've noticed that they sometimes make some noise during the feeding frenzy, so I tried to get the audio of it.  Everyone is still doing great, they never seem to not be hungry.

The class had a visitor, a fully grown green tree frog.  He was rescued from the trash can on trash night, and thus was saved from the garbage truck and was released this morning.

I've measured the older portion of the class, and some are now over 3cm in length.  When I've recused tadpoles in the past this is the size they usually are when I get them.   They really seem the like the Romaine lettuce mush. 

Below is some photos of the 3 Amigos, plus one and a video:

You can see it below. Still trying to get a permanent link.  It's not going to run 24/7.

It's hard to get some good photos of them when they're always moving around.  Finally got a few half-decent ones of the Three Amigos (and the 4th Amigo.)