Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Recently some one was wanting to know if they could breed tadpols for fish food .I searched for the item but could not find it but from my experience you should think twice before trying it.I had some redfin in a tank and they were eating pellets and growing well.The only problem was that the algie was taking over the tank and as taddies eat heaps of it and I had plenty and they were probably too big for the fish to eat.They did a great job and cleaned the tank up very well.This morning I could only see one taddie and one dead red fin.This afternoon there are no taddies and all the red fin are dead.The temperature and the ammonia are all OK.

Sorry to hear about the fish. So are you thinking that eating the tadpoles killed the fish? I have had no problems with tadpoles here and my bluegill eating them. It sounds like this was a pretty rapid die off so I'd look at other things as well.



Were the other red fin alive and visible in the morning or could they have been dead and on the bottom out of sight?

Any idea what kind of tadpoles these were? I'm just thinking cane toad tadpoles would probably carry toxins.

There was one redfin alive it looked like it was about to eat the last tadpole.When I came back later the last tadpole was gone and the last fish in its death throws.I am sure I haven't got cane toads,The frogs that laid the eggs are green and a bit smaller than a motor bike frog but the taddies are black.The biggest disappointment is that I had these fish were going so well and what with this and two other stuff ups that should not happened I have lost the lot.

Makes me wonder if something else is going on but it's possible the tadpoles either were toxic themselves or ate something that made them toxic.

I don't know if the levels are high enough in Australian frogs to kill the fish but I suppose it depends on what they ate. Wasn't easy to locate anything about toxins in frogs but I found this in my searching around - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20774805_Alkaloids_from_Australian_Frogs_Myobatrachidae_Pseudophrynamines_and_Pumiliotoxins_J_Nat_Prod_53407

Sorry to hear about that too dbird. I too have some doubt about fish and tadpoles being compatible though it is hard to explain just what has happened in your scenario. It certainly seems the tadpoles may carry some kind of toxin should they be eaten?

When you look at the website that Scottie found it seems that they may carry a alkaloid which is toxic to fish and as red fin are a introduced fish they may not be able to handle it just like the gastrolobium plants in Western Australia.I have posted this so that anyone else thinking of feeding tadpoles to their fish can be aware of the danger and it is up to them but I certainly won't be doing it again.