Tadpoles

I've wondered this for a long time, and even Googled the subject without finding a decent answer, but I suspect there is someone on this forum that knows the actual answer. Why don't my fish eat tadpoles? I've observed this for a long time, with a variety of fish species from bluegills to bass. If you put a frog of just about any sort in the tank, it becomes fish food in a matter of seconds. But, if you put in tadpoles, they seem to never be eaten until they are either adults or almost adults. Do they have some chemical defense, or what accounts for the fact that a bass will pick them up and spit them out without swallowing them? Or are my fish just abnormal?

Thanks in advance,




Don

my black bullhead loves them there his fav,my rock bass will not eat them.also i had a long fin koi that loved to eat them to

Some fishes will eat SOME tadpoles. Apparently they don't all taste the same.

You sure they're not toads? They have toxins in them. My dogs don't even touch them, and they'll put anything in their mouths. Do your bass foam at the mouth after they take a taste?

LOL nah, no foaming at the mouth so far, but the reaction with the bass is almost like a dog eating a toad, or a reef fish biting a nudibranch. It seems pretty obvious that they have some aversion to them. I've used toads for bait, successfully, for catfish though.

Thanks for the comments, guys.



Don