IMPORTANT INFO: 

\-species unidentified but I believe they may be gray treefrogs?

\-upstate NY

\- frog photo is from the site where I found the tadpoles 

\-working with a college student budget but I am willing to break the bank for these guys

Hi! I have a friend whose mother for some reason (long long story) HATES frogs and found out she had tadpoles in the water accumulated on top of her pool. 

I impulsively took buckets of the tadpoles home and put them in an old tank my dad had sitting around BECAUSE my friend's mom dumped out all the rest of the water into the yard to kill the rest of them. I am not normally one to take them out of their natural environment they were gonna die. 

I included photos of the set up but I have some questions! (And I need help 😭🫪)

FOOD

1) I am feeding them spinnach that has been frozen, then thawed, then cooked. They seem to be eating this well, but when I looked things up they eventually need to switch to bloodworms. When should I do this? When they grow legs? 

WATER

2) when I looked up how to care for these tadpoles it said that water changes regularly would be good. I don't have any access to the initial source of water they were swimming in. So how do I introduce new water without hurting them? I've heard using reverse osmosis water with frog specific ion supplements are good? What type should I use? how often should the water be changed? 

\-also, any ponds near my house within a 20 mile radius or either on golf courses or right off of major roadways. They all seem to have an oil film on the surface and are not the best, although some of them do have tadpoles in them. I've been checking for other ponds and things like that to see if they would be good ways to exchange water.

THE BACK SWIMMER DILEMMA 

3) I have some back swimmers in the tank. They were picked up in the initial buckets I grabbed from the water in the pool cover. Also water skeeters. I know back swimmers can eat tadpoles. Should I remove them? I am okay with trying to maintain the same environment the tadpoles were in before, even if that means some of them die. I think I care more about keeping it natural than having 2000% tadpole to adult success rate, and I've noticed that the tadpoles who appeared deformed in some way have been eaten by the back swimmers. 

\- Will the back swimmers get out of hand? Should I figure out an alternative way to keep them? 

\- is there any balance in the tank for the back swimmers? Or is this just a feasting ground for them? Like is there anything else in the environment that would kill and eat them? Like even bigger tadpoles? 

Idk 

HABITAT 

Is my setup good? I do plan to let the water evaporate just a little bit more so some of the rocks are exposed when they begin to grow legs. I did try to put more rocks in the enclosure but because of where I was gathering the rocks I did get yelled at for taking them off the yard 😭😭 (my mom can be a little protective over them?) And I don't doubt that she would just grab them right back out if she found them in there on her own. I am also living on her property so going against her is not in my best interest. 

Any help or advice is appreciated. Even if it's just to help with identifying the species I have. 

Help? Proper keeping of tadpoles! Body text & questions! (WARNING! DEAD TADPOLE ON LAST SLIDE)