Why is my african dwarf tadpole not growing?

Question

my little brother's teacher gave him an african dwarf (at least im pretty sure thats the right name) tadpole when school let out in june and to this day it is about the same size. its in a filtered tank, probably about 1 or 2 gal. size, and we give it these little pellets of food that sink to the bottom, which is what the teacher gave my brother with the tadpole, but it doesnt seem to eat on it very much. why isnt it getting bigger and becoming a frog yet?

also, he has a plain old goldfish which is currently in a non-filtered bowl, which i know isnt good for it. so we would like to combine the 2 into the filtered tank but im afraid the fish will eat the tadpole. any insight?

Answer 1

Trust me, the goldfish will eat any food the tadpole MIGHT think about eating.  I have a dwarf albino frog that was happily in a tank, with a kissing gourami... added a goldfish and I noticed the frog immediately started thinning down. Goldfish are scavengers... so... if the frog didn't eat instantly, he got nothing, and no leftover, because the goldfish grazes all day.  

It is very odd that it hasn't grown into a frog. In normal ponds, it happens over approximately 3 weeks.  

As long as he seems healthy, I wouldn't change much, you might try some flaked food from the goldfish, my frog loves it. He will metamorphasize when he is ready.  I am interested to see how large the tadpole is, you didn't mention it in your question.

Answer 2

Goldfish will not eat the tadpole.  

Here's a couple of links to help you out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dwa...

http://www.ehow.com/how_2288518_raise-a-...

Good luck,

-D