Rearing Tadpoles and Shrimpies

The fun thing about rearing this bunch of tadpoles and little shrimp-like creatures that we scooped up in the Bukit Batok Nature Reserve is that it is highly therapeutic. The first few days were a tad traumatic as I coudn't figure out what to feed them. Fish food was rejected and clouded up the tank too fast. Thanks to the power of Google, I discovered that boiled cabbage was the diet of choice. Unfortunately, the other tadpole carers dumped at least a ladleful of cabbage into the tank instead of the requisite 1 pinch, and we ended up with a foul smelling tank and the few remaining tadpoles gasping at the surface.

Anyway, things have pretty much settled down and the tank water has been changed (courtesy to goldfish tank next door) and a judicious pinch of cabbage every other day introduced. The picture shows the tadpoles and shrimp struggling over the bare skeleton of a tiny chunk of cabbage.

I remember rearing tadpoles growing up, especially the time we reared about 168 little toads in a giant fish tank and set them loose in the garden after that. I remember when my brother and I were little tikes, and left very much to our own devices, there was a day when my brother was indulging in his usual activity of freak out the tadpoles by blowing on them with a straw. Of course, he ended up laughing, then inhaling one of them up the straw into his mouth, an event neither of us has forgotten to this day.

Which brings me to another question - why are there such weird sounding foods out there? Toad in the hole is an English classic that would probably gross anyone out except the phlegmatic Britisher. According to Wikipedia, "Toad in the hole is a traditional British dish. It consists of sausages in Yorkshire pudding mix, usually served with vegetables and gravy. Badly made toad in the hole is sometimes described as "frog in a bog"."