Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Identifying Bullfrog Tadpoles

I had planned to order some bullfrog tadpoles for my new pond, but I'm wondering now if I already have them. I see thousands of small tadpoles in shallow water, but I also see quite a few with bodies about the size of the end of my little finger. They hang out in the shallows, and they spook when I get close. The smaller ones don't spook.

Question: Are these larger tadpoles most likely bullfrogs?
Or should I go ahead and order 100 or so?

There are a couple of smaller ponds about 100 yards down the wet weather branch from mine, so I guess some adult frogs could have come from there. I stocked 500 bluegill/RES in October and plan to add LMB in about July. Will the bullfrogs be large enough by then to survive a few years?

I'm not an expert but most likely. All my bullfrog tadpoles are large with the other species much smaller. The bullfrog tadpoles also seem to stay tadpoles longer.




I wish you lived nearby. You could come here and get all you want. As far as my bullfrogs they just followed the axiom, "If you build it they will come." One year I had none and the next year I had hundreds. However they are not as common in ponds with adult largemouth bass for obvious reasons.

I would save your money and use it elsewhere. Soon you will have all you want until your bass mature. Unless you have an abundance of frog predators you won't have any problems with survival especially at your latitude.

Bullfrogs take 2 years to mature from egg to adult. The tadpoles will be 2"-3" long and the body will be about 1/2"-3/4" across. Bullfrog tadpoles are more of a brown color, if you're seeing a lot of black tadpoles, those are most likely toad tadpoles.

Do you have adult bullfrogs in the pond or close by now?

The small ones I have by the thousands are very dark--probably toads. But the larger ones I think are probably bullfrogs.


I think I heard one a few nights ago.

Last year 1/2 of the whole pond perimeter was lined with toad tadpoles in a band about 18" wide. Over a period of a month they slowly got eaten by LMB and BG. I can't begin to imagine how many were eaten.

It's too early to have large bull frog tadpoles, so they are left over from last year. That means they are definitely bull frog tadpoles. BF tads are also the most wary of all tads. They wiggle off at high speed at the slightest provocation.