Due to the schooling nature of bass fry I think that they are just looking for safety in numbers
Safety in numbers with toad tadpoles that some fish do learn not to eat.
Research indicates that toad (bufo) tadpoles are not a prefered prey item, apparently they taste nasty.
Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) learn to avoid feeding on toad (Bufo) tadpoles
Animal Behaviour
Volume 32, Issue 4, November 1984, Pages 1035�1039
Kipp C. Kruse, Bradford M. StoneDepartment of Zoology, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois 61920, USA
Abstract
Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), when starved for 1 day, almost totally abstain from eating toad (Bufo americanus and Bufo woodhousei) tadpoles. However, there is a positive relationship between bass hunger levels and the acceptability of Bufo larvae as food items. With experience, there is a decrease in the number of toad tadpoles engulfed (taken into the mouth), and that actually consumed by the bass, while the number of larvae expelled (spat out) increases. Bass strongly prefer Hyla crucifer tadpoles to B. americanus larvae, and learn to distinguish between the two species. These results agree with the hypothesis that the schooling behaviour found in B. americanus tadpoles functions, at least in part, as a deterrent to predation.
