Tadpoles mostly eat soft plant-based foods at first, then add more protein as they grow.

Quick Scoop

  • Very young tadpoles: mainly algae and the jelly or film around plants and eggs.
  • Small growing tadpoles: algae, soft aquatic plants, biofilm on rocks, tiny microorganisms, and decaying plant bits (detritus).
  • Older/bigger tadpoles: still eat algae and plants, but also insect larvae (like mosquito larvae), dead insects, and other protein-rich scraps.
  • In captivity: boiled baby spinach or lettuce, pond weed, algae wafers, commercial tadpole food, bloodworms, and a little hard‑boiled egg yolk are commonly used.

Simple take‑home

If you’re feeding tadpoles yourself, focus on soft greens (like boiled spinach or lettuce) plus a small amount of high‑protein food as they get legs, and avoid overfeeding so the water stays clean.

TL;DR: Tadpoles start as mostly herbivores eating algae and soft plants, then become omnivores that also eat tiny insects and other protein as they near becoming frogs.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.