Pre-Frog

My tadpoles have legs!  But they still have tails too, so they aren't ready to hop onto the surface (according to everything I read).  But I will put  small piece of wood in the tank for them to use when they are ready.

There were originally 7 tiny tadpoles.  I used pond water in the tank (to seem natural to them) and added plants and algae, and algae wafers.  Changed the water once a month (good for my bettas so assume good for tadpoles).

There are only 5 left.  Don't know what happened to the 2.  At least I never saw bodies.  Fed them ground spinach to help.

There is a small bubbler tube in the tank.  Barely moves the water, but I think it adds enough oxygen by changing the surface.  Not enough water movement to bother them AFAICT.

But they have been slow in developing.  I'm sure they should have been full-grown frogs by now in the pond.

But there is the dilemma.  Would any of them survived among the already full-grown frogs in the 5' diameter pond?  Frogs are cannibalistic.  I've probally kept them alive longer than they normally would, but mayb one would have grown to frogdom.

And what do I do with them now?  None of these are prepared to hibernate over Winter at so undeveloped a stage of growth.  I have an unused 20 gallon long aquarium I could keep them in over Winter, but what would I feed them?  Petsmart doesn't sell frog food last I checked (and I asked).

How did my Summer curiosity about watching a few chosen tadpoles develop turn into an ethical problem about the lives of a few wanna-be not-quite-yet frogs?