Many animals often undergo compensatory growth with adverse growth conditions or in hostile environments. We studied the growth trajectories of anuran tadpoles (Pelophylax nigromaculatus) with three tail length treatments, including full-tail, 1/3-tail loss and 1/2-tail loss inflicted by the predatory mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis). We also evaluated the effect of tail injury on the swimming performance and size and time at metamorphosis of the tadpoles. Our results showed that the body length of full-tail and 1/3-tail loss treatment tadpoles was significantly longer than that of the 1/2-tail loss tadpoles the day following predation stress, however, there were no significant differences between these two groups. On the 19th day, the body length of the 1/2-tail loss tadpoles was significantly longer than that of the full-tail tadpoles and there were no significant differences between the 1/3-tail loss and 1/2-tail loss tadpoles. No significant differences were found among groups in tail fin length of the tadpoles. The burst swimming speed of full-tail tadpoles was significantly faster than that of the 1/2-tail loss tadpoles and there were no significant differences in the swimming performance of tadpoles between the 1/2-tail and 1/3-tail loss groups. These results suggested that the performance in burst swimming of tadpoles was negatively affected when the tail is impaired seriously by the predators. The tadpoles from the three experimental groups almost synchronously achieved metamorphosis at a similar size. P. nigromaculatus tadpoles can adjust their growth trajectories to compensate for the growth loss caused by predator risk at the early development stage before metamorphosis. Although the tadpoles can compensate for the loss of almost half the tail, they must pay in locomotor costs.