love is in the air.... or at least the pond

[red]

with our new home we also inherited a pond about the size and shape of a single bed. Sadly its also full of goldfish.
I say sadly cos the place is crawling with love-making frogs at the moment - if we come in at night we have to do a shuffly sort of walk so as not to tread on frogs en route to the orgy happening in the pond. We spotted the first frogs spawn on valentines night! romantic eh? but we spotted it the overflow/marsh garden - which normally doesn't have as much water in it as it does right now (lots of rain lately) and this is where there are no goldfish. There is no frogspawn in the main pond bit... i suspect because the retched goldfish are eating it.

such a shame cos these frogs make this special journey back to the pond they were born in, many no doubt perishing on the way, attmept to find a mate.. get lucky.. and then the goldfish get fat. we counted over 30 frogs last night - it is great to go out there with the torch and see them all.

dunno what to do about the gf - I dont want to kill them.. seems mean... but apart from getting rid of the fake heron - in the hope a heron will come by and do the deed for me - I have nto thought of anything

[Tay]

It does seem a shame. Could you not take the spawn out and keep it in a tank until the tadpoles hatch, then release them back into the pond? I know that the fish will still be a problem then, but if there are small hiding places (lots of pebbles and rocks) for the tadpoles to hide in, some should survive. Or what about a barrier of fine mesh to keep the fish in one area away from the frogspawn/tadpoles?

[red]

a barrier is not a bad idea...not sure how easy to do.. but shall give that some thought.

if goldfish were tasty I would have my answer.... but I am given to understand they are muddy and boney.

[Hedgehogpie]

Donate the goldfish to someone? Local Primary school? Old people's home?? I bet there's someone out there who'd love to have them - then your frogs can get on with their luuuurvvvvee thing unhindered.

[red]

been offering them to everyone!

hmm perhaps I could try freecycle..

[Millymollymandy]

Herons eat frogs too - they're not fussy. They were after a baby moorhen on my pond one summer but luckily the parents saw it off each time.

[Karen_Grace]

Hi Red
Just a thought really -
If there are loads of frogs coming back then there must be enough eggs / tadpoles surviving in the first place. Perhaps the goldfish and frogs are in perfect harmony. If you intervene you may destroy the ballance

Karen

[the.fee.fairy]

You can't freecycle the fish - they don't allow live animals.

Do you know anyone with children?

They might like a pet goldfish...

[the.fee.fairy]

or...see if you can sell them (or give them) to the nearest pet shop.

[red]

Hi Red
Just a thought really -
If there are loads of frogs coming back then there must be enough eggs / tadpoles surviving in the first place. Perhaps the goldfish and frogs are in perfect harmony. If you intervene you may destroy the ballance

Karen

I do know what you mean - but there is not a single clump of frogspawn in the main pond bit - only in the overflow bit. - so i suspect thats the only successful part - the rest is free food for goldfish. perhaps I shall just have to try and keep the marsh garden a pond until they mature, only that could be hard on the marsh plants...

I think the natural balance has already been messed with as we counted over 50 GF in the pond - and apart from during frogspawn season - I dont believe the pond is big enough to sustain that many - but of course the previous owner was feeding the gf. we wont be.

[Paddy's mum]

From what I remember, your goldfish are themselves at risk from the amorous frogs - there have been some well documented cases of Romeo grabbing a passing fish (often a large and valuable koi) and holding onto it so long and so roughly, that the fish dies.

Personally, I'd net a certain part of the pond off for the frogs to thrive in or alternatively, set up a small overflow pond (old sink or bath?) just for them.

Don't forget also that if we have another hot summer, the goldfish are very likely to breed. Last summer my pond went from 13 to an influx of over 75 youngsters. If that happens to you, you'll have a never ending succession of fish to deal with, nature being what it is!!!

[Karen_Grace]

Would the cat eat them?

[Millymollymandy]

Some cats certainly do! We were quite stumped by the 'sardines' that were left by the back door and on the banks of the pond last year, until we caught the cat at it!

Today I noticed toad spawn in my pond, and a dead frog that something had eaten half of.

[red]

Would the cat eat them?

ours has been fishing - but only got as far as touching them with his paw

he is a prolific mouser (brought in 2 last night one dead and one he released under the bed... thanks alot!), so I expect any day now, to find a gf flapping on the carpet with a proud cat beside it..

[joholondon]

I've got goldfish in my pond *and* frogspawn. And I had the same last year - there were loads of tadpoles and then frogs. If you think the goldfish are eating the spawn then perhaps you could try feeding the goldfish? Also, it might be birds, like magpies, picking away at them - I've seen them hanging around my pond pulling out mi ramshorn snails!