"K30a" wrote in message
...
Gail wrote Should I have left the string algae in for
the baby
whatever-they-are?

The string algae maybe what was keeping the single cell
algae (when the water
looks green) at
bay. It uses up the nutrients available.
When folks raise fish for a living they want green water.
Single cell algae is
baby food for fish. Tadpoles tend to work on substrate
algae (grows on
surfaces). Both will nibble on string algae when they get
bigger.

Ok, so I probably didn't have to take out the
little amount of string algae I found, but it also
sounds like I didn't do any damage extracting it.
There is still plenty of algae on the liner so I
think the babies have enough to eat.

Do you have a magnifying glass? You can scoop out the
critters and look at
them. A frog or toad tadpole will have a distinctive head
and tail. A rosie red
baby will be a single slender shape with larger eyes.

I lie on my stomach and study them at about 6"
away, which is good enough to see they resemble
your second case. I'm pretty sure they're minnows.
I didn't know my few minnows produced that
many babies! They're all sizes, from 1/4", mere
slivers, up to 3/4" at a guess.

Once they get big, do I offer the excess to my
LFS(s)? Please don't tell me to build another
pond! My clay-excavating days are finally in
the past.

Gail