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Jake · 03-04-2011, 08:42 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:32:32 +0100, wrote:

In message
"JIP" wrote:

wrote:

I had some frogspawn in my pond the other week which was just about to
hatch but then we had a very cold spell and a thin layer of ice had
formed on the pond over night which had killed off the little tadpoles
as they had all stopped wriggling.

I scooped up about six dead tadpoles from the pond in a coffee jar and
just left them in the garage, a week later I was about to empty the
jar and found to my amazement that all six dead tadpoles had come to
life and where swimming in the jar, I had left the others in the pond
but I can't see if any of them had survived because the goldfish may
have eaten them.

Stephen.

A winter or so back, I found one of the goldfish from my pond lying in
the middle of the lawn, looking very dead - my best guess is that the
dam raiding heron had caught and dropped it. There had been a heavy
frost and the fish was covered in ice. Just to follow an inkling I put
the fish back in the pond, and after some time it swam off to join it's
friends.

It never tried to escape again!!

JIP

You just would not believe it, isn't nature very strange indeed
the way it appears to bring the dead back to life?

Stephen.

The number of frog eggs that successfully go through the life stages
to reach maturity is miniscule in relation to the number laid. That's
why so many are laid. Your jar full probably stands more chance of
seeing adulthood in the pond than in the jar, where there is no food
for them. Early hatching tadpoles feed on late hatching tadpoles.
That's life.

The spawn in your pond has most likely been laid by frogs that hatched
in your pond. They tend to return to their birthing place to lay.
There may well be some hiding away from you as well as your goldfish.
Water boatmen, which would thrive in a fish free pond, dragon fly
larvae and other little critters would all feed on tadpoles.

Put your jar full back in the pond and let nature take its course. If
there's one thing you won't beat, it's nature! BTW, empty the jar into
a sandwich bag or similar, tie it and float it in the pond for a while
to allow the temperature to equalise before tipping the tadpoles out.
Otherwise the temp difference could kill them!

Jake