On Apr 12, 8:08*am, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:12:24 -0700 (PDT), Doug
wrote:

Alas I am having to face up to the fact that most if not all of my
tadpoles will be eaten by several types of predators, including newts,
or so I have read. I will try to rescue a few and place them in
virtual isolation, where they can only eat each other.

Doug.

Don't worry too much. The mortality rate of taddies is naturally very
high. You may notice that as a general rule, nature ensures high egg
laying rates in species where the survival rate is low: around 0.25%
of eggs will become frogs - that's about 2-3 in a thousand eggs!

OTOH, there is some evidence of tadpoles getting revenge on fish and
attacking small ones. If you have small fish in the same pond as
taddies you should check the fish occasionally for small sores that
may develop where taddies have tried to have a nibble.

Interesting.

If you have things like pebbled areas or planting in your pond where
taddies can hide, that will be enough.

Cheers, Jake

I have a lot more than that, reed and other plant roots, fishproof
containers with slots in and clumps of algae. However the tads seem to
prefer to expose themselves in open areas where there is no
protection, especially in sunlight. Anyway, my tad population has now
become drastically reduced, or either that or they have gone into
hiding or maybe developed gills and are breathing at the bottom of the
pond somewhere?

Cheers,

Doug.