Natural Swimming Pools/Ponds
 

Galen Hekhuis wrote:

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:44:26 EDT, ~ jan wrote:

wrote:
we arent talking about getting a little sick, we are talking about kids
dying from microbes.

And I'm not talking about getting a little sick, or dying. I'm talking
about the ridiculous notion that anybody should need to consult a lawyer
before inviting someone to use their swimming hole.

Aren't they one and the same? If you invite someone over and they get sick
from your pond, they could sue. Yea... creepy I know. Scary doubly so, but
that's what made umbrella policies so popular... all these what ifs.

They _could_ sue, and in your culture I'm sure they do. In ours, but
increasingly less so, courts still recognize that people have a duty to
observe common sense, and if you go swimming in some bright green pond,
you're likely going to get no sympathy from the court. Now, there are all
sorts of reasonably healthy looking ponds that may not be - but I think a
Canadian court is generally going to say that if _I_ swam in it, I can
reasonably expect that I won't be blamed if my neighbor voluntarily swims
in it too.

Personally, I wouldn't want someone kicking my koi. ;-) Recommendations?
Check anyone for open sores, scratches, and make them use the restroom
before swimming. ~ jan

The last is probably important, but otherwise I'm not sure there's anything
the koi can catch from us :-)

I'd think posting some signs that said something like "Swim at your
own risk" and "No lifeguard on duty" would suffice. Anyway, on a
related note, I've looked all over (briefly searched the Internet) and
have found all kinds of signs, but not the one I want. I want to post
my property with "Beware of the Frog" signs, but I can't find one. One
with a sketch of a menacing frog would be nice, but I'd take most
anything. Anyone know where I can find them?

Jan's the one with the menacing frogs :-)
--
derek

Frogs
 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:44:43 EDT, kathy wrote:

I like this one
http://tinyurl.com/2qbfxp

k :-)

An lots of frog Jewelry! Speaking of which, heard my first frog. I guess
turning on the sprinklers around the koi ponds made it think it was
raining. At first I wasn't even sure what I was hearing, I guess he needed
to hack up the little frog in his throat, before I understood. ;-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Natural Swimming Pools/Ponds
 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:23:23 EDT, Derek Broughton
wrote:

Jan's the one with the menacing frogs :-)

Only to the ears of the intolerant. ;-p

1 frog spoke up today, luckily he's down around the koi ponds, on the side
away from these neighbors. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Natural Swimming Pools/Ponds
 

"Hal" wrote in message
...
It is a neat idea and yes I did swim in local creeks and lakes and so
did my father years before me, but he blamed swimming in one for the
case of typhoid fever he had as a child. I was vaccinated and thought
myself bullet proof. :)
=====================
I stopped swimming in the lake here after my 3rd ear infection. My Dr. told
me to stick with swimming pools.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Frogs
 

Last night the 1st frog finally sang from the lily pond. Now we wait to see
who joins him.... or do I wait till the neighbor complains? eg Most
likely if more than one I'll go out and catch them. I'm really hoping
though the goldfish will make them move on.

It really surprised me when I took a bunch of frogs to the D.pond last year
and one goldfish actually tried to eat one of them. The goldfish wasn't
much bigger than the frog (who did manage to get away will all limbs
attached). So I'm hoping my goldfish that are out there will harass the
frogs to move to fishless areas, such as my short stock tank at the other
end of the house. I'll be sitting up a kiddy pool this week also. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Frogs
 

Frogs showed up here last night looking for the
old frog bog - which has been taken down.
Poor little hoppers. There is a smaller bog
area off the main pond that they might look
into. Fish can't get into it now, as the water
is low, so maybe they'll hop on in. I'll transfer
any eggs to a safe place as when the water
level is higher the fish come in hunting for
tasty morsels.
k :-)

Frogs
 

Last year when the winter thawed I found maybe half a dozen frogs that
had frozen to death in the stream for my pond. It's only about a foot
deep there and that was the first year I'd had this pond so I didn't
see the harm it letting it freeze over. Interestingly, there were
several small goldfish that survived the winter up there by going into
the lowest cracks and crevices underneath the big rocks. The fish
shouldn't have even been up there, but they took a wild ride as fry
through the skimmer pump and out the waterfall and continued to live
there. Anyway, by halfway through the summer the frogs were back in
force. By late summer tadpoles were all over the place.

This year I decided to keep the stream running all winter. It seems to
have helped a lot with the water quality and with the winter-thaw
algae. I've already spotted 3 frogs (quite alive) and many many
tadpoles. Just standing in one place in the stream with a flashlight
last night I spotted 12 tadpoles without any effort at all. We don't
have neighbors within frog-range and we actually like the noise, but
wow there look to be a lot on the way.

Dave

Frogs
 

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:44:40 EDT, Pond Addict
wrote:

I've already spotted 3 frogs (quite alive) and many many
tadpoles. Just standing in one place in the stream with a flashlight
last night I spotted 12 tadpoles without any effort at all. We don't
have neighbors within frog-range and we actually like the noise, but
wow there look to be a lot on the way. Dave

What kind of frogs do you have that the goldfish don't eat the spawn or
taddies? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Frogs
 

.....and toads, oh my!

Found a juvenile (at a guess - half
the size of an adult) Gulf Coast toad
sitting on the vegetation at the surface
of my smaller stocktank. I don't know
if it's trolling for fish or discovered
the pond is a great place to catch
insects.

There is a Leopard frog (Rio Grande or
Southern - hard to get a close look) living
in the other fishtank. I lifted a lily pad that
happened to be its "roof" for the day, and
it gave me a very indignant look before
diving for the safer depths.

I have small shubunkin and comets
in both tanks, and haven't noticed the
fish population decreasing.

There are Leopard frogs in the inground
pond, and every several of weeks I net a
bloated (very dead) toad. That pond has
been the scene of toad activity almost since
we put it in, what, five years ago?

There are larger goldfish and/or comets
in the inground pond. Again, I haven't
noticed any population decrease.

On an unrelated note, at an event at Water
Garden Gems last Fall, I talked with some
people from a local school who were in
the process of designing a pond (with lots
of expert help). I offered fish and plants.
Left my contact info. They called about two
weeks ago and one teacher came by. I netted
some of my small shubunkin & comets and
several larger, and tossed in some healthy
floating plants. It felt good to give excess
population away to a good cause.

Gail
near San Antonio TX USA

Frogs
 

Fun!
Reminds me when we set up tadpole nurseries in all
the second grade classrooms to save a population
of eggs and taddies and canoodling adults who had
chosen a pool cover for their nursery. Was wild.

Neatest thing was the day I came in to take care of
the tank and the kids told me there was a fish in amongst
the tadpoles. Are you sure? Sure enough, a tiny fish was
swimming in the tank. I figure he came in, as an egg, on
the anacharis I bought for the tank. We named him Egghead
and when the baby froglets were released he came home
to live in my son's tank.

k :-)

Frogs
 

I'm not sure what kind of frogs they are, Jan. They originally came
from the nearby woods and streams. I thought they were just eastern
wood frogs or common frogs, but I'll look into it a bit and see.

The frog eggs have been getting left in the stream where fish don't
typically end up. The stream is fed from the waterfall and the main
fish-pond area is off of waterfalls from that, so the only way up
there unless your a salmon is through the skimmer pump. The big fish
never end up there, so I guess that's how the eggs survive.

The tadpoles are maybe 3" long with a big ol' head. They look like a
pretty big mouthful for the goldfish. I've never seen the fish
bothering them although the tadpoles are in both sections of the pond.
Sometimes they end up in my bottom drain pump's basket, but most
survive to be returned to the pond.

Anyway, you've got me curious so I'll figure out what they are.

Frogs
 

kathy" wrote in message
...
Fun!
Reminds me when we set up tadpole nurseries in all
the second grade classrooms to save a population
of eggs and taddies and canoodling adults who had
chosen a pool cover for their nursery. Was wild.

Neatest thing was the day I came in to take care of
the tank and the kids told me there was a fish in amongst
the tadpoles. Are you sure? Sure enough, a tiny fish was
swimming in the tank. I figure he came in, as an egg, on
the anacharis I bought for the tank. We named him Egghead
and when the baby froglets were released he came home
to live in my son's tank.

k :-)

Fish eggs and fry can be sneaky, all right. I'm
setting up a new 55 gallon aquarium. Tonight
I noticed babies! From where?? There are no
(zero) fish in there. But I have been moving
plants around, and one of the source tanks has
three Glowlight Tetras, which are egg-scatterers.
I won't know for awhile if that's what I have,
but it was quite a shock.

Back to ponds: I started doing a serious
cleaning of my inground pond today. Several
pots have fall over so the water is dirty with,
well, dirt. I'm doing this gradually. Scooping
out water by bucket for several days (replacing
with fresh water each day, of course), and
eventually I'll get more aggressive, with a shop
vac or Python (if that's what it's called).

Several potted plants (marginals) are infested
with weeds and I'll probably just take them
out. I have more than enough floating
plants or plants that grow even though they're
not in pots (like my hardy lily).

Gail
near San Antonio TX

Frogs
 

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:27:54 EDT, Pond Addict
wrote:

The tadpoles are maybe 3" long with a big ol' head. They look like a
pretty big mouthful for the goldfish. I've never seen the fish
bothering them although the tadpoles are in both sections of the pond.

If it were in my pond and 3" long it would be a bullfrog. I envy you
when they begin to bellow, but close neighbors might not like them.
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

Frogs
 

Bullfrog taddie good guess, Greenfrog might be also.

If you see any adults look at the eardrum. Bullfrogs have
a fold of skin that curves around the eardrum, in Greenfrogs
it goes down the back. Bullfrogs call is 'rum, rum, rum'
and Greenfrogs, I think, are like the pluck of a banjo string.

k :-)

Frogs
 

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:27:54 EDT, Pond Addict
wrote:

Anyway, you've got me curious so I'll figure out what they are.

Cool. Or post a picture (do you have a website, photobucket or something?).
I bet someone will recognize what you have. I wouldn't be surprised if
they're BF taddies though, which are large and some take over a year to
turn to frogs.

I had to go out frog catching last night. I have 3 males in a bucket, that
I think I'll take to school tomorrow. I also had a male & female in another
bucket with the hope I'd get spawn. This morning, since they were both
together I turned them loose in the stock tank w/water cress, so
hopefully.... they'll take the hint.

I did find last night that my frog croaking keychain does work, not only
did it get the males to croak I had a female coming in my direction (that's
how I caught her and put her in the bucket. :-[) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us