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Tadpole/newt update.
They seem to be coming along OK in my two London ponds, though I did
see one fish snatch a tadpole. Have seen some medium size newts, which probably came out of hibernation somewhere, but the tadpoles seem to be taking forever to develop. I have read this, can it be true? "The length of frog development from egg to tadpole to frog usually takes between 6 to 12 weeks. But it is also temperature dependant, so during cold spells it may take a bit longer or even be suspended till the temperatures go up. For example, eggs laid towards the end of summer may hatch, but tadpoles may stay tadpoles until the Spring/Summer period. So if it's cold and your tadpoles don't seem to be growing up very fast, it's no reason to panic." http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/index.html Its fairly cold just now. Anyway, I have had to stop using my fountain to avoid tadpoles being sucked into the filter but the oxygenating pond plants are coming along nicely so may be providing enough oxygen for the time being, or else must I buy a bubble oxygenator? Doug. |
Tadpole/newt update.
On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 00:19:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug
wrote: They seem to be coming along OK in my two London ponds, though I did see one fish snatch a tadpole. Have seen some medium size newts, which probably came out of hibernation somewhere, but the tadpoles seem to be taking forever to develop. I have read this, can it be true? "The length of frog development from egg to tadpole to frog usually takes between 6 to 12 weeks. But it is also temperature dependant, so during cold spells it may take a bit longer or even be suspended till the temperatures go up. For example, eggs laid towards the end of summer may hatch, but tadpoles may stay tadpoles until the Spring/Summer period. So if it's cold and your tadpoles don't seem to be growing up very fast, it's no reason to panic." http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/index.html Its fairly cold just now. Anyway, I have had to stop using my fountain to avoid tadpoles being sucked into the filter but the oxygenating pond plants are coming along nicely so may be providing enough oxygen for the time being, or else must I buy a bubble oxygenator? Doug. 12 weeks is about right if temperature etc., is right but I've still got taddies swimming around from last year's batch. Like you I keep the pump off for a while when they're small and find that the plants provide enough oxygen and, for some reason, the water nearly always stays really clear. Cheers, Jake ======================================= Urgling from the hardly damp east end of Swansea Bay. |
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Though the pond with a pump is having blanket weed probs at the moment, a result of that sunny spell in March. I introduced water forget-me-not as a more attractive alternative to watercress for mopping up nitrogen, but unfortunately I can't harvest it as every single sprig of w-f-m-n seems to have a newt egg attached! And of course, the blanket weed has anchored itself to the w-f-m-n, so removing it will take too long to be practicable. Does anyone have any ideas? My local garden centre has "barley straw extract" but at a price where I'd have to be pretty sure it worked (it's a biggic pond). RHS recommends barley straw with added lavender. And the garden centre also has algae removing chemicals and pads, but I know that some of the algae killers sold for fish tanks also skill snails, so with the amount of wildlife in the pond I'm apprehensive about using these. |
Tadpole/newt update.
On Apr 6, 9:32*am, Jake wrote:
On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 00:19:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug wrote: They seem to be coming along OK in my two London ponds, though I did see one fish snatch a tadpole. Have seen some medium size newts, which probably came out of hibernation somewhere, but the tadpoles seem to be taking forever to develop. I have read this, can it be true? "The length of frog development from egg to tadpole to frog usually takes between 6 to 12 weeks. But it is also temperature dependant, so during cold spells it may take a bit longer or even be suspended till the temperatures go up. For example, eggs laid towards the end of summer may hatch, but tadpoles may stay tadpoles until the Spring/Summer period. So if it's cold and your tadpoles don't seem to be growing up very fast, it's no reason to panic." http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/index.html Its fairly cold just now. Anyway, I have had to stop using my fountain to avoid tadpoles being sucked into the filter but the oxygenating pond plants are coming along nicely so may be providing enough oxygen for the time being, or else must I buy a bubble oxygenator? Doug. 12 weeks is about right if temperature etc., is right but I've still got taddies swimming around from last year's batch. Like you I keep the pump off for a while when they're small and find that the plants provide enough oxygen and, for some reason, the water nearly always stays really clear. Cheers, Jake Thanks Jake. Its amazing that those little things can survive for so long without growing. Doug. |
Tadpole/newt update.
On Apr 7, 5:34*am, Doug wrote:
On Apr 6, 9:32*am, Jake wrote: On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 00:19:49 -0700 (PDT), Doug wrote: They seem to be coming along OK in my two London ponds, though I did see one fish snatch a tadpole. Have seen some medium size newts, which probably came out of hibernation somewhere, but the tadpoles seem to be taking forever to develop. I have read this, can it be true? "The length of frog development from egg to tadpole to frog usually takes between 6 to 12 weeks. But it is also temperature dependant, so during cold spells it may take a bit longer or even be suspended till the temperatures go up. For example, eggs laid towards the end of summer may hatch, but tadpoles may stay tadpoles until the Spring/Summer period. So if it's cold and your tadpoles don't seem to be growing up very fast, it's no reason to panic." http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/index.html Its fairly cold just now. Anyway, I have had to stop using my fountain to avoid tadpoles being sucked into the filter but the oxygenating pond plants are coming along nicely so may be providing enough oxygen for the time being, or else must I buy a bubble oxygenator? Doug. 12 weeks is about right if temperature etc., is right but I've still got taddies swimming around from last year's batch. Like you I keep the pump off for a while when they're small and find that the plants provide enough oxygen and, for some reason, the water nearly always stays really clear. Cheers, Jake Thanks Jake. Its amazing that those little things can survive for so long without growing. Doug. 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. |
Tadpole/newt update.
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. If you have things like pebbled areas or planting in your pond where taddies can hide, that will be enough. Cheers, Jake ======================================= Urgling from the sunny and refreshingly green east end of Swansea Bay. |
Tadpole/newt update.
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. |
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In my experience, they start by eating all the remains of the span jelly, then they have a phase when they disappear to the bottom of the pond, and you don't see them for a while. |
Tadpole/newt update.
On Apr 13, 11:20*am, kay wrote:
'Doug[_10_ Wrote: ;955856'] 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? They start off with gills so being at the bottom is no problem for them. In my experience, they start by eating all the remains of the span jelly, then they have a phase when they disappear to the bottom of the pond, and you don't see them for a while. Ah! Thanks, so the situation might not be as hopeless as it seems. Mine were very evident and crowded onto the shallow edges of the ponds to begin with but have since virtually disappeared, apart from the odd solitary swimmer/survivor now and again. Doug. |
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