frogs in winter

I have a small pond. Last fall it seems that all my frogs stayed in the pond.
Needless to say they all died and I found them all on the bottom of the pond
this spring. How do I prevent this from happening again this winter. I live in
NJ.

Also I bought 2 small cat fish last year. This year they are about 8 to 9
inches. I can't beleive that they grew that much. I have goldfish, some small
and some nice size ones. I asked the fish store if they will eat the gold fish
and was told not to worry they get alone fine. When to another place I was
told to get rid of them that they will eat everything in the pond. Thank for
any help. ann

Yeass wrote
I have a small pond. Last fall it seems that all my frogs stayed in the
pond.
Needless to say they all died and I found them all on the bottom of the pond
this spring. How do I prevent this from happening again this winter. I live in
NJ

Did you keep a hole open in the ice?
Compared to Mother Nature's ponds garden ponds have an abundance of waste and
decomposing plants which cause gases that are toxic to fish and amphibians.
Frogs are very sensitive to such stuff so a hole in the ice allows these gases
to dissipate.

Ways to keep a hole in the ice are
- a floating heater which comes on at the freezing temperature of water
- an air pump and a bubbler
- putting the pump under the surface of the water and 'welling' the surface of
the pond





kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

On 18 Jul 2004 23:12:07 GMT, (Yeass) wrote:

I have a small pond. Last fall it seems that all my frogs stayed in the pond.
Needless to say they all died and I found them all on the bottom of the pond
this spring. How do I prevent this from happening again this winter.

brings back fond memories of Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye"

Yeass wrote in message
...
I have a small pond. Last fall it seems that all my frogs stayed in
the pond.
Needless to say they all died and I found them all on the bottom of
the pond
this spring. How do I prevent this from happening again this winter.
I live in
NJ.

Also I bought 2 small cat fish last year. This year they are about 8
to 9
inches. I can't beleive that they grew that much. I have goldfish,
some small
and some nice size ones. I asked the fish store if they will eat the
gold fish
and was told not to worry they get alone fine. When to another place
I was
told to get rid of them that they will eat everything in the pond.
Thank for
any help. ann

Catfish are bottom grazers, which is why they're not very good to eat,
they taste muddy. I don't think your catfish will eat your goldfish.

frogs, it all depends:

1) if you have ice on your pond, then the frogs may not be able to get
up and grab a breath through the winter. Make sure your pond can be
oxygenated through the winter (leave a hole open in the ice), so that
animals can surface and get some air. I put the bottom of a big pot of
boiling water on top of the ice in my pond when it's frozen, so as to
make a hole for any animals who need air. And I remove the pot, of
course, when the ice on the pond melts.

2)Frogs get a disease, redleg, and they all die.

3) Frog populations sometimes just crash, there is nothing you can do
about it. I had 250 frogs in my small pond 10 years ago, now, 3.

s.

Hal wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 00:35:19 +0100, "someone"
wrote:



Catfish are bottom grazers, which is why they're not very good to eat,
they taste muddy. I don't think your catfish will eat your goldfish.



Depends on what you are calling catfish. What they call catfish in
Michigan, I'll agree. Georgia and other Southern states have pond
raised catfish that are fit for a king when served up cornmeal
battered and fried. We usually have them with hush puppies, cheese
grits, cole slaw and (sweet) ice tea. Now if you are talking real
catfish they are bottom feeders, just like koi and goldfish, but you
notice how quick the koi learn to eat from the surface, well, a
catfish might be just a bit slower, but they eat handouts from the top
too. My cousin used to catch his by throwing in some fish food and
dangling empty (shiny) hooks in the water. Once the feeding starts
the catfish would bite the hooks even without bait.

Catfish can be agressive eaters and they aren't limited to the bottom
of the pond so if you want your small goldfish I'd advise seperating
them from the catfish.

Regards,

Hal


I agree Hal I raise channel cats in my 1/3+ acre pond and they get about
5 pounds of food a night. It is fantastic to watch 30 or 40 5-7 pound
cats hit the surface at the same time. My favorite way of getting a
couple for dinner is to use a fly rod and what I call "The Brown Lump"
fly. It is some of the wife's brown thread wrapped around a baitholder
hook. A little hair spray to help it float among the food when I feed
them and hang on to the fly rod!

Bob in North Alabama