Wow! Frogspawn!

[alison]

We are still patiently waiting for our frogs to arrive. Some nights they are here and then others they are not. In some ways though I am glad they haven't arrived fully as there is not much plant cover for them. I did keep some watercress in a small prefab pond, so laid it in the pond yesterday on top of the primrose willow stems so now they should be okay.
I really like golden orfe. I only have one left in my pond, but he is a good foot long now. Maybe even longer (Sonny thinks he is about 16 inches and he could easily be right) but he's definitely as big as my ghost koi. I didn't realise they grew so big. I always think of him like a torpedo and he is so sleek.

[alison]

Last week it was "hurrah they have returned" (32 of them) I was so excited. I watched them in the evening but the following morning they seemed to have disappeared again. In their place was just one solitary clump of spawn. I guess most were males. I am still hoping that they will be back to continue laying but we are in for a colder spell over the next few days. We will wait with baited breath for the frenzy to come.

[whis4ey]

All of our spawning seems to have been concluded
And i never heard a thing .................

[alison]

Wow. I wonder how many females laid that amount. You are so lucky.

[Tricia]

Quite a spread Sam .

After the fish gobbled all the first spawn laid , I very carefully placed some that Gordon gave me in a pond plant container which I suspended in the pond. I now have hundreds of tiny taddies, most of which are feeding on the jelly-like substance still. I'm going to try feeding them with cat food in a while in the hope that I get some froglets in due course. Since no more spawn has been laid, I must assume I had just one pair each of frogs and toads as I believe they only lay spawn once each season.

[whis4ey]

The pic shows only a small fraction of the spawn laid
Loads of little froggies again this year ...... Mr Heron WILL be pleased

[alison]

Well I am so disappointed with my frogs. I have such a small amount of spawn that I am worried where all my frogs have gone. Last year was a bumper one for me with about 27 clumps of spawn and 52 frogs. This year although getting 32 frogs just for one night, only a couple of small clumps of spawn are in the pond. My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law have absolutely loads in their ponds this year, so what has happened to my frogs..... ???

[Tricia]

I think it must be the constant change from cold to mild weather Alison. My spawn has now all disappeared and I have lots of tiny taddies clinging to the liner and around the plants on the shallow ledges. I reckon that is where they can best hide from the voracious jaws of the goldfish . I was surprised that they could wriggle out of the tiny holes in the pond plant container where I had put them for their own safety .

[alison]

I am sure that some will survive Tricia. What a shame they could wiggle right through. I bet it was the great escape, let's hope they stay out of the jaws of death. .
As for the saga of the 32 frogs and 3 clumps of spawn mentioned earlier. I have news on that.
Hurrah !! I have found loads that was well hidden in my murky pond. After having this terribly murky pond for weeks I had put the UV back on and the filterbox pump, but to no avail. It still stayed just as murky so I decided that I would do a small water change and see if it helped at all. Because I have a large shallow end the water always draws out of there before it is empty enough in the deep end so I was trying to be careful, not wanting to leave the small clumps of spawn out of water for very long. I kept the water going into the pond at the same time as emptying hoping that it would keep the spawn okay. Of course something then took my attention and I forgot to look as quickly as I had wanted to. When I did go to look I was so surprized as the pond had emptied a lot of the shallow end and I found about 20 clumps of spawn right on the bottom onto some of the primrose willow stems and another area with another 5 splodges. These had not been at all visable at any time, and I suppose with my water being very murky I couldn't see down the 10 or so inches to where they had been laid. I am so pleased and can finally stop worrying about things happening to my frogs. I am happy again.

[Ponddipperdave]

Most of my frogs have left now
I have a 12 x 10 foot pond
and 6 x 5 foot is covered with frogspawn
I would love to know what the cubic area is !
I have also got clumps in 12 buckets.
The Newts won't go hungry when they arrive.
Dave