Frogs

[B. Pearcy]

How do you guys keep frogs out of your fish tank?

I kept noticing the goldfish in my tank were missing their bodies and the heads were floating on top of the water. I thought the fish were cannibalizing each other. But...I think I may have found a more probable cause a couple of nights ago.

I was laying in bed Sunday night and kept hearing frogs in the backyard. I tried to ignore it for a while, but it got so loud it was really unbearable. Most of all, I was worried that the neighbors might figure out that all the noise was coming from my backyard. It was after midnight!

I grabbed a flashlight and headed out back. The noise was coming from the fish tank. I removed 4 or 5 frogs from my fish tank. Not bullfrogs or anything real big, but a couple were the size of a child's fist.

Today, I noticed their by-product...hundreds and hundreds of tadpoles.

I am down to one lone goldfish at this point, but he's getting quite a bit bigger.

Have you had this issue in your system?

How do you keep frogs out of your fish tank?

[Chi Ma]

Frogs usually eat things whole. You may have raccoons.

[TCLynx]

Hum, I had never thought frogs would be a problem.  I think I've had frogs in my systems on occasion but most were not big enough to give any of my fish a problem.  Perhaps I should have a look in my sump tank to see if I have any tadpoles though (the catfish might like a treat.)  Most of the frogs around my systems have been tree frogs.  I've only ever seen a few big water frogs.

[B. Pearcy]

I would be surprised if it's racoons. I do have an improvised reed fence cover on it, which of course is no trouble for frogs but I think the racoons would have a little more trouble accessing it easily.

[B. Pearcy]

I think some were squirrel tree frogs and some were pig frogs.

 

From NHPTV.org:

"The squirrel treefrog breeds from March to October. Mating usually happens after it rains. The female lays up to 1,000 eggs in a breeding pond of shallow, standing water with lots of vegetation. It takes about six weeks for the tadpoles to transform into froglets."

[Don Taylor]

I have three leppard frogs that have been longterm residents in my pond. I admit I do not know what they eat, but my gold fish do not seem to mind them.

The gold fish are common commits, about 5" long (three year olds). The frogs are well fed, probably about the size of my two fists put together.

I do seem to remember, 30 years ago I did alot of aquariums, that tadpoles are varacious feeders and could be the problem. I have also seen what you are describing when you have multiple fish breeds in a single tank. Agressive fish breeds (including gold fish) will eat the soft bellies of more passive fish, if they can't eat them whole.  

 

This is the little one, the big one is easly 3x his size. Ready for a French Resturant!

 

[Daniel Driscoll]

Don Taylor said:

I have three leppard frogs that have been longterm residents in my pond. I admit I do not know what they eat, but my gold fish do not seem to mind them.

The gold fish are common commits, about 5" long (three year olds). The frogs are well fed, probably about the size of my two fists put together.

I do seem to remember, 30 years ago I did alot of aquariums, that tadpoles are varacious feeders and could be the problem. I have also seen what you are describing when you have multiple fish breeds in a single tank. Agressive fish breeds (including gold fish) will eat the soft bellies of more passive fish, if they can't eat them whole.  

 

This is the little one, the big one is easly 3x his size. Ready for a French Resturant!

 

 

Im pretty sure this is a bullfrog, and they are known to eat leapord frogs. And if you had a leapord frog that was as big as both of your fists I think that would be a world record. I used to let the bullfrogs stay until I seen one go for a goldfish, that and I like having dragonflies for mosquetos. I just relocate the frogs to a nearby pond. On a more serious note, I recently found a snapping turtle in my pond! That was a first. I started noticing bite holes in my waterlillies, it kinda looked like hail damage.

 

[Don Taylor]

I didn't think about turtles. That would do it.

Could be bullfrog I suppose, I will see if I can get a picture of the big one. They are usually out this time of day sunning, but we are in the upper 90's today. This guy was in the shade under my mimmosa.

Are you actively attracting Dragon Flys? If so how? I would love to have some!

I have also considered a bat house for mosqueto control.

 

[TCLynx]

Muscovy ducklings are good mosquito and gnat eaters, but they don't stay ducklings for long.

We have tree frogs around our systems, they like hiding under the covers over the feeders and sometimes in my vent pipes.

[Daniel Driscoll]

The dragonflies just appeared, probably from the same pond the frogs and turtle came from. I guess you could try and catch some dragonfly larvae and maybe they'll hang around. The larvae eat mosquitos, but they will also eat guppies. Back to keeping the frogs out, I'm not sure because they jump three feet high into one of my raised container ponds

Don Taylor said:

I didn't think about turtles. That would do it.

Could be bullfrog I suppose, I will see if I can get a picture of the big one. They are usually out this time of day sunning, but we are in the upper 90's today. This guy was in the shade under my mimmosa.

Are you actively attracting Dragon Flys? If so how? I would love to have some!

I have also considered a bat house for mosqueto control.