I've had toads and tree frogs singing in and around the pond for a few months now. They LOVE it. And my yard is SO loud at night!! LOL. I wonder if my neighbors hate me for putting this noise machine out there?? Those tree frogs are louder than anything else in the yard for sure!
Anyway, I caught site of a "mystery fish" yesterday in the pond. I wish I had gotten a better look at it. I am 99% sure it is not any of the goldfish that I put in and subsequently lost (haven't seen since introducing them to the pond - assuming neighborhood cat or racoon). It was too small for one of them. The ones I put in were all 5"+ and this looked to be in the 3" range. But it did not look like a minnow either. It was a very dark color with what appeared to be orange stripes. Wide orange stripes. Almost like what you'd find on a clown loach??? It came flying up to the top of the water when I put flakes out after work yesterday, it actually jumped half out of the water to eat and then went scooting back down to the bottom of the pond. So I only caught sight of it for like... I don't know 2 or 3 seconds?? not long enough to really register anything but - "what the heck is that fish??" I tossed a few more flakes in, hoping it would come up to the surface again, but no dice. I waited a while and never saw it again. So I'm really confused about that.
The minnows are getting plenty big, but they're all solid colors - either pinkish for the rosy reds or brown for the fatheads. No stripes on any of them. Just very confusing...
On a good note, the minnow fry all still seem to be quite happy skimming just under the surface at the end farthest from the filter, and the tadpoles appear to be growing too. Still not sure what they are, but I'll be happy with whatever they turn into.
Another question - is it possible that snakes may be dining on my goldfish? I've really just never seen a sign of any cat or racoon activity in my yard, so I am not 100% sure what is making the goldies disappear. And if it is a snake, there probably isn't much I can do to deter it since the net, scarecrow, and electric fence options are all pretty pointless for them. Just a thought.
Hoping to get some pics up this weekend. I have a ton on my camera from the last month but just haven't had time to upload them. So I'll see about doing that in between my gardening this weekend.
Man it feels good to be done with this degree! No homework for the first time in ages!
