Pollywog Problems

[DEmigh]

Well, not yet, but I will soon have pollywog problems. I know, because I can hear, as I type, a toad screaming his lungs out. He's saying (freely translated) "What a maginificent specimen of amphibianhood am I! Come ladies, procreate with me!" And the ladies will respond to his call.

Last year, and the year before, I had pollywogs by the hundreds. They got into the filters and expired. They got sucked through the impellers and smashed into the openings in the fountain heads. It was a mess.

I have a 12-1500 gallon pond containing about 40 goldfish. (I only started with 20 goldfish, the rest are descendants of the original stocking.) Despite being greedy pigs who practically mug me for food everytime I walk by the pond, they do not eat pollywogs.

Is there a fish that I could add to the mix that would eat pollywogs, but would not harass the goldfish?

 

[brianfl]

Is there a fish that I could add to the mix that would eat pollywogs, but would not harass the goldfish?

Possibly a channel cat. You would have to get a decent sized one and there is no guarantee that once it got very big, it wouldn't eat your goldfish, it would depend on the size of your goldfish. If you had some sort of live bearer fish in there (guppies/gambusia) or something like that, he wouldn't touch them, it would be too busy with the others. However, that would probably put an end to any new goldfish. Actually, anything that would eat the polywogs would also eat fish eggs or small fish.

 

[DEmigh]

Thanks

All of the goldfish are at least 2in long, not including fin. No goldfish fry so far this year, and that's okay, since I'm down to 30-40 gallons per fish already.

Since the smallest goldfish are in the 2in range, do you suppose a 6in channel cat would be safe?

 

[brianfl]

That is pretty risky. A six inch channel will probably grow to a foot in less than three months in a pond. If the goldies were a little larger...

With 2" fish, it is going to be hard to find something that will get the polywogs but not the fish.

 

[BigFishDude]

why not try the smaller varieties of channel cats (madtoms, bullheads (I think they stay small)). Or maybe for the summer you could put a school of pictus cats in there. I'm not sure if they would eat the pollywogs tho.

Did you ever think of just removing the eggs?

 

[brianfl]

Madtoms would be your best bet if you can locate some. They will do a good job on your pollywogs and probably won't get big enough to damage your goldfish. They also do well in cool water. Bullheads do get larger (up to 20") so you would be ok intially, but eventually they would probably snack on the fish.