All men are equal before fish.
~Herbert Hoover
In between weeding and harvesting (and the rain that seems to fall all the time) we found time to visit our local pond store. Though our toad populations are alive and well, our fish and bullfrogs have attracted the attention of a certain morning visitor on his (or her?) morning route:
Heron in nearby Black Creek. One visits our pond weekly.
We’ve been hesitant to re-stock our small pond until now. The creation of a large retaining pond up the road at a new housing development has diminished the visits from our heron friend and it seems like a perfect time to add more fish! We do have a few ( I think there’s three) left that hid under the overturned pots we placed at the bottom of the pond as a hiding spot, but to keep the mosquito populations down and keep the system balanced a few more members are necessary. Sunday we released six new fish, 4 Shubunkins and 2 Comets, into our pond. To keep them company we also addd three new bullfrog tadpoles, one nearly developed into a frog!
Comet fish for the pond.
The fish were placed into the pond, still in their bags to allow their body temperatures to adjust to the temperature change. After 15 minutes we opened the bag and they swam off to explore their new home. We’ve learned that we need to keep watch for about a week to make sure the new and older fish get along, every once in a while we find an older fish that bullies the newcomers. If that happens, we move the smaller fish to the shallow upper pond until they’re bigger.
Bullfrog tadpole nearly mature.
The bullfrog tadpoles go through the same routine of temperature adjustment and once released we’ll often see them sunning themselves along the floating cattail leaves just under the pond surface. Once mature we’ll listen for the familiar twang as they hunt among the rocks and water plants for food. Soon enough, we’ll discover more tadpoles as the cycle begins anew. Until then, all is quiet in the pond and everyone is happily nibbling away at duckweed roots and eating mosquito larvae and other insects. Isn’t nature grand?!
Oooh, with your pond, you’ve created a wonderful habitat for Great Blue Herons! Gorgeous photo, Lisa.
Thanks Carole! Sitting by the pond is a favorite way to end my day… always very musical, too.