Pond life in January

[Phone 630]

Norm,

 

What's the survival rate when they go from indoors to outdoors?

 

Phone

[Norm B 123]

Norm,

 

What's the survival rate when they go from indoors to outdoors?

 

Phone

The aquarium is outdoors next to the pond to keep them acclimatised. While in the pond it's about 100% but once on land can't tell as there are lots of predators like frogs, birds , hedgehogs etc.

[Norm B 123]

The aquarium is outdoors next to the pond to keep them acclimatised. While in the pond it's about 100% but once on land can't tell as there are lots of predators like frogs, birds , hedgehogs etc.

Just had a look in the aquarium as the last couple of days have been warm and sunny and the first of the GCN spawn has hatched so the rest should hatch over the next few days. There's plenty of daphna available at the moment but this will decrease as more newts hatch and grow bigger and eat quicker than the daphna can breed, then I'll have to import some until they are ready to eat blood worms, then the cheap bit when I can feed them on small red worms from my compost bin.

[Norm B 123]

Just had a look in the aquarium as the last couple of days have been warm and sunny and the first of the GCN spawn has hatched so the rest should hatch over the next few days. There's plenty of daphna available at the moment but this will decrease as more newts hatch and grow bigger and eat quicker than the daphna can breed, then I'll have to import some until they are ready to eat blood worms, then the cheap bit when I can feed them on small red worms from my compost bin.

Just clearing some blanket weed and I found a large frog tadpole in the net, glad to see they haven't all been eaten by the newts.

[Norm B 123]

Just clearing some blanket weed and I found a large frog tadpole in the net, glad to see they haven't all been eaten by the newts.

Clearing duckweed yesterday and found lots of small newt tadpoles, not GCN's, I wonder if it's a long spawning year again or if they're small due to so many there's a lack of food for them. Problem now is, if I transfer the GCN's into the pond will they eat the small newt tadpoles? Probably but that's nature, survival of the fittest, or the biggest.

[Norm B 123]

Clearing duckweed yesterday and found lots of small newt tadpoles, not GCN's, I wonder if it's a long spawning year again or if they're small due to so many there's a lack of food for them. Problem now is, if I transfer the GCN's into the pond will they eat the small newt tadpoles? Probably but that's nature, survival of the fittest, or the biggest.

Just transferred the contents of the aquarium and "frog pond" into the main pond, 14 nice plump GCN newts but no small GCN newts, obviously why the large GCN's were so plump and surprisingly a few small smooth newts, must have been good at avoiding the GCN's.

[Norm B 123]

With this mild unwintery weather I'll have to start clearing the leaves and muck from the pond early as I've seen frogs and newts moving already, I don't want to have to work around the spawn again this year.

[Phone 630]

Norm,

 

More likely to have to work around a hard freeze. Weather is set up for NO SPAWN.

 

Phone

[Norm B 123]

In past years of early spawn and hard frost I've removed some spawn and kept it indoors until safe to transfer outside, not had to do that for a few years, thank goodness, Mrs B does moan about it..

Edited January 10, 2016 by Norm B

[Norm B 123]

Where has my last post gone, it was on page 7?