making a Simple small Frog Pond

[superhappyfuntime]

I have found a awesome place to make the pond. It won't be big or anything special. I already know how to build it etc.

I am just wondering about the Filter. The location which the pond will be cannot have a electric feed, therefore no Filtration system.

Question is. Do I need a Filtration System for a simple frog pond. If not my dad says the pond water will smell and stuff. What will happen and what do I need.

 

[DrDave]

Without a filter, the pond will soon go septic.

 

[BBK]

Well, technically you don't need one. You could put a couple of mosquito fish in there to keep the mosquitos down, but you will have to do lots of water changes too keep it from smelling.

 

[DrDave]

Harbor Freight has some Solar powered pumps that may help circulate the water enough.
If you are not having Koi in there the mosquito fish will keep the mosquito larvae down. They are very aggressive little buggers and multiply like crazy. I had to drain my pond and sterilize everything to get rid of them.

 

[superhappyfuntime]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-SOLAR-PO...3.l1177&_trkparms=240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

will this keep my fish/frogs happy?

 

[DrDave]

That looks like it will work fine in a very small pond. Circulation is very important.

 

[oldmarine]

Six weeks ago I have introduced three bull frogs to my 365 gallon pond that are two to four inches long. By trial and error, I found that when I watered the ferns and scotch moss around my pond with deluted fish emulsion, I had a real problem attracting flies. The frogs became extremely active, and jumped into action eating the flies. Also, I no longer have a slug or spider problem around my pond.

My pond is heavely planted in and around the pond. The frogs stray away from the pond only for short periods. Most of the time they are in amongst the perrot feather and lilly pads.

Be creative, give them plenty of hiding places, and food source they will stick around.

 

[koiguy1969]

my frogs stay wiggled down between my border stones. the only time i see them is when i walk outside and i see them jump in the pond

 

[oldmarine]

I should have mentioned that I have arranged the round river rock at the base of my water fall so the frogs have plenty of places to crawl into and hide.

My frogs seem to be quite content with my pond and all of the plants around the pond. I can sit about six feet away and watch them sit waiting for a fly to land. Sometimes I don't even see them until they make a move, they blend in quite well.

 

[DrDave]

Where you have rapids, rocks are ok since they are continuously cleaning the area around them.

 

[Binary]

You could put a couple of mosquito fish in there to keep the mosquitos down.

If you are not having Koi in there the mosquito fish will keep the mosquito larvae down. They are very aggressive little buggers and multiply like crazy. I had to drain my pond and sterilize everything to get rid of them.

superhappyfuntime, as you posted an ebay.au item I assume you are in Australia. If so - do not add mosquito fish - these are responsible for a great decline in tadpoles & native fish that are actually better mosquito hunters (like the cane toad issue). They are considered a noxious pest. Depending on your location it may even be illegal to have them in a pond.

You should aim for fish native from your local area. I went for the Murray Rainbows (Melanotaenia fluviatilis), started with 7 almost a year ago and now have around 80 - and I don't feed them. The males are a very nice blue when they have their breeding colours on.

 

[DrDave]

Blue Paradise are a lovely fish, I actually have one that hitch hiked a ride with some water Hyacinth I bought from a guy that had hundreds of them. Definetly a more desireable fish to have if you can get some. Mine is about 4-5" long now.

 

[oldmarine]

Back to the frog topic, in the early spring I caught and brought home a dozen tree frogs. Thinking they would stay in the pond, they didn't. They are tree frogs. They seem be staying in the yard area in and around the vegitable garden and other gardens around the house. Today I observed two of the tree frogs while watering the front yard. So I know they seem to stay some what near a water source. We have never had local or resident frogs of any kind here before.

In the mean time, the three other bull frogs that I brought home from a friends natural pond seventy miles from here still seem to be quite content to stay in and near the pond in my back yard.

I believe the bull frogs have added to wonder and enjoyment of sitting and watching the activity in my pond. Not to mention, we seem to have less flies and mosqitos bothering us in our yard.

 

[Binary]

Tadpoles & Frogs are great. I estimate over 200 tadpoles made it to frogs from the pond last year. We have at least three species, the first frog started croaking within a week of the pond being filled .

Here is an audio clip from our pond in the middle of winter. pond20090630winter.mp3

For the Aussie readers:
In Australia its illegal to move spawn or frogs in most states and for good reasons (transmission of diseases, local species protection etc) Please read: http://frogs.org.au/community/viewtopic.php?t=3122
If you wan't frogs just build the pond and they should come