It's spring again, and by my fishpond, the nights are alive with the sound of music--namely, American Toads who seem to be attempting to drive me out of my mind with their singing. I've had two batches of eggs so far, and every where I look there are tadpoles, tadpoles, and more tadpoles. That's not the problem.

It's just that I'm wondering why, although I get toad eggs year after year, my Green Frogs never add to the excitement. I have five incredibly tame (you can actually touch them and they don't care) Green Frogs that have been with me for at least a couple years now. Three of them are females, and two are males. All are big, happy, and incredibly fat. However, while the males will sing off and on, there have never been any eggs for the seven years I've had this pond and that I have had Green Frogs living in it.

My pond is about 8 ft by 10 ft and about 3 ft deep; it holds maybe 1500 gallons and has a mini waterfall on one end attached to a massive filter. It is in partial shade throughout some of the day, but gets a good deal of sun (its temperature is quite steady, though). There are potted plants on little "shelves" in the edges (marsh marigold, irises, pickerel weed, etc) that the frogs like to sit in and one enormous water lily growing from a huge pot on the bottom. There are also five goldfish--three fantails and two regular comets--that I have had for several years now as well. They rarely come to the surface and leave the frogs and tadpoles alone. There are also a few very large Green Frog tadpoles that I found and rescued from petshop feeder fish tanks.

Does anybody know why the frogs won't lay eggs in the pond? Is it too small/lacking some requirement that I am unaware of? It would be really cool to get tadpoles...

I think your goldfish may be eating the eggs?

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.