well I tried to put in tadpole babies several times and the koi and goldfish thought I was wonderful for bringing them a snack.. They feasted and feasted.. I got a ten gallon tank and put a bubbler in it and about 4 inches of pond water and a large easily climbed rock that was out of the water a bit. (I left it uncovered out on my patio out of the sun.) I put in about 150 little tadpoles and at least a hundred grew to frogs. I fed them boiled lettuce that I froze in ice cube trays and broke up and dropped in their water. I also stuck in small water lettuce cause they liked to eat the roots. I also fed them goldfish flaked food. I did feed them 2-3 times a day (small amounts) near the end I had to net them all out and clean their water every few days. Also had to catch the frogs and release them as soon as they lost their tail or they would die.. drown?? they were little tree frogs. Also raised a salamander from a tadpole in the same tank with the rest of the tadpoles..(I think that could be where I lost a few cause they like frog meat)

Hi. I have a 2500 gallon pond and have raised koi and goldfish for years. Alage can be a battle espically string alage. I suggest building a pergula or shade over the pond and this will cut out your alage problem.if you are raising fish NEVER use an alagecide because it cuts the avaiable oxygen in half for the fish and can kill them. It certainly makes it harder for them to breathe! I've found the pergula to be the very best choice. It has cut my alage in half and the fish love it! It also looks very nice. Direct sun is the cause of alage.a nice pergula (shade structure) makes all the difference in the world! This is advice I live by. My fish are happy my pond is clear and my alage is no longer out of control! There will always be alage on the sides of the pond but the floating ugly green clumps of fillimounious alage are a thing of the past! If the pond continues in the direct sun the alage will continue to grow back.I had learned this the hard way after many years of pond keeping. My pegula has a lattuce roof allowing light to come through but not enough to cause an alage problem. We built ours by hand and it was up in one day. They are not expensive to build and they are very worth it! I have a large pond so my structure had to be larger and still it was only about 150 dollars in materials. If you have a small pond you can do it for about50 dollars! Good luck and happy ponding!

I scrub my birdbaths with a brush and have never heard of putting copper in them to reduce algae. I do know that copper is toxic to fish so I would not use it in my pond though I use it near my fishpond and my frog ponds with no ill effects.

I agree about sticking with native frogs. They're going into your pond and will be free to come and go. Non-native frogs may not survive, or may cause problems in the local environment. Yes, larger frogs may eat a few fish, but it is not a major part of their diet. They only eat what they find at or above the surface or in very shallow water. They don't dive for food. They have a pretty simple mode of existence for most of their adult lives. When they see a moving object, they judge whether to hide from it or to swallow it! Tadpoles eat mostly algae. When they are transitioning they eat nothing and live off their tail. The other thing about frogs is that all of them sing at some point in the year. Bullfrogs and green frogs tend to sing throughout the summer. They are also the ones that are most aquatic, and most likely to hang out in the pond rather than wandering off into the woods. Leopard and pickerel frogs stay near the water but like to hunt in grassy areas. Wood frogs breed in one mad rush and then spend the rest of the season in the deep damp woods. Toads will hang out in the garden if they have nice places to hide, like hollow logs or overturned flower pots. Tree frogs and peepers will be heard much more than seen. They sing mainly in the spring, and during wet weather in the summer and fall. For overwintering, some kinds will find places on land, and others will overwinter at the bottom of the pond.