Big opps! Sorry Jenny for the loss of "Gil". And Sherry, sorry for my blonde moment..or was that a menopausal moment? I ended up draining the entire pond the past 2 days and caught every one of the little babies (over 400) and the older goldfish and shubumkins that started this. I took them to a pond store and they put them in one of the big ponds they have. I felt bad giving up the 5 older fish. The store owner told me that 3 of them were full of eggs, so I got them just in time. I was elated that they agreed to take them. I now have just eleven 1 to 2 year old Koi in the pond and hopefully it will be a few years before they start spawning. My pond is around 3000 gallons and even though I could have more fish..these are plenty! Happy Easter! Renee

You may have to do a water change after all the spawning activity too. Just to keep the amonia levels in check. You'll have some hatch in the pond, I wouldn't worry about putting any in a bucket. Don't feed the fish for a few days and let them eat as many of the eggs as they can so you don't have to rehome hundreds of fish later.

You all seem so knowledgeable about toads v frogs, may I ask a question. Do the toad ribbons foul the water? I had a tree frog lay eggs one year, got thousands of tadpoles, and it didnt bother my fish one bit. I have never had frogs again, but twice I have had toads spin their ribbons and within a week, the water became putrid. My fish began to die. I drained the pond but again the toad laid eggs. Luckily, I had not restocked the pond with fish because again the water became a foul, putrid, stinking pit. I dont want to kill these toads that keep showing up. Is there anyway to discourage them from laying eggs? Or am I wrong about cause and effect here?

Not sure what kind if eggs they are but if you dont have plants or anything in the pond yet most likely none of them will develop into offspring. You can try to get a couple of pieces of rope and drape them into the pond from the outside perimter. Its possible the eggs will latch onto the rope and possibly spawn