Dominic, I would be interested in some spawn--chicken of the woods, shiitake and if possible morels. I can get you some hardy kiwi later when I have access (in June), I can also get some black walnuts, they are pretty common around here. I have rooted white grapes from a trade (seeded), and I need to check on some others I was rooting, if they are not moldy, I can send some. I also have arapahoe blackberry plants and heritage red raspberries. Mark

Hi Beatrice: Welcome to the pond forum. I have been ponding for 10 years now and I always tend to rush the season when we have nice weather. Your frogs are probably still in hibernation. One year when we had an early spring I hurried to get the pond up and running. When I vacuumed my top pond and settlement pond I found what I thought were five frogs dead. I placed them on the ground in a row till I had time to bury them. I didn't get to it that day, and when I looked for them the next morning they were gone. I guess they were still hibernating and when I took them out of the cold pond water and laid them in the sun they eventually warmed up and jumped back into the pond. Last year was the first year I had tadpoles. I hope some of them made it through the winter. I haven't seen any frogs yet. One of my pond forum buddies told me they will probably appear in May. She, too, thought she lost her frog last year, but it showed up in May. She reminded me we are still in April and even though we are having warm weather the pond water is still cold. Hang in there, they should be waking up soon. Jenny

Hi Congrats on keeping GF in such good health in a tank!! I suspect that by now the parents have solved the problem and have devoured all the eggs lol Spawning in a pool is easy but tough in a tank. You will have to move the eggs to a separate tank to have any hope of raising them. They need lots of room and good food to make it. gary

Here's what I did when I was a kid: (for Anabantids, in general)I just set up a tank with the water level a little above the heater element. I had token aeration, just enough to keep the water circulating so that the temp remained uniform throughout. I bought Water Sprite to float and a styrofoam coffee cup that I cut the bottom out and folded into quarters. I placed the styro on the water, where it floated. I kept the tank covered. I also added hay or dead grass and that would soon produce infusoria for the fry. I bought any old male and located a female that is egg-laden and had an obvious white spot on her abdomen. It's best to keep them separate at first and condition them with live food. The male would build his bubblenest, incorporating bits of hay and Water Sprite and the two would mate. Once she is done, I removed her. The fry began emerging in a day or two and the make would take care of them, scooping them up in his mouthand blowing them back into the nest. After about a week, the fry were free-swimming and I would remove the male. Meanwhile, I had a baby brine shrimp hatchery going, that the fry were now big enough to eat. About 3 weeks of age is a critical time for the young, becaue theor breathing apparatus is being developed. Some will die. You don't get a whole lot of adults from a brood, but it's still fun.