Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Frogs, frogs, and more frogs

Hey folks,

I have an laughable amount of frogs and tadpoles in my small (40' x 40') pond.

There are the following species in order of numbers:

Spring peepers: Millions of them, the sound is deafening. When sitting at the campfire near out pond at night we literally have to shout over them. There are also jaw-dropping amounts of peeper tadpoles swimming all over the pond, just below the surface.

Wood frogs: Quite a few, they are louder now and there's a good amount of their larger tadpoles that lay in the marginal grass near the banks.

Bullfrogs: 4 or 5 of them.

Leapard frogs: I've only seen/heard one.

Now, I know that amphibian survivability is a good measure of the healthyness of a pond because they require an excellent ecosystem. Also, I like the frogs, they are just a bit loud sometimes.

I've seen this debated in other threads by my question is where they fit into the food chain. There are so many of them that if I put any sort of fish in my pond that liked eating them and never got tired of the taste of them they could grow very fast and large. Right now I just have one 12" brook trout in my pond. I'm guessing if he likes tadpoles he's eating well.

The ideal specimen I'd like to stock and have survive is brook trout. I'm thinking I could stock about 40. Do trout like to eat tadpoles? Is there any danger in having TOO MANY frogs?

Thanks for your thoughts!

I can't think of any harm in having too many frogs. As you mentioned, they are an indicator species and it's your pond and you like them, two good reasons to have them.Regarding tadpoles, Bill Cody mentioned once that due to their slow swimming and vulnerability to predation, they have a natural off-flavour and are not a large part of fish diet, although when other food sources are not plentifull, they may consider them.
My trout will readily devour any small frog that ventures out past the weedline. I would imagine that once your pond is stocked, the frog population will be reduced. In my area, anything that eats mosquitos is welcome.