Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Toad Tadpole Hatch & SMB Hatch Coincide

3-4 days ago I noticed that I had another large toad tadpole hatch, tonight on a closer look I discovered that are hundreds of freshely hatched SMB fry intermixed with the recently hatched small black tadpoles. They are both about the same size, is this a coincidence or survival strategy for the SMB? I do know that fish find Bufo Wooodhousii tadpoles unpleasant to eat and therefore might just avoid eating the SMB fry too, thoughts?

SMB Fry






Bufo Woodhousii tadpole

Interesting observation... Could very well be.

I do have a lot more toad tapoles in the pond than SMB fry right now, they are everywhere along the pond edge. My gut feeling is that the SMB fry won't be heavily preyed upon while the toad tapoles are present in large numbers.

Last year when I was pellet training my smallmouth in my shop I did throw a few toad tadpoles in the tank. My smallmouth took turns sucking them in then spitting them out, the never did eat any of them.

Due to the schooling nature of bass fry I think that they are just looking for safety in numbers

Safety in numbers with toad tadpoles that some fish do learn not to eat.

Research indicates that toad (bufo) tadpoles are not a prefered prey item, apparently they taste nasty.

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) learn to avoid feeding on toad (Bufo) tadpoles

Animal Behaviour
Volume 32, Issue 4, November 1984, Pages 1035�1039

Kipp C. Kruse, Bradford M. StoneDepartment of Zoology, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois 61920, USA



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How about leopard frog tadpoles? I was at my place yesterday and these are literally everywhere. Could take a minnow net and end up with thousands. I know TJ has observed his picky fish preferring not to eat bullfrog tadpoles and we never really found out why. I have fed these same leopard frog tadpoles to largemouth in an aquarium and they gobbled them up. Hoping the fish I have in place right now find them tasty as well.

Fish must find leopard frog tadpoles alright if they will gobble them up, BF and toad tadpoles are another story.

My fish won't eat BF tadpoles either but the gully washer we had early this morning sure washed them out of my pond today. There was one BF tad going through the spillway every every 2 to 3 seconds this morning when I went out there check the pond as the rain was ending. Walking the grass below the dam this morning there must have been close to 3000 BF tadpoles caught up in the pasture grass, the water spreads out wide there and is only a few inches deep as it meanders through our pasture. My wife and I spent two hours picking them up and putting them back in the pond. I think we got 50-75% of them picked up but you had to be careful where stepped in the grass. Did you know that they pop like a cherry tomato when you accidentaly step on them? We both stepped on a lot of them. The good news is I don't think we lost very many fish, we only found one small RES and 3 small GSH while picking up BF tadpoles. My pond got a good flushing this morning that it has not seen in quite a while.

Shorty, if the fish aren't eating the bullfrog tadpoles, why the rescue mission?

Frog legs!

That and and I don't want my dog rolling in piles of dead tadpoles for the next three weeks. There were places in the grass that they were stacked up like cordwood. Using both hands you could pick up 10-12 of them in a single scoop.

I just walked the pond, I still have a gazillion toad tadpoles and even more freshley hatched GSH fry. You can see them everywhere in the flooded grass even though my water clarity is down to 3"-4". We had 2-1/2" of rain here, how much did Omaha get this morning?

Two very good reasons!

I have toad tadpoles in my pond too, just don't know what species. BUT, the LMB from last year will eat them, as will the BG in the pond.

On a sunny afternoon there's many more, but does your shoreline look anything like this when you walk by?
http://youtu.be/HDTEQMK1ggo

I asked about this last year and there's something to do with a pheromone put off by the BF tadpoles that LMB (and other fish) don't seem to like. Maybe they're getting eaten but I have literally thousands of them, especially within the Coontail masses.

I've also read that BF tadpoles can/do eat FA. Whether that's true or not I can't say for sure, but after using Cutrine + on FA last spring, and a Fluridone treatment for DW and CT in July, I had NO recurring FA last year and minimal this year. Due to tadpoles? Don't know but I love having them in the pond for the sounds and the frog legs!



PB Rocks!

Not yet but but I figure it will someday, we put at least 2000 BF tads back in the pond yesterday. Right now I have 2 dozen adult BF in the pond. I did put up a blocking net in front of the spillway to keep the tads in the pond next time it rains. My arms, legs, and back are still sore from picking up tads.

I'm pretty certain that I just had a smallie swim-up at my pond too.

Joyous times.....

Between picking up 2000 tad's and all those Morels I would imagine you ARE feeling it just a bit, and I can't imagine picking 2000 tad's out of what I'm guessing was not short grass/weeds!

Although, if able, a wet/dry vac with pondwater in it you could just suck them little babies right up without bending over .

I am amazed at how quickly they grow. This is the same glass, the bottom of the glass is 2-3/8" across.

Shorty - the growth is faster than 1mm per day which is a great growth rate and if they maintain the growth rate they could be 5" by the end of October. Keep us advised.

Will do Bill. I put this particular SMB in with the smaller RES that I am pellet training, he/she has grown at least a 1/4" in 5-6 days.

One other note, most of my toad tadpoles have turned into little toads and left the pond, this happened a few weeks ago.

Growth of your fingerling smallie of 0.25"(6.5mm)in 6 days is in the optimum range of 1.06mm/day. Keep it well fed and it will be a nice sized fish by end of October.

Typically for our latitude the toad tadpoles are developed into small toads by July 4. Since they eat a lot of periphyton, they "carry" a lot of algae out of the pond as bound nutrients during their short aquatic phase each spring.

One thing I have noticed is that the FA in my pond has started coming on strong now that the YOY toad tadpoles have become little toads. I also have a lot of bullfrog tadpoles that are becoming frogs at the moment.

Lots of tadpoles as herbivores will keep a significant amount of FA trimmed back or reduced depending on number of tadpoles and amount of FA.

Nice picture of a smallmouth fry. Even that small they are just a good looking fish.

Growth in small fry/yoy is exponential. It starts slowing in short order though. If they kept the same growth rate they would be several feet long quickly.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve good post here, just stumbled across it. I like your theory of SMB fry hanging with the tadpoles...makes sense to me.

I'm having my worst bloom of FA in my pond historically - water is gin clear to the bottom in 9' depth and the Sago and American pondweed also is blowing up and deeper than usual. Sago should start dying back and giving way to the American here in the next couple weeks, and the arrowhead should start popping too. I love the clarity, and think the FA is now dying back, but it left it's green carcass all around the margins of the big pond I'm trying to rake up little by little. I am collecting it after it dries to use as a % addition to my growing medium next Spring. I think my peppers and tomatoes will love it - maybe it's finally a benefit of FA!