Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations First Spawn in New Pond.

As some of you know I stocked our new pond with fhm and Coppernose blue gill early last spring. My son and I were walking the edge of our pond yesterday and we saw several eggs on branches and such right at the waters edge. Im assuming this can only be bluegill eggs. Did the rising water of filling the pond trigger them to spawn in the newly gained shallow water? Or do I need to be worried of something else in my pond?

My pond is still 18" from full pool but has been filling up nicely with the early winter rains we have been getting.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

In the wild (and north) typically bluegills spawn in warm temps and have "nests" on the bottom much like bass.

Not sure just what would be spawning in TX in winter months. Maybe the fatheads.

Possibly some sort of amphibian?? I think FHM spawn in warmer water temps too? What is your water temp David?

CMM

I spoke with The Fishery that has helped me with my stocking plan and their first thought was Bull Frogs. Which makes sense because we were over ran with them last year while building our house. I didn't know that they would lay eggs this early. She is calling her biologist for his opinion also.

Not sure of exact water temp. But it was 19 degrees this morning at my house. Ice was out 5' from the banks of the pond which covered a lot of the eggs we were seeing.
Ive searched the internet and im not getting much info of when bull frogs lay there eggs. One site said that they typically spawned during the normal warm spring months.
Im still scratching my head as to what it is.

Have you heard anything calling? Even this early I wouldn't rule out many frogs or salamanders. Around here, they get it on some time late February or early march.

Could you post a picture of the eggs?

David Connor, Gavinswildlife has a good point, if you have had a few days of warmer temps, that could make the frogs think of love. We have mostly been really cold here this winter, but warmed up to almost 70 for two days a few weeks ago and I heard some frogs singing one night. I haven't checked for eggs though.

CMM

Hey In South Dakota I have seen evidence of fatheads spawning under the ice or just after ice off.

I have punched a hole through ice to introduce minnows to an un-inhabited pond and come ice off I see fry swimming around.

Yes is it always possible that minnows slipped in there some other way. But just sayin'.....

Certainly not bluegill eggs.

I haven't heard back from The Fishery yet but Im about convinced that is Bull Frogs. Last spring during construction of our house there were millions out every morning all over everything. Slab, Lumber you name it.

The bass are gonna have field day when I finally put them in my pond.

Do the eggs look like this?



http://www.cedarmill.org/news/613/bullfrog.html

No they actually look more green. That article said that Bullfrogs lay eggs in the warm summer months but other frogs lay eggs in January and February.

I am going to take pictures this evening

Likely a spring peeper species, they are usually the first to lay their eggs.

That's kind of what I was thinking. First sign that spring has sprung is hearing the peepers at night. That is assuming that their range includes TX.

Curious in what bodies of water you witnessed this?

FHM typically spawn when water temps reach the north side of 60 degrees(F). The only freshwater fish I know of that will spawn under the ice is northern pike. Right at ice off could be northerns, walleyes, or yellow perch. All spawn when water temperatures are in that 40-50 degree range.

Really good chance it was leapord frog.

After reading up on it, It doesn't sound possible for it to be a Bull Frog. But im convinced that it is Frog Eggs of some sort. With as many as im seeing, I think The Bass that are soon to be stocked are gonna love this pond!

From Wikipedia Spring Peeper

Spring peepers breed in southern areas from October to March, depending on the local temperature. In northern areas, they breed between March and June, when the warm rains start. P. crucifer typically lays around 900 eggs per clutch, but up to 1000 are possible. Egg clusters are hidden under vegetation or debris at the water base. After hatching, they transform into frogs and are ready to leave the water in about eight weeks. In very cold weather, they hibernate under logs and loose bark. Spring peepers often call day and night as long as the temperature is above freezing, but they are mostly heard and usually not seen because they hide in dense plants. They are especially easy to hear due to their extremely loud mating call which gives them the name "peeper", but it is often hard to pinpoint the source of the sound, especially when many are peeping at once. The peepers generally breed close to dusk and throughout the evening and early morning hours. Their calls can be heard from as far as one to two and a half miles, depending on their numbers. The spring peeper can live an estimated three years in the wild

I take it the Wikipedia thing skipped or just glossed over the tadpole stage which is the 8 week transformation?

I think that sentence can be interpreted in a different way. It doesn't say they hatch into frogs. Not really the point of that post.

The point was what is in bold. Hence me putting it in bold. That is when spring peepers lay their eggs in southern environments, which Texas is.

I have about 100# of bullfrog tadpoles I got from a neighbors pond. I was wondering if there is any reason that I should not add them to a pond of mine that has only pellet trained bass. I have put the tadpoles in a cow trough and put 3% salt to kill of any exterior parasites but I don't want to add if they could be carrying some other pathogen.
Any advice would be appreciated!

Cray, Ive read that Bull Frogs can be a very invasive species of frogs. They will eat anything that they can fit in there mouth. Bull Frogs can become very big. I wouldn't think that you would want to put them in your pond If you are trying to have a balanced chain of food for your fish that you have stocked.

After speaking with the local A&M Marine Biologists he believes that it is definatly some sort of amphibian and more than likely not Bull Frogs. Im sending him pictures tomorrow so he can look. I will try to post those pics on here as well.

Well crap, I went to take pictures yesterday evening and I couldn't find a single Egg. We just had a couple of inches of rain which raised the water level about 6 inches. Im gonna put my water boots on today and take a walk through the shallow areas this evening to see if I can find some.