Frog, Toad or Fish Eggs?

[pondlover]

Can someone tell me what these are? I think they are frog or toad eggs. We had a choir going on the other night with all of them croaking at once. And also had some playing piggy back, three high!! LOL I think CE said that! Hubby said they need to get a private room. They were so loud and I absolutely love it! We still have tons of tad poles in the pond too.

 

[addy1]

My guess is frogs, toads have strings of two eggs side by side, like a ribbon

 

[Rivermist]

wait and see ? lol

 

[Eastsideloco]

We've had some soaking rains recently. About 4 nights after the first male toad started croaking in the pond, we saw the first female. There were a dozen plus toads around the pond, yard and garden last night. This morning I found yards and yards of toad egg chains woven through the water lilies and floating plants.

Here are pics of toad eggs:

 

[j.w]

Hey loco you are new and you can start a thread in the Introduction forum so we can welcome you properly if you like. Tell us a bit about you and your ponding etc. We like to get to know ya
Neat photo's of the toad eggs! I like how you have that tub set up so you can sit right there and admire it. Lots of nice plants growing good for you I see!

 

[Eastsideloco]

Here you go, j.w.:

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/top...tin-garden-pond/page__pid__117333#entry117333

 

[addy1]

Neat, our toad eggs are dark and two next to each other the entire string.

 

[Eastsideloco]

Apparently it's possible to have too many toads in a pond. Our biggest and most handsome Shubunkin just keeled over, less than 24 hours after the toad eggs were laid. I never saw any of the fish eating the eggs, but apparently if there are enough eggs in the water the toxins can just overload the system. This is probably especially true of a small pond.

Anyway, I've separated out the other Shubunkin into a tank with a 50-50 blend of pond water and filtered water. Tonight I'm going to start a catch and release program for the toads. I'll take the ones that are here down to Ladybird Lake, which is a dammed up portion of the (other) Colorado River that splits Austin along a north-south axis. In the morning I'll get the toad eggs out of the pond, and take those to the lake.

Maybe I can find some frog eggs at the lake while I'm at it? It sounds like frogs are generally not toxic to fish the way toads are. I liked the idea of having something living near the garden and eating bugs. We have plenty of those to go around.

 

[Eastsideloco]

Relocated 11 toads to the Ladybird Lake last night. The only way I could remove the egg chains this morning, while keeping them more or less intact, was to give the lilies a haircut. Then I did a light vacuum of the pond bottom. I might still get a few toad tadpoles, but presumably not so many as to create a toxic environment for the fish.

 

[j.w]

Did not know that info about the toads. Guess I will be glad we don't have any around here now! Hoping for more frogs tho!

 

[addy1]

My toads laid in the lotus tub, 6 different toads, tons of eggs. The rosy reds in the tub seemed to have done ok with the invasion. The toads have not laid in the main pond or the small stream ponds. Frogs have laid a bunch in the stream ponds.

I didn't know you could get a toad overload, will keep an eye out for too many eggs strings.

 

[Telkwa]

The second pic sure looks like a coupla toads makin' whoopie. I'm not an egg expert so can't say about the first pic. In Western Washington we don't see many toads, if any. Just frogs (redleg and Pacific tree), newts, and a few salamanders (Northwestern, ensatina, long-toed, and redback the most common in our rural setting). We have a small wild pond down the hill from the goldfish pond. The Pacific tree frogs make a racket each spring. I was sitting by the wild pond this afternoon and saw a couple of juvenile salamanders (or maybe neotenes) with the big gills around their necks come to the surface.

 

[HSJami]

They definitely are not fish eggs. Toad eggs are in long strings of jelly like substance. Frog eggs are in globs of jelly like substance, so judging from the appearance I'd say they are frog eggs.

 

[MerryMary]

I'll try to link the other thread here, regarding toads. A few breeding from time to time in your pond usually pose no problem. More than that will create a toxic water enviroment. Toads, unlike frogs, have a toxicity on their skin. Fish will eat frog eggs and frog tadpoles, but will not eat toad eggs and toadpoles. They breed differently. Frogs jump in the pond, do their business, and leave. Their eggs float on the surface in a gelatanous mass. Toads "stew" in the water for hours, connected to each other, constantly releasing clouds of sperm, tinkle, and their skin toxins. It's not actually the strings of eggs, but everything else they dumped into the water trying to fertilize those strings. By the next day, the water becomes haxardous to your fish. If you see a large amout of toads in your pond in the morning, do a partial water change after relocating the toads. After a day or so, do another partial water change. I learned about toads the hard way, and lost a whole pond full of 24-30 inch koi. Frogs never a problem, but after all these years, only one night of more toads than I've ever seen (and I always have some) completely did me in. I talked to every koi expert out there, so thought I'd share what I found out with you all!

 

[Mmathis]

My guess is frog.....or aliens.