I have a 1 1/2 week old pond with 3 goldfish and 2 little guppies that are all doing fine. Now 3 times I've found big ugly toads that are laying TONS of stringy egg things. Will I be over run with toads now and how long does this go on? I don't mind the noise but don't want a gazillion toads in my yard. I have cats too and am concerned about them eating them and getting sick?????? Please help as I am new to this and flipping out.

Forgot to mention that I am in New Orleans, LA

See my page on toads at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/toad.htm
You have the 50 gallon pond? It's too small to take a lot of toad spawn. I suggest netting out the eggs and moving them to a kiddie pool or a nearby pond. If there's just a few eggs (or should I say few hundred), they won't due much real harm to the pond or fish. Rare fish will try to eat the toad eggs which taste bad. If the fish are "dumb" enough to eat a lot, it can kill them but I've never had that happen. In LA, you may have cane toads though which are more toxic. They are huge. Cats would get sick or even die if they tried to eat a cane toad but not if they went for a native toad. It would help if you could identify the species for sure. How big are they?

Robyn, Thanks for all your wonderful info. This is a great forum for us newbies. The toads are not that big, maybe 2" all around. I'll go to your toad page and see if I can identify them. They were here before the pond was installed because I could hear them so I guess my cats are safe and not interested in eating them. I separated a pair last night and YEA no eggs this morning.

Thanks for the filter info too!

O MY, O My, I had no idea these eggs would "hatch" so soon. Now I have a ton of tiny little tadpoles in my little pond. You said the fish wouldn't eat the eggs, will they eat these guys? I am really freaking out now that I will wake up one morning and find my little backyard full of frogs! Will they all "make it" now that they are swimming around? I was not prepared for this to happen and I have to admit I'm not too happy about it.

Leann, I wouldn't get too worried. Listen to Robyn's advice.

All I can tell you is every year it happens to me too. This year I've already had lots and lots of tadpoles, or maybe I should say toadpoles. From what I understand they are poisonous to fish, but fish learn quickly from the taste to leave them alone, unless they're really-really dumb. I have lots of gold fish and few Koi, and so far have not had any sick fish from eating eggs/tadpoles.

If they are toads, which I think most of mine are, they don't live in the water, they're only born there. So, soon as you see tiny legs growing, it won't be but a few days and they'll be gone. Seems to me the entire process from the time you see the tadpoles to the time they're gone is only about 2 weeks. Every year I'm left wondering what happened to all those tadpoles. Last year for a few days after leaving the pond I did see a few tiny frogs in my flowerbeds and grass, but wasn't long and they too were gone.

Consider it Mother Nature. Frogs, Toads, and fish live together in nature, so why not in a pond. There's some truth in the old saying "Build it and they will come".

I've also heard having frogs/tadpoles is a sign of a healthy pond, but I don't know how true that is. If it is true, feel fortunate and be happy.

Johnnyboy, thanks - I feel much better now that I won't wake up one morning to find Invasion of the Toad babies!!!!!!! You are so right that this might mean my new pond is healthy so I guess I'm blessed and need to just relax huh ;)

I am having so much fun with my new pond and am so glad I found this site - I've already learned so much from it.

Glad to hear you're enjoying your new pond and this forum. I'm new to ponding and this forum too. Ditto your comments about this site. It's wonderful to have access to this much pond info; the friendly knowledgable interaction and willingness of expert help is unsurpassed anywhere. Can't say enough good words about Robyn that's for sure, she's a living encyclopedia of info, and her help is stellar!

And sometimes you get non-expert advice from regular guys like me that just like ponds, and want to help.

Welcome to the forum.

I'm just a person like the rest of you. I have too much animal info in my brain though; it's leaking out as I forget. We took my 14-month-old neice to the zoo for the first time yesterday. I took a lot of digital photos but know I'll forget the names of a bunch of animals.

Toads take about two months from hatching to leaving the pond. It seems faster than that but it's not. The "toadlets" leave normally at night but sometimes you'll see the tiny toads hopping around. The toad tadpoles taste bad so they usually are left alone. Many will die from starvation, illness, and they eat each other. You can still net and move the tadpoles to another pond if you want or a kiddie pool or other temporary pond.

Hi all, Good news for the gazillion toadpoles in my pond. A neighbor teenager who loves, bugs, frogs, animals, etc. came over yesterday and together we must have scooped over a 100 toadpoles that she took home with her. She had fun and her family are excited about watching them grow into little toadlets. They have done this before so they know how to take care of them. Yea! There are still a bunch in my pond but I am having fun watching them. I heard a big toad noise last night but didn't see him. I swear it sounded like a bullfrog!