Do Goldfish eat Common Toad Spawn?

Snowgoose · #1 (**permalink**) 24-04-2006, 06:57 AM

Our pond was created 18 months ago and much to our delight I found Common Toad spawn in it yesterday.
We have 2 Comet Sarasas about 4" in length and 3 Shubunkins about 3" in length in the pond. I am aware they will eat Frog Spawn but wondered if they would eat the spawn of the Toad or the tadpoles when they hatched?

Many thanks for any tips.......I would like to see some toads survive at least!

pheonix · #2 (**permalink**) 24-04-2006, 11:11 AM

Yes, any of the carp family will eat pretty much anything, they are especially known for eating newt larvae as they sit in the water column

Snowgoose · #3 (**permalink**) 24-04-2006, 11:38 AM

Thanks pheonix. Looks like I will be better removing some of the spawn and letting them hatch in a carp free environment.

Gill Catton · #4 (**permalink**) 24-04-2006, 03:26 PM

I think though that toad tadpoles in particular become distasteful as they get bigger, so fish will leave them alone.
but then I'm not quite sure where I heard that so I could be wrong!

Snowgoose · #5 (**permalink**) 25-04-2006, 04:56 PM

Yes I heard similar Gill and that was why I queried whether or not they were safe in with the fish........

Gill Catton · #6 (**permalink**) 25-04-2006, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowgoose

Yes I heard similar Gill and that was why I queried whether or not they were safe in with the fish........

my best friend had a large pond with fish in (mostly those golden orfe things that look like carrots) and they still had hundreds of baby toad make it out of the pond every year but then this pond had pretty shallow vegetated edges where the fish maybe didn't go so this probably helped but there were so many so I suspect it may also be that they taste bad

nightshade · #7 (**permalink**) 25-04-2006, 07:37 PM

I have never seen my fish eat spawn or tads. no doubt that they do ,birds, magpies, jackdaws, crows etc.they fish the margins and hunt the small ones when they hop ashore

Gill Catton · #8 (**permalink**) 25-04-2006, 07:42 PM

the only real trouble my friend had was if they chose to emerge on a hot dry day and the poor little things got stuck to the dry surface of the patio next to the pond, they ended up covering the area in damp towels!

Snowgoose · #9 (**permalink**) 26-04-2006, 08:47 AM

Golden Orfe live at the top of the pond and eat mostly there unlike Comets which like to hide in the plants and at the bottom of the pond and eat mostly in those places.

I was so excited to see the toads eggs and wanted a few to survive as we live on the snowline in the North of Scotland and the pond had a four inch layer of ice a good part of the winter. The pond is 2' deep and was built with stones and rocks with a beach at one end just in case we got a hedgehog visitor or any other wildlife and it fell in! There are shelves and areas around the edge for the little toadlets to hop onto as they start to leave the water.

Incidently we took a bucket of water from a local loch to ensure we had some natural organisms. Hey ho we ended with a Fresh water shrimp which attacked and killed one of the fish. So that wasn't a good idea

ps. don't think we will have a problem with the little mites drying up in this region....smile. Quite a wet area!

Tursiops · #10 (**permalink**) 26-04-2006, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

my best friend had a large pond with fish in (mostly those golden orfe things that look like carrots) and they still had hundreds of baby toad make it out of the pond every year but then this pond had pretty shallow vegetated edges where the fish maybe didn't go so this probably helped but there were so many so I suspect it may also be that they taste bad

I believe, although I could be wrong, that Golden Orfe are a form of Rudd, a species native to the UK. They are surface feeders, taking insects that have fallen onto the surface of the water, so they won't touch tadpoles of any species.
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