The frog has laid eggs, spawned*, in the pond. We know she spawned in the swimming pool a few month ago but this is the first time we have seen frog eggs in the pond.
Koimageddon**: The death of the Koi last month was essential to this remarkable event. Previously even if the frog had laid eggs in the pond the Koi would have eaten them. What we don’t know is whether the eggs were fertilized. Stay tuned.
* Spawn is a noun meaning fish and amphibian eggs that have been laid and a verb that means to lay those eggs. The derivative meaning is to give birth to something. As in: “He spawned a wave of derivative products.”
** Koimageddon is taken from “Carmageddon” the closing of one of the major freeways in the LA area this weekend.
Last Friday evening I left the hose running into my pond and by morning all of the fish were dead. No they didn’t drown. They were poisoned by the Chloramine in the tap water.
RIP Fish
It was the Chernobyl disaster of my pond. Fortunately I had some mosquito fish in the small fountain and the frog survived so there will be some fauna continuity. The frog probably survived because he has been adjusting to chemicals by taking nightly swims in the pool.
The plan now is to restart the pond with local fish and more lilies. It should be beautiful, environmentally sound and much easier to take care of.
This Lily flowered two days after the fish disaster
The frog in my pond is rarely seen. We hear him sometimes, croaking or plopping, but sightings are rare. Maybe once a year. So imagine my surprise when I heard a plop in the swimming pool filter basket. I looked in and saw the frog. He was surprised himself and probably terrified he jumped out of the basket and swam to the bottom of the pool. I took this picture
and them used the skimmer net to scoop him back into the pond. At the end of the ordeal he was barely moving but twenty minutes later he had gone back into hiding. We have no idea how long he was in the swimming pool or even if he is a he. Lillian gave him the name Randolph Meyer and it has stuck.
Randolph is bigger than an iPhone but smaller than an iPad. About the size of a large sunglasses case.
One of the Koi in my pond has a very large growth on its head.
It started small a few years ago and I thought it must be a disease. But none of the other fish got it so I let “Big Head” stay. Now he is so ugly and noticeable that Jason S who takes care of the house when we are gone was concerned enough to ask me about him. I explained that we accommodate him because he’s a “Special Needs Fish.” He seems to be able to feed himself and never gets lost in the pond. We are mainstreaming him and allowing him to stay in the school. No he doesn’t have an IEP yet. But perhaps one of the teachers in my audience could write him one.
PC notes (apologies):
I call “Big Face” him for convenience only. No slight of women is intended. I know females can also have large growths on their faces.
The term “Special Needs Fish” is a joke.
Teasing about IEP’s (Individual Education Plans) is intended to cross the line and bash the federal education establishment.
I went to the Pet Expo with Lillian last weekend to see the pond equipment. I have decided that I have to many large fish for the size and type of filtration system I have. It is time to find new homes for some of these guys. I don’t want to add more filtration.
Regular readers of simonburrow.com/ might be wondering why there has been no pond news since January. The reason is that lots of bad things have been happening to the pond and I’ve been embarrassed to report. For instance
I replanted the Lilies and the fish dug them up and dumped the dirt out of the pots
I tried to clean the gravel in the stream and hurt my back.
The UV filter stopped working and I had to buy a new one.
The fish kept eating the water hyacinths so I put an ugly plastic fence around them.
Howard and I put some new large pots in the pond that immediately started to fester with swampy water and insect larvae.
One of the large koi has a huge wart like growth on his/her head
Here is a picture:
But I’m working on all of the issues and I noticed that I had the same algae bloom issue last August. So this may be a condition to manage not a problem to solve.
Back in mid August I reported on the Algae Bloom in the pond. I’m now very pleased to report that the bloom is over and the pond is clear again.
clear water
It appears that the new UV light has done the trick.
happy and visible fish
This incident did give me an idea for a new product. Since a UV bulb can continue to give off visible light after it stops emitting UV rays, we need a simple inexpensive UV detector. It could be strips like ph paper or a meter like an amp meter. The market is fish and pond supply stores but could also be worried moms and people at the beach. Maybe super sensitive skin is the answer.
