The kids went out in the garden a weeks or so ago and found an old bowl we’d been using under a tap as an extra water source for our dogs. Over the months it managed to develop a hole a few cms from the bottom so was pushed to one side. Still, it does hold a little water and some frogs found it and left a load of eggs in it. A few days later there were a load of tadpoles swimming aground.
Moving the story along… we have a goldfish in a tank, along with a yabbie. The goldfish has grown too large for the tank it was in so having seen a cheapish 70 litre one [i]($129 in a local cheapo shop)[/i], went off to buy one. While I was there I saw a 20 litre tank on sale for half price… so bought one of those as well.
Then off to the pet store for those ‘extras’ like gravel and plants. I also picked up something that looked suspiciously like those ‘sea monkey’ things but are called ‘Billabong Bugs’. More on that later.
After an hour of washing gravel, planting water weed, water conditioning and mopping up, we now have a tank with a happy fish, a tank with an irate yabbie who spent an hour ripping into it’s weeds [i](to be fair it was eating a lot of it)[/i] and generally storming about, and a tank containing some of the tadpoles. I only added a few to make sure the water was safe. If I’d killed the lot I’d have been quite upset… as no doubt would they. We also seem to have mossie larvae in the water as well. Obviously I’d not been careful enough when I scooped the tadpoles out… I’m hoping the tadpoles will eat them when they get large enough, but that remains to be seen.
Later today I’ll get out in the garden and bring in a lot more of the remaining tadpoles. The whole point of this after all was being concerned that leaving them where they are would just result in them drying out or being eaten by the lizards or Kookaburra’s. While at the pet store I picked up some ‘frozen bloodworm’ which I was assured they’d scarf down like there was no tomorrow… which of course they didn’t. Ah well… live and learn I suppose.
If they mature to frogs we’ll let them all go again and with some luck, and if some survive, we might get more for next year!
The Eclectic Interweb 