Do sticklebacks eat tadpoles?

[a.i.wood]

I made a small pond in the garden earlier in the year and its looking
good now. The plants are growing well and the tadpoles that hatched out
from the introduced spawn are looking frog-like.

I think that I saw somewhere that sticklebacks (unlike other fish)
wouldn't eat the tadpoles or, hopefully, next year's spawn.

Can anyone confirm this? Should I add some?

Ian

[Larry Stoter]

a.i.wood <a.i....@grove5.demon.co.uk> wrote:

Ponds are very much everything eats anything :-)

Trying to manage them, especially on a small scale, is very difficult.
Chuck in as much native flora & fauna as you can obtain and sit back -
eventually, it will reach equilibrium but the larger the pond, the
longer it takes. Buckets of mud from established ponds are always a good
idea. Sticklebacks are pretty small so I wouldn't expect them to eat too
many tadpoles. Anyway, tadpoles are "designed" on the basis that most do
not survive. Plenty of native plants will give anything that wants to
hide the chance to so do.

Regards,
--
Larry Stoter

[Dave Hall]

"Larry Stoter" <la...@cymru.freewire.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1fe5ajs.vd2upywndr3cN%la...@cymru.freewire.co.uk...

Newts certainly eat them. Perhaps you have some of them lurking in your
pond. I was amazed at how many they ate.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Hall: Llangwm, Pembs. Web:- www.daviv.com
Videos of birds, badgers and foxes

[Robert Seago]

In article <3UPPjaAw...@grove5.demon.co.uk>, a.i.wood

My inclination is to say no. I'm not sure if they do eat a high
proportion of the larvae of the larger pond invertebrates but think they
might. In the reserve I look after kiddies eith their nets have spread
them to most of the ponds, and they seem to be the commonest creatures
in most of them. Something must be suffering I suspect.

Regards from : Using a : Software for RISC OS:Conservation Pages
Robert Seago : StrongArm RiscPC : http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rjseago/
--