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Wed, May 26, 10 at 16:59
| I know I am going to get slack for this question...ha ha ha. But our pond is SUPER small (not even sure if it will overwinter fish) so we thought we would add some tadpoles (varying sizes), a large snail, and six small goldfish to the pond for my three old to watch for the summer. But then I noticed that one of the fish was dead. Hmmm...so I fished it out (no pun intended) only to see that his face was eaten off. Cause of death, I believe, is dragonfly larvae that are very large and are bigger than the fish we put in. I was really upset by this. So I spent today fishing out all of the "yuck" on the bottom of the pond and took out the larvae and moved them to a small bucket. Well, I got 25 of them. I know that dragonfly adults are very important in the garden as they eat mosquitoes. I also just love them in general. But here I am with a dilemma. I can easily move them to the nearby river, no big deal, but they won't be in my yard. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to dump creatures into other areas, but dragonfly larvae are quite native and usual in the river. So anyway, what are your thoughts about this? I know I probably missed some. I will work on getting more out tonight when it is cooler. I know that it is a treasure to have these creatures, but I really want the goldfish. I don't want to buy bigger goldfish because then they will eat the larvae. It's kind of a vicious cycle I am creating. If I had known about the larvae, I wouldn't have added anything until the creatures grew up. So what do I do? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by goodkarma_ 5b (My Page) on Thu, May 27, 10 at 0:18
| I would not worry about putting them in the river. They are an indigenous species so no harm is done IMHO. Lisa |
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| The thing we ponders have to remember is at least we are trying to do our part in helping nature out a little. There are many that don't help and many that seem to go out of their way to do harm. Yet, there will be times that we will run into a Catch-22 and there isn't an easy solution. As Lisa said, don't worry about it. It's all good. :) |
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| Ok, no more worrying. What a silly thing to worry about anyway. I just wished I had known that there were dragonfly larvae in there because that would have been enough for my son to watch (although I hadn't seen any as they are not bright orange like the goldfish LOL) So for this year, the dragonflies will be driven to the nearby river and let go to become our mosquito-eating bugs that we all adore. Thanks for encouraging me instead of making me feel silly. LOL |
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- Posted by vickie_norcal9 NorCal 9 (My Page) on Fri, May 28, 10 at 17:18
| Well considering the dragonflies are continuing to lay eggs in your little pond isn't it a waste of energy? We have a lot of these guys and you hardly ever see them. But, unless you stop the egg laying your fighting a loosing battle to keep them out. Is the loss of some little fish worth it? |
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| Ponds are a feast and famine situation. you put fish in, they thrive, something comes along and wants to eat them Dragonfly are voracious predators, going out after dark with flashlight and scissors can suppress their numbers And feed the fish... |
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