# My Back Yard Frog Garden :)



## Drazzy (Feb 12, 2014)

After many dirty weekends; I have finally finished the foundation portion of my frog pond. Using Mossy bush rock; drift wood; river pebbles big and small; 2 m by 7 m pond liner (.5 m thick) one solid structure pond at the end 1.2 m in diamater; I have finally finished *excited* 

For Plants I would like to use:

-Water cress 
-Taro
-Liverwort
-Lemon grass (to keep away mossys)
-Dwarf Papyrus
-Vietnamese Mint

For the pond eco system I want to use:

-red shrimp
-pacific blue eyes
-golden mystery snails.


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## coastal-shagg (Feb 12, 2014)

looks awesome so far, keep up the good work!

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just a quick thought. Make sure you dont cover the weep holes in the brick work. just to make sure you keep out the critters/white ant out.


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## Drazzy (Feb 12, 2014)

That is good advice, will investigate the termimesh and weep holes when I get home.


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## Cypher69 (Feb 12, 2014)

Do you have natives frogs already in your garden or do you plan to acquire some?


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## Chris82 (Feb 12, 2014)

Frogs will come give them time! Looks good drazzy well done can't wait to see the plants in.


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## Drazzy (Feb 12, 2014)

No need to aquire illegal tadpoles from the wild! 

Lucky to allready have Green Tree Frogs, Ornate Burrowing Frogs plus Cane Toads living in my garden allready  

Thinking of putting up some signage - "no cane toads beyond this point - prosecutors will be squashed"


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## DarwinBrianT (Feb 12, 2014)

The weep holes in the brick work look fine in the pic. I've been a brick layer for way too long. lol Kill me, kill me now. Hahaha

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Drazzy said:


> No need to aquire illegal tadpoles from the wild!
> 
> Lucky to allready have Green Tree Frogs, Ornate Burrowing Frogs plus Cane Toads living in my garden allready
> 
> Thinking of putting up some signage - "no cane toads beyond this point - prosecutors will be squashed"



It's my understanding cane toads can't climb up things, put in a barrier they have to climb and you will keep them out.


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 12, 2014)

It certainly does seem that said weekends were directed at getting wet and wild. It is will look like it was lifted straight out of the wild and plonked in your backyard. Love it!

How deep is the deepest part of the pond? It needs to be deep enough to provide a cool retreat after the absolute worst week of high temperatures and intense sunshine that you get through summer. If not that deep then consider adding shade by way of an evergreen that does not drop a lot of leaves, or shade cloth, shade sails, corrugated roofing on an arbor spanning the pond or whatever. 

The biggest problem you tend to have with ponds, particularly if you are feeding fish in them, is filamentous algae – also called string algae, brush algae, hair algae and few more. A combination of high nutrients and strong sunlight will just about guarantee it. There are many different species and they produce endospores when the ponds they are growing in start to dry up. These spores are desiccation resistant and are blown on wind. Wild ducks also bring it in on their feet, along with things like leeches etc. Most fish pond people include a filter with UVC which kills any cells that go through the filtration system. I doubt that what you want.

The way around it is to have fast growing plants in the water which a well established and will keep the nutrient load too low for filamentous algae to take hold. If it ever does there are a number of products that will kill but let all other plants and animals live. There is shrimp they use in aquaria, known as the Yamato Shrimp or sometimes the Amano Shrimp (_Caridina multidentata_) - prior to 2006 it was named _Caridina japonica_. I don’t know if it is legally available or how it would fare outside over winter. 

Getting back to those plants suitable for removing nutrients, a combination of fast growing submerged, low emergent and tall emergent would likely be the most desirable... 
*Vallisneria* (Ribbon Grass or Eel Grass) is excellent fast growing fully submerged plant. It spreads by runners, like grass. By regularly cutting it back to a given area you will be removing bio-matter from the pond. As is also the case with the next plant, fish and tadpoles love to hide amongst it. 
*Watermilfoil* is the common name for plants in the genus _Myriophyllum_. There are over 40 native species and three invasive weeds to be avoided: _M. aquaticum_, _M. heterophyllum_ and _M. spicatum_. They send up stems from a common rootstock and the stem will either grow out of the water or float when they reach the surface. So it is very easy to cut back. They have very attractive, soft feathery leaves.
*Bullrush or Cumbungi* (_Typha domingensis_) is an excellent plant to provide character and perches for tree frogs. It has an aggressive spreading root system so it needs to be planted in a pot. A 30cm – 50cm wide, low ceramic pot half filled with water-lily mix and with one drainage hole, is ideal. The roots will simply go round and round. This plant will be the dominant but not overwhelming feature of the pond. In nature the leaves go brown, soften and then fall in the water, where they provide the basis of a whole aquatic food chain. I just cut them off with scissors before they collapse or once they start to go brown. You can also remove a clump of leaves by cutting them off at the base near the roots. Re-pot after several years when it stops thriving. Just keep the healthiest looking piece of root with at least some buds on it.

*Dwarf Papyrus* is very hardy and attractive but should be planted in pot with the holes covered by a couple of layers of knitted shade cloth to contain the roots when immersed in water. *Taro* is too big for the size of the pond. *Watercress* and *Vietnamese Mint* are good. Lemongrass is not needed to keep mossies away (even if it does) as fish in the pond will do that. *Liverworts* need constant moisture and don’t handle direct sun – much harder to grow in your circumstances than several different varieties of moss that are available. If you know someone with a property, you could collect and trial your own. Use plenty of matured organic matter and or clay mixed in with the planting medium.

The *Blue-eyes* should be a good choice. Or you can keep them inside where you will see and appreciate them and use White Cloud Mountain Minnows in the pond to eat the mozzie larvae. The Murray River Rainbowfish (_Melanotaenia fluviatilis_) is good survivor in outdoor ponds. I shall try and check if it is OK with frog eggs and taddies. 

You can collect your own native Glass Shrimp (_Parataya australiensis_) around Brisbane or purchase other native shrimps from a retailer, rather than use the exotic *Cherry Shrimps* (_Neocaridina heteropoda_).

I know next to nothing about *Mystery Snails*. However, they will graze encrusting algae, which covers surfaces underwater and exposed to sunlight. This will put them in competition with tadpoles once they arrive. I(f the numbers of snails are low and you feed the tadpoles as well, I cannot see a problem from that angle.

Sorry about the tome. I can throw a few ideas your way for consideration but only if desired. I do want to reiterate what a top job you have done, both in design and especially the choice of materials and their placement – not an easy thing to do well. You clearly have good ‘feel’ for it.

Well done,
Blue

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*Drazzy*,
My apologies. It is now apparent that I was mistake in what you were after. Clearly I should have re-read your post before letting my enthusiasm overtake me and get carried away – I used to do landscaping part-time.

You seem to be using the creek bed as your overflow but for those that want to construct a “hidden overflow” for getting rid of excess rain water directly from a pond, this might be useful...




It is constructed from 25mm PVC irrigation pipe and can be painted matt black or a colour (and texture) to match the pond lining or simply wrapped in matching pond liner. Bring it out underneath a large, flat overhanging rock and it should not even be visible. The outlet can be shallowly buried and come out many metres away.

Once again, my apologies *Drazzy*, 
Blue


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## critterguy (Feb 14, 2014)

Makes me miss having a yard even more, can't wait till the market improves back up enough for us to sell our unit and get back into a house, couldn't afford a house when we got the unit, prices were higher then than now.

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Screw squashing the toads, takes too long and makes them suffer, a long spiked object similar to a javelin straight through the head does a quick job or a besser brick with their head on a edge.


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## Cypher69 (Feb 14, 2014)

critterguy said:


> Screw squashing the toads, takes too long and makes them suffer, a long spiked object similar to a javelin straight through the head does a quick job or a besser brick with their head on a edge.



I want you on my side when the zombies come.


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## Drazzy (Feb 14, 2014)

Bluetongue1 said:


> It certainly does seem that said weekends were directed at getting wet and wild. It is will look like it was lifted straight out of the wild and plonked in your backyard. Love it!
> 
> How deep is the deepest part of the pond? It needs to be deep enough to provide a cool retreat after the absolute worst week of high temperatures and intense sunshine that you get through summer. If not that deep then consider adding shade by way of an evergreen that does not drop a lot of leaves, or shade cloth, shade sails, corrugated roofing on an arbor spanning the pond or whatever.
> 
> ...



Bluetongue1 Thank you for the quality advice, basing a mini creek pond on bits and pieces found on the internet can be tricky.

I feel you have done this several times before, and / or are a frog enthusiast!

To be honest what sent me on this epic task of making a frog friendly habitat, was my love for the soothing sound of slow running water and all these grass hoppers in my yard eating all my vegetables, that and my absolute distaste toward using pesticide and herbicide. Ticking so many boxes it seemed like a good choice.

The Deepest part is 30 cm; so I am thinking the evergreen shade idea you suggested would be the best course of action. I have done some research on suggested palms around pools, based on that will go with a *golden cane palm*(s) in which they only grow 5 m high and are a clumping variety. If you can think of a a more suited native evergreen please suggest.

*Vallisneria *sounds like a good suggestion may swap this with the liverwort

*Dwarf Papyrus *are the roots that aggressive !! ?

*Watercress* and *Vietnamese Mint *they are good, cant wait to eat the proceeds.

*Taro *what if I grow it outside the pond next to the evergreens?

*Moss*; was looking at techniques to propagate moss with butter milk and dried moss. It will look fantastic down the creek section.

*Blue-eyes *are great; wont swap for White Cloud Mountain Minnows they are not native (pet shops will say otherwise) also they eat tadpoles! Arggggg. If the blue eyes fail will get The Murray River Rainbowfish (_Melanotaenia fluviatilis_)

Will look into *Glass Shrimp* over the weekend, will try to make it as native and frog friendly as possible.

No apology needed for the tome; ecosystems no matter how small are not simple to balance.

Not sure how to install the overflow feature you suggested; but I feel it will probably come in handy before the next down pour.

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critterguy said:


> Screw squashing the toads, takes too long and makes them suffer, a long spiked object similar to a javelin straight through the head does a quick job or a besser brick with their head on a edge.



I bet you have a 'special' club with spikes for them  !


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## Bluetongue1 (Feb 17, 2014)

*Drazzy*,
My mistake in recommending White Clouds. I found this on Wikipedia: “Adult White Cloud Mountain Minnows will sometimes eat frog eggs as the tadpoles begin to move about or wait for them to hatch. Once tadpoles are a couple of days old they are out of danger.” This has been prduced since I was last investigating frog friendly mozzie eating fish. Thanks for the correction to my incorrect data. Pacific Blue-eyes definitely are frog friendly and a good choice. I have updated my knowledge accordingly. I appreciate the correction.


Blue


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## critterguy (Feb 18, 2014)

I bet you have a 'special' club with spikes for them  ![/QUOTE]

Nope, don't have a yard anymore and don't like to kill things or make things suffer, especially feral animals as it's not their fault they were introduced and do so well, so a quick death for them if I need to kill any in someone's property (which is usually only once a year when we go down home and stay at my inlaws place and I find toads while hunting for inverts).


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## PythonLegs (Feb 18, 2014)

I'd give the mystery snails a miss, they'll die in winter and escape when they want to lay eggs.
you can always plant the uh..plants. In submerged pots, that way the root systems arent a concern.


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## Drazzy (Feb 18, 2014)

PythonLegs said:


> I'd give the mystery snails a miss, they'll die in winter and escape when they want to lay eggs.
> you can always plant the uh..plants. In submerged pots, that way the root systems arent a concern.



Winter is coming.


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## PythonLegs (Feb 18, 2014)

Indeed..man the wall.


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## bdav70 (May 1, 2014)

This looks great, were thinking of making a frog pond at our place at a low point which seems to gather a lot of water when it rains, I'll definitely be consulting this post when the time comes 


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