I saw a frog or two around my little fish pond recently, and now my fish have disappeared, one by one. Are the frogs eating my little goldfish, or is it just a coincidence?
RE: My pond fish are disappearing - is it the frog?
How big are the fish in your pond? How big are the frogs and what species are they?
Most frogs are not known for eating fish, but some species of frogs will swallow anything they can fit into their mouth, just like most fish species. So it is hard to say until we know what exactly species the frogs are and the sizes difference between them and the fish.
There can be other possibilities. Are there raccoon in the area? Raccoon are known for fishing from the ponds and outdoor fish tanks. They can be the one eating your fish.
RE: My pond fish are disappearing - is it the frog?
I wouldn't blame the frog just yet. African clawed frogs will eat small fish when they get big enough but most frogs don't consider fish a prey item. There's a ton of other possibilities. Like Ram said, it could be a raccoon. It could also be a stray cat, a stray dog, a kingfisher or other fish eating bird or even one of the several species of bats that eat fish. Fish are like nature's treats.
RE: My pond fish are disappearing - is it the frog?
You most likely have a raccoon. When I was little, my Mom had a pond in the backyard, and at dusk at dinnertime one night we spotted a raccoon coming over the back fence and going straight for the pond and grabbing a fish before we could get to the back door to shoo it off. Try sprinkling moth balls around the pond, they don't like the smell.
RE: My pond fish are disappearing - is it the frog?
I think that a raccoon, or some other night critter is probably getting the fish. Even a cat or a skunk could get a fish if it came right to the top of the pond. Putting out some kind of a deterrant is probably a good isea. Even one of those lights that come on when they detect movement would maybe help to scare off a marauding fish-catcher if it was sneaking in through the darkness, and everything suddenly lit up from the motion-detector light.
Unless the frogs are a lot larger than the fish, I really don't think that the frogs are eating them. Since you are asking about that possibility, you must think that the frogs are large enough to catch and eat the fish ?
Another possibility is that there is a turtle coming around to cool down in your pond. A turtle will most definitely eat the fish !
RE: My pond fish are disappearing - is it the frog?
In the UK I would suggest it could be a heron but I dont know if you get those in the US.
I would be surprised if it was the frog though - say a frog did eat one fish, being a amphibian it would not need to feed again immediately so the disappearance of fish would be much slower and you would likely put it down to something else.