Midwest Pond and Koi Society - Q&A #162

Hi Bob,

We have a new backyard pond with a waterfall that we installed this year. The pond has been a joy; and we have enjoyed watching the growing community of frogs that have taken residence.

We started our fish population with 15 small comet goldfish, and 2 small koi. All the fish have grown during the summer, and they are now at least 6" long.

Today, I was very surprised to see that one of the larger frogs had swallowed about half of one the goldfish. We quickly scooped up the frog with a net, and the goldfish popped out its mouth. We put them both back in the pond, and they both are swimming around with no ill effects that we can see. We are concerned about leaving this large frog in the pond because we don't know if this was a freak occurrence; or if this frog will try to eat the fish again.

We have 4 other ornamental goldfish and three other small koi and would hate to lose any of them. What is your opinon of this situation? Have you ever heard of frogs eating goldfish?

Hi Marilyn,

What you got there is a gen-you-wine bullfrog, Ma Nature's most ridiculous apex predator. A naturalist friend of mine once told me that the only reason bullfrogs did not rule the world was because raccoons found them delicious. Frenchmen, too, find them tasty, and indeed, they are not native to North America, but were brought over from Europe by French settlers who were unwilling to do without their favorite delicacy.

A full-grown bullfrog is as big as a dinner plate and will eat anything it can get into its mouth. This includes all of your goldfish, small birds, smaller species of native frogs and tadpoles, and ground squirrels. Most experienced ponders hate them, and will go to great lengths to remove them from their ponds, since they will even take a swipe at koi many times their size, and can do damage to fins and scales.

Net 'em and dump 'em into the nearest swamp if you are soft-hearted. Prep them and fry up the legs if you are into gourmet cookery. They will not leave your fish alone. I'd suggest a clan of raccoons, except that they'd eat the frogs and the goldfish both. Not a desirable solution.