SO I have worked hard at balancing my pond out. I have Freshwater clams, Water striders, freshwater grass shrimp, crawdads (although very few left) Mosquito fish, Bream (sunfish) of every size, Bass (several sizes) LOTS of minnows from all of the aforementioned fish groups. Oh yes and lets not forget the snails, Trapdoor and pond snail. Lots of polywogs and all manner of frogs, Mostly leopard with a few bull frogs and tree frogs mixed in.
Just when I thought I had all the residents that a healthy pond could hold I FOUND A NEW RESIDENT (well several actually)......
First a little background. I normally spend quite a bit of time wading in my pond cleaning up yellowing and dying pads, cleaning fountain heads and just doing routine pond maintenance the Bass always follow closely for the ocasional minnow or frog that flees the wrong way. The Bream tend to eat any larvae I find and toss out to them. Well with this last workout the Bream and bass alike kept nibbling at the back of my legs, a couple of times I got nailed pretty good. Made me jump pretty high a couple of times. I could not understand why they kept picking at my legs and they were getting pretty determined... As I finished Up I saw why....I had a dozen or so leeches on both legs, very small like an 1/8th of an inch BUT DANG! No wonder the fish were attracted I was a walking smorgasboard..... Needless to say I will need to correct that before I 'wade' in again... Great!
Andy