Amphibians often take pride of place in a wildlife pond and are a sign you have created a healthy, thriving ecosystem. A pond of any size can benefit amphibians and many like frogs and Palmate newts prefer smaller ponds as they usually contain less predators. Well planted ponds with lots of hiding places both in the pond and around it will encourage them to stay. Rocks, logs, a compost heap or piles of leaves and branches near the pond, will provide safety from predators and attract insects for them to feed on. Frogs and toads unlike newts, can't eat under water so ensuring insect life on the land around the pond is essential for them. Leaving some fruit out near the pond or their hiding places will attract insects and bring worms out of the ground at night for them. Toads and newts hibernate on land under logpiles or underground but frogs usually hibernate in the water. They prefer running water that doesn't fully freeze over to do this so if you don't already have a pump or airstone, adding one through the winter to keep a space free of ice will help them hibernate successfully.

Filtration in a wildlife pond certainly isn't essential, especially if there's no fish or only small species like Sticklebacks. A healthy ecosystem of plants and invertebrates is usually sufficent to keep the pond clean and healthy without filtration and many pond pumps are quite powerful, sucking in aquatic insects, tadpoles and newt larvae that get close to them. Most wildlife ponds will be fine without an airpump/air stone as long as there is oxygenating plants but adding an air stone for additional oxygen, especially in warmer weather is always beneficial. The more oxygen in a pond the better, not just for the main inhabitants but also the good bacteria that helps to breakdown waste. Even a small solar powered air pump can make a big difference.

PLANTS : Plants form the base of the pond ecosystem so a good mix of them is essential, not just as a food source but as structure and hiding places for the other inhabitants. Water forget me not, Water mint, Reedmace, Water cress, Lillies and some floating plants like Water chestnut and Frogbit are all a great start. INVERTEBRATES : The next stage in the food chain after plants is the invertebrates. Not only as food but as cleaners helping to breakdown waste and prevent build ups of dead leaves and algae. A mix of Pond snails, Water louse, Gammarus shrimp, Tubifex worms and Daphnia are all an excellent start. Freshwater mussels like Swan, Duck, Painters and Pea mussels are also beneficial for clearing green or murky water.

There is a great deal of confusion around buying, selling and keeping of native amphibians and the legislation governing them in the uk. All native amphibians have varying levels of protection in the uk under the wildlife and countryside act 1981. The four widespread species of amphibian, the smooth and palmate newts, common frog and common toad, are protected by Section 9(5) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This section prohibits sale, barter, exchange, transporting for sale and advertising to sell or to buy. Collection and keeping of these widespread amphibian species is not an offence. However this only applies to 'wild animals'; these are defined as those that are living wild or were living wild before being captured or killed. It does not apply to captive bred animals being held in captivity. However, animals in gardens (e.g. newts in garden ponds) and captive bred animals that have since been released in to the wild are likely to be included in this definition and would be considered as wild. Even the infamous great crested newt (triturus cristatus) can legally be bought, sold and kept in the uk, however due to its higher level of protection there is additional legislation in place even for captive bred animals, unlike the four common amphibian species where there isn't a set timeline on how old the original captive population needs to be. Only Great Crested newts from captive populations legally set up before the wildlife and countryside act 1981 and have been continually held captive since are permitted to buy, sell or keep. There's no specific paperwork or documentation for this so it's essential to ensure they are bought from a reputable breeder or supplier which can verify the origins of their newts beyond doubt and keep all correspondence between you and the seller regarding the sale/purchase of the newts so they can be traced back and their origin verified if called into question. Another way of ensuring Great crested newts are from legal captive stock is if they're different colour morphs like albinos and leusistics. These would of course be incredibly rare in the wild and these morphs being hereditary is strong evidence of a long line of captive breeding and are unlikely to be called into question.

Wildlife ponds do best without fish but if you do want fish in the pond, small species like Minnows and Sticklebacks are best and wont have too much impact on the overall ecosystem. Adding parts the fish can't access like shallow marshy areas or rock piles where invertebrates can hide from them will also help. While Koi and Goldfish are popular pond fish, they aren't suited to all but the largest wildlife ponds as they will eat everything from snails and invertebrates to plants, tadpoles, newt larvae and even froglets and quickly cause the collapse of the ecosystem. Adult frogs may still use the pond but the presence of large fish will discourage them from breeding and newts will likely avoid it all together.

Tadpoles will eat a wide range of foods. Here is a list of good foods: -Fish flake /pellet -Algae /spirulina wafers -Sturgeon pellets -Boiled cabbage -Any frozen fishfood: (tadpoles, unlike newt larvae won't hunt down or chase most livefoods) -Bloodworm -Daphnia -Krill -Gammarus -Tubifex -Rotifers -Fish eggs -Brineshrimp -Mysis shrimp Krill, Daphnia, Gammarus, Mysis and Brineshrimp being crustaceans are an excellent source of calcium for the tadpoles, helping their bones develop properly. Adding a calcium block to the pond or aquarium can also help as an additional source of calcium.

Most pond fish will eat frog tadpoles. Even small fish like Minnow and Sticklebacks will eat young frog tadpoles when they just hatch but are generally safe from these small species after they're a few weeks old. Most fish won't eat toad tadpoles and usually spit them out due to them being distasteful but this can still damage or kill the tadpole. All 3 native newt species will readily feed on frog tadpoles and many coincide their breeding with the hatching of tadpoles to prey on them. Newts aren't completely put off from eating toad tadpoles either and will sometimes eat them but like the fish, will often spit them back out, sometimes causing considerable damage to the tadpole in the process.

Depending on the pond size and how established the ecosystem is with plants and invertebrates, tadpoles don't usually need additional food. They are quite self sufficient being scavengers and will eat almost anything from algae, rotting leaves, dead insects, fish waste, bacteria aswell as any dead fish or other tadpoles, however if you wish to feed them this will of course benefit them and increase their growth and overall health.

Tadpoles are fairly tolerant of different water conditons. Tapwater is fine as long as it has been left to sit for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate. Using dechlorinator is also fine. Rainwater is great too!

No, most pond snails don't eat live plants. They generally only dead and dying parts of the plant, leaving healthy leaves alone.

All pond snails will eat algae and blanket weed but Great pond snails (lymnaea stagnalis) and Great ramshorn snails (blanorbarius corneus) are best due to their larger size and because they are relatively fast at getting around the pond. A good mix of snails is always beneficial. Trapdoor snails (viviparus viviparus) and Faucet snails (bithynia tentaculata) also filter algae and bacteria from the water colum similar to mussels and can help control green or murky water.

Frogs and toads can't eat underwater, so they won't have any impact on pond snails. Newts will occasionally try and eat snails but they don't tend to enjoy them and usually lose interest once the snail pulls back into its shell.

Many larger pond fish like Carp, Goldfish, Rudd, Roach, Tench and Orfe will all readily eat pond snails, even sucking larger snails like the Great pond snail out of their shells. The only snails these fish won't eat is the trapdoor snail (viviparus viviparus) due to its thick shell and operculum (trapdoor). Small fish like Minnow and Stickleback will sometimes eat hatchling snails but have little effect on snail populations.