Question
I have a small natural pond with 16 goldfish of about 4" in length in the pond. The water is clear with a spring trickle feeding into the pond, Recently I have noticed that on occasion a tadpole will nibble at the sides of a goldfish and the fish will allow it. Is the tadpole doing somekind of cleaning on the fish? Could it be eating parasites off the fish, all of the fish seem healthy. I don't know if this is natural and if not what could be the reason for this behaviour.
Thanks Ron

Answer
Tadpoles may nibble at whatever is around to taste test it.  Most fish won't allow that unless they're ill, or it feels good.  If the tadpoles just nibble a little, they might just get some dead skin or even parasites.  If they nibble more voraciously, they can do damage.  On rare occasions, larger tadpoles can kill small goldfish.  If the fish don't seem to be damaged, and none have died, it's probably ok.  In the mean time, add some more foods for the tadpoles like anacharis, lettuce, Cheerios, fish food flakes, and sinking algae wafers.  The goldfish will eat all those too.  Don't overfeed but be sure the tadpoles aren't hungry enough to try to suck eat the fish.

Good luck!
Robyn
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