I'm in the greater boston area, as I said elsewhere on the forum, I've got a backyard pond which I'm hoping to put natives into, preferably in such a manner as to not have the population explosion that the former (goldfish) residents had. I'm pretty sure that's what caused them to get ich (which I hadn't realized at the time) and die over the winter. I have a surviving green frog tadpole (but not the adults) and at least one trapdoor snail. It's approximately 1500 gallons (exact not known as the pond was here when we bought the house).

I'm working on getting more snails and clams, expect to find some green frog eggs/tadpoles or frogs, and would love to find some american toad eggs or tadpoles, but am having a _lot_ of trouble with the toads (at least locally).

I'm attempting to catch some dragonfly/damselfly larvae and backswimmers to handle mosquito larvae while the pond is fish free.

Later, I'm thinking rosy reds in the immediate term, once I've dealt with the ich and the current high amonia (due to everything dying, I suspect), to be pretty and fun and eat mosquito larvae.

I'm also thinking maybe banded kilifish, and some number of banded sunfish. I'm also considering central mudminnows, and either golden, spottail, or emerald shiners.

One of my major concerns is having inhabitants that will keep each other from population explosions, but also not eat _all_ of each other. This is why I'm hesitant about a larger type of sunfish, for example.

I'm still researching what other natives might work, also.

So, hi!