General Care Discussion :: turtle ate a danio (fish advice too)

[pao]

so i bought some zebra danios to kinda pretty up my tank, i liked how they swam in little groups together, but as soon as they went in with the turtles... things went horribly wrong we couldnt rescue the fish fast enough until 2 of them were eaten, the fish were never intended to be food for the turtles so im a little concerned how its going to affect him, and also if anybody knows, what are some ways i can increase the survival chances of any future fish? i was thinking of getting some ornaments for the tank that the fish could hide in but be inaccesible to the turtles

[robind]

Your turtle will be fine. As far as keeping fish alive with turtles, hiding spots are a must. Convict/Zebra Cichlids are good candidates, as are Rosy Barbs. Both species are fast enough to evade most turtles (especially the convicts).

[pao]

what are some "good" hiding spots to provide for them i dont think i can do real plants and my turts might try to eat fake plastic ones

[Keith]

We have a "sunken ship wreck" in our tank, and the fish know that the turtles can't get them when they go in there. We've tried a number of different fish over this first year, and most of them have been eaten one by one except for a tiger barb and a golden rosy which seem to have some sort of amnesty in the tank. They have become excellent friends always playing together, especially in the jet stream from the filter. We also keep adding red swordtails (because I think they're pretty) but they usually don't last long. Also, as far as nutrition goes, live fish should not be something your turtle eats every day. So if you add fish and it gets eaten, it's probably a good idea to wait a week or two before you try to add more fish.

Tiger barb:

Golden rosy:

Red swordtail:

And the ship wreck:

[pao]

ive seperated the fish from the turtles and i put an artificial cave in their tank so hopefully the next time i try to put them in the main tank, theyll see it as a safe zone

[geekyturtle]

You could also try getting some of the eggcrate/light diffuser and separate out a part of the tank for the fish. I've been wanting to try this, but haven't looked too hard for the stuff yet.

[pao]

i was thinking of geting something like that, but i wouldnt want the turtles hurting themselves trying too hard to get at the fish, i know the turtles wont touch the cave because they know they dont fit in it anymore because they used to use it when they were hatchlings, but they realized that theyre a lil too big to fit in it anymore

[Sassamo]

I do suggest not getting too attached too any fish you put in there. Stripes the convict lived with Sassamo for 3-4 months then became a snack. For the past month she has kept a school of 5 guppies alive in her tank. So you never know when they turn from friends too snack.