General Care Discussion :: what to buy?

[DJ Spenin Spence]

I have everything i need for my RES and more. The only thing is you know when you look at your tank but your turtle is hiding so it just looks like a stump, plastic plants, and bubbles. well i was wondering what type of fish wouldnt be eatan immedietly and would look nice.

[untsmurf]

Honestly, that depends on the turtle. Most turtles will attack anything you put in the tank regardless of what it is. Some people have success with fish that are larger than the turtle. Some have better success with the smaller fish because they can out-swim the turt. Most fish don't survive past a few months though, so I just buy the cheap ones.

[Marcus.85]

It depends on your turtle's attitude and on your tank. If your turtle is aggressive, no fish will stand a chance.
If you have plenty of hiding sposts, vegetation and so on go with little fish which breed fairly quickly , like most live bearers (guppy, molly, mosquitofish etc.).
Otherwise i'd say goldfish because they're really cheap and grow up to a big size, plus they have among the most interesting behaviour, sociality and curiosity.

[jozzep]

Don't buy any fish you would like to stick around.

[untsmurf]

I wouldn't start out with goldfish. Find out what kind of turt you have first (aggressive/laid back) with some cheap rosies or something. If your turt doesn't seem bothered by the fish, then add a few goldfish. I say this because goldfish are high in fat which isn't good for the turtle and they're extremely messy which isn't good for tank cleaning.

[emma]

I got minnows for my tank and they haven't been able to catch one!

The only thing my turtles really can catch are the rosy red minnows.

[DJ Spenin Spence]

I experimented with this already by "borrowing" my stepsister's goldfis and small (less than an inch) pleco. He didn't do much with the larger goldfish except chase them from time to time and then get bored, but with a small goldfish...it lost part of its tail. Same thing with the pleco, but to me he seems like a pretty mello turtle. (Don't know if its a he...to small to tell)

[happycamper]

My turtle likes to eat fancy guppies, and when my mollies and platys have babies they seem to mysteriously disappear. Other than that he leaves everyone alone. When I feed him pellets, the fish like to push them around the top of the water and he will literally push them out of the way with his claws before chomping his pellet!