General Care Discussion

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:48 pm **Fish in tank**

I purchased some rosie reds to put in my hatchlings tank but Tilly doesn't seem to chase them or anything...should I be worried? She's very active and eats all of her other food.

If she doesn't eat them what do I do with them? Do they need to get fed, and if so what? Anything else I need to be concerned about with having them in the tank? I was guessing they would be gone by now!

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:51 pm

I never feed the feeder fish. Mine tend to chase them down at night.. maybe that's what he's doing. Having them in there might raise the nitrate levels, but that's about it.

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 9:57 pm **Re: Fish in tank**

ashipyor wrote:I purchased some rosie reds to put in my hatchlings tank but Tilly doesn't seem to chase them or anything...should I be worried? She's very active and eats all of her other food.

If she doesn't eat them what do I do with them? Do they need to get fed, and if so what? Anything else I need to be concerned about with having them in the tank? I was guessing they would be gone by now!

by hatch ling I assume about 1 - 3 months old? and about 1.5 - 2 inches shell length?

I think that may be a bit early to feed live fish to an RES turtle.
what I've observed is that the younger turtles are less agile, so they won't really be able to catch a rosy red per say

now that is not the case for all hatchlings (mine had no problem, to my surprise) but just be patient

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:01 pm

i wish my turtles wouldnt try to eat my fish as soon as the turtles saw them, all you needed was suspenseful music and it would be discovery channel material

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:33 pm

Thanks everyone. Pao-you cracked me up!

I'm not sure how old Tilly is because she was rescued from an illegal seller but she is about 1.5 inches.

So if Tilly doesn't try to go after them should I just leave the fish in the tank or get rid of them (that sounds bad)? Willy they do any harm to the habitat?

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:59 pm

The first time we introduced fish in the tank, they chased them around for a bit, ate some, but left a few. The next day they didn't really hunt them anymore, so we didn't know what to do about them. I didn't have the heart not to feed them, so I crushed a pellet and sprinkled it over the tank. The fish soon realised it was food. Eventually I bought some flaky fish food, but they don't eat that. They want their crushed pellet now

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:07 pm

thats what my friend said too, how his turtles dont hunt his fish anymore, but i dont know if i can "sacrifice" a few more of the fish to see if my turtles will react the same (my girlfriend will be quite upset if she found out i sicced the turtles on the fish again)

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:08 am

I have a little sample pack of fish food that came with my tank. I'm worried though that Tilly will eat the food befor they do. Thoughts?

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:46 am

Some turtles love to eat minnows and some could care less. I guess yours is one of the latter.

If there are only a few minnows in the tank, they may turn out to be a benefit as minnows are very good about cleaning up the bottom of the turtle tank. If there are too many of them, they will produce too much waste and reduce water quality.

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:48 am

ashipyor wrote:I have a little sample pack of fish food that came with my tank. I'm worried though that Tilly will eat the food befor they do. Thoughts?

Crush the flakes. The fish will still be able to eat it, but it will be too small for Tilly to eat a significant amount, or any at all.

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:51 am

When minnows lived in Spot's tank I never fed them. They lived off Spot's leftovers and...er...leavings.

General Care Discussion :: Fish in tank

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