Feeding and Nutrition :: Feeder Fish

[Arisu]

thinking about getting my 4" some fish. I know rosy reds are recommended but what about white clouds? they're both minnows. I'm actually pretty hesitant to feed a live fish to my turtle (I love fish.) but I know for a fact my turtle will have the time of his life.

so, white cloud minnows? yay or nay? rosy reds are also a bit harder to find here compared to white clouds.

[octpusgirl8]

I'm not familiar with white cloud minnows, but I can't imagine it would be a problem. The minnows I get aren't always rosies, sometimes they're the gray ones like you'd find at a bait shop. The reason goldfish aren't recommended is that they're too fatty.

[Arisu]

thanks.
i actually found some rosies @ a nearby store.

also, does anybody think there could be such a thing as protein deficiency?

[steve]

I'm sure it's possible though there could be so many factors involved, especially when referring to a captive animal.

[Arisu]

yeah. poor captives they gotta rely on sometimes irresponsible creatures *cough* humans for their nutrients.

[Arisu]

so...I bought 2 roseys. I put one in the tank and when my turtle spotted it, he went berserk. I've never seen him swim so fast in his life!

trick is, I have a lot of fake plants (aka, hiding places) and the rosey is hiding very well. so, my turt is having some problems catching it. naturally, like an overly protective and worried mom, I am tempted to remove all the plants so he'll see the fish better . I stopped myself because I have confidence in my Big Boy.

anybody else run into similar situations with the feeder fish? will he eventually catch it? this is his first time EVER with live food. however, I can tell that hes naturally great at hunting.

[Sassamo]

I had a convict live with Sassamo for almost 3 months. He hid behind the filter. Give him time he will eat them
And the petshops here call the minnows "White clouds/rosy reds" so I think they are just two different names for the same animals. Like cougars and mountain lions, exact same animal different names. No wonder English is so hard too learn 4 names for the same thing lol.

[Arisu]

haha. agreed. English makes everything confusing. good to know that my turt isn't the only one that failed at the their attempt. he kinda gave up after he chased them around vigorously for a good two hours . he took a nap afterwards, got woken up by me and went at it again. I feel bad for these fish, but I hope he can catch em!!

altho the two names are sometimes used to describe the same thing, there are differences.

the REAL white cloud minnows are from the mountains of China. they are much more colorful than rosy reds. they can also withstand temperatures as low as right above freezing they are sometimes sold as tropical fish but they actually do better in cold water.

a white cloud:

they are actually extinct in the wild, only found thru breeders. they aren't used as bait, like rosy reds, tho they are sometimes used as feeder fish.

rosy reds, on the other hand, are from North America. one of the most popular fish used as bait.

a rosy red:

[imderanged]

The roesy red doesn't look exactly like the ones I get in the petshops around here. I guess the pic is the wild type.

When I first gave Pickle minnows, she didn't seem to be able to catch them. I gave her just a couple and it took forever for her to catch them. So the next time I put a dozen in figuring she would take some time to catch them, eating them one by one over time. She ate 10 out of 12 the same day! Sometimes she still gets fish, but she has this strange habit of "keeping" one fish out of a batch. She has 3 in her tank right now, one of which has been with her since her little tank! That's atleast 8 months.

He'll figure it out soon. Just prepare yourself, it's not too pretty. Pickle usually takes off their tails first to slow them down, and then sometimes, she just bites them in half!!!

[koreyleigh]

I bought Hank Comet's (I didn't know at the time they weren't a recommended fish) abd I completely agreed with imderanged.

There were nine -- two were gone in 3 days though I never saw the carnage happen, but all the 7 remaining are missing a lot of their tails and I did catch him do some of that damage. If and when these are all "gone," I intend to make fish a once in a very blue moon affair. It's kind of hard to stomach for someone who likes fish

But best of luck!

[Arisu]

sounds pretty sad not sure if I wanna be there to see the gory. I hope he eats em tho because I don't want to feed two other mouths...

so owners that give their turtles feeder fish, has anybody notice their turtles' "hunting" skills suck, but improve over time?

[taurusgirl]

Harley will not touch fish, he has guppy's living in is tank for get this 2 years and still kicking

[koreyleigh]

As an update -- I witnessed Hank's few minute hunt and eventual capture -- you will be SHOCKED at home fast they will swim when they reeeaalllllly want something hahah

[MrRedmanbhs]

Several years ago I got 6 feeder fish for my little turtle, Dustin. He ate 3 right away and over a few days ate 2, but there was one...one fish he never did get around to eating. I got stuck feeding both Dustin and the fish. Well let me tell you, that darn fish was around for 2 years before he just up and vanished one day. Now I've had fish tanks in the past and was never able to keep a fish alive for 2 years and this little booger did it with no help at all.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I traveled out of town for several days so I got 6 feeder fish thinking it might take Dustin, and his new friend Webber, a few days to eat the fish. After coming home, 3 fish are gone and 3 are still alive....if these darn fish make it another week I'm going to be upset

[VanishingReality]

Mine refuses to eat something until it dies naturally... lazy little... so some can have no hunting skills at all.