Feeding and Nutrition :: Hunter mode activated

[sagoy]

Some of you may already know I have two baby RES, about 2 months old now. 2 inches. Luffy and Ninja. Well, aside from the res I also have 4 guppies, 2 angel fishes and 2 goldfishes in my tank. Both Luffy and Ninja were like "meh" to the fishes ever since I placed them in the tank, well that's changed when I added 4 "gundpowder" guppies, 2 tricolor angelfishes and 2 swordtails.

And then they went berserk.

Luffy and Ninja went on "Hunter Mode" and were all going ballistic chasing all the fishes on sight, well except the goldfishes, since they're too strong and fast and robust for them to catch and take a bite at. As a result, I lost 1 female and 1 male guppy. The angelfishes were slow and graceful but they were never hurt, I don't know how, but I think my turts don't find them as appetizing as the guppies.

Not that I didn't know turtles eat fish, I originally bought the goldfishes to "test" the waters when I first got the tank, and the guppies for food, and the angelfish for decorative purposes, and I knew that one day they will be eaten. Me and my girlfriend were just amused they suddenly went "Hunter Mode", they were swimming so fast we would start to believe that the old common idea about turtles being slow was entirely a lie.

Heheh

[meltedspork]

Yep, pretty much all fish in a turtle tank eventually become food. One time I had one lonely minnow in my turtle tank for over 6 months, and then one day out of the blue, Toby decided to eat him. More recently, I gave Toby about a dozen fancy guppies (that I got for free) as feeders. He ate all of them except one male and one female. Now, a few months later, I'm back to having about a dozen in my tank since they keep reproducing. Toby eats a few here and there but that's about it.

[sagoy]

I can't seem to get the guppies to reproduce. Either the fry get eaten or they don't mate at all. I dunno. I've never seen fry in my tank. Is it possible the filter sucks them in?

[meltedspork]

You need to give them lots of places to hide. I have a few floating fake plants which is where the fry hang out until they are big enough to venture out. Most of them do die though, but I don't know if they get sucked into the filter or if Toby eats them or what. I've never tried to mate fish on purpose but in my old tropical fish tank I had several live-bearing species, mainly Mollies, which reproduced like crazy. Warm water and lots of hiding places is the key.

[theartbook35]

From the way most people's turtles behave toward fish, I'd say they are opportunistic hunters, like most reptiles, actually.