Reptile & Amphibian Forums

--Here's my setup--

I've got 2 RES (1 male 1 female, both are about 5 inches long) and a 5 inch Plecocostamos [I probably just butchered that pretty badly] in a 60 gallon tank. My tank is well filtered by and undergravel filter with 2 powerheads and 1 Duetto DJ 100 filtering the tank. I have a basking area at one end of the tank and an overhead UVB light as well. Also in the tank are 3 goldfish that have been alive for almost a month.

--On to the question--

Okay, I had this really cool idea that I could keep cool species of fish with my turtles and keep them from getting eaten. The problem is I feed them the goldfish I mentioned [about 10 at a time] and they just didn't finish these 3 off, I guess they were too fast. I'm worried that I'm going to be wasting my money on fish from the pet store just to get them eaten. I'll try and get a pic of the setup on here.

=Thanks in advance.

I previously had some goldfish in with my two sliders but the ones they didn't eat became cagemates. After a while the turtles seem to become accustomed to them. Although I stopped feeding mine goldfish because they can carry lots of nasty things and you're better off providing them with chicken (cooked obviously). As for buying pretty fish to toss in there, there is a good chance they are gonna gobble their fill then possibly ignore the rest and allow them to stay. Just be prepared to find that gorgeous guppy half eaten

i wouldn't be feeding fish to my sliders too often. They don't eat lots of it in the wild and may not be very well equipped to digest the fats in it. surely they scavenge dead fish and may rarely catch some live ones but mainly they are plant and insect eaters.

Actually they small fish are a major part of their diet. They eat those, crayfish, insects, and plants. Like I said, I've got 3 goldfish in there currently and they have become "tank mates" with the turtles and are never touched.

Also, here's a pic of one of my turtles--

No, small fish are not a major part of their diet. They may catch one from time to time, or eat one that is already dead, but the major part of their diet is aquatic plants. Studies have been done that examined the stomach contents of turtles and they didn't find any fish in them.
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I thought the same...and about 10 tiger barbs later, I've decided not to put more money into fish. The Plecostamus lived, as it was bigger than the turtles, but later died for unknown reasons. The turtles didn't touch it even after it died. My Raphael Catfish are still alive. They hide. I've seen them out from under their rock only about 2 times.

the only kind of fish i kept that survived in my slider tank are african cichlids ... goldfish, tiger barbs, guppies are likely to be food.
my turtle pics

You may try using wild fish. I currently have some baby largemouth bass, some green sunfish, a couple crappie, some bluegills, and a white sucker or central stoneroller (not quite sure yet). Most of the fish are almost as large as the turtles, some are smaller, but they know that big things will eat them, so they keep their distance. All of my fish will eat reptomin, or just about anything else I throw in, so they help by cleaning up what the turtle misses. Ive lost bettas in the tank, they are way too slow and brave.
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