Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had Scofield for about 8 months and Linc for about 2 months.
Scofield is about 6 inches and Linc about 5 inches.
They both LOVE ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks and HBH Turtle Bites. They also love Red Leaf Lettuce and the plants that we put in.
However, we've had 8 "feeder fish" that have now begun reproducing and there are about 19 of them in there now.
We have 4 Ghost Shrimp and one snail in there too.
Neither of the turtles have shown ANY interest in these live creatures. I don't mind so much because the other things are nice in the tank, but SHOULD I BE WORRIED? I've asked 3 different people at the local PetSmart, but all they say is "Well, they should eat them. You have weird turtles." Yeah, real nice answers.

It just seems like after doing A LOT of reading, these things should be history in the tank with these turtles. Any thoughts, suggestions etc.?

A little more info...
They are 2 Red Ear Sliders in a 125 gallon tank. Water temp is about 78, basking area about 92. They love basking and everything else seems normal. We have a Fluval 304 Filter and an AquaClear 70 gal. filter running also a bubble disk because they like to play in it!

I have five turtles-including three grown res's-in a tank with about 14 goldfish, and they've yet to catch and eat them. Fact is, your turtles probably just can't catch them either.

Ghost shrimp are even harder.

To be honest with you though, I've heard that goldfish don't have much nutritional value anyways and some even carry diseases. ReptoMin is what I feed my turtles too, this food being the optimum for nutritional needs.

But try other live foods, like worms and crickets. These are much more nutritional. I usually take ghost shrimp and hold them in front of the res' faces too, which gives them a chance to chomp them down.

Oh, they aren't goldfish, I don't like goldfish!
I guess I will just let them live together in perfect harmony
Perhaps someday they will decide to eat them, until then, they will be a nice addition to the tank! As long as I know that there isn't anything wrong with my Turtles

Thank you very much!

The problem with goldfish is they are too high in fat, minnows are better for them when you want to feed fish.
Have you tried any live bugs? My aquatic turtles love live crickets, mealworms, superworms, wax worms, June bugs, grubs, and one of them will eat roaches the other won't.

Check your pellet labels, some of them have wheat gluten in them & I know from searching websites like itchmo & the AVMA that some fish foods & a ferret food have been pulled because of wheat gluten. I don't trust ANY food that has wheat gluten or rice protein in it at the moment.. not with all this recall stuff still going on even though it's not reported on the news much anymore.
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PHRatz

I have minnows in the tank with them, NOT GOLDFISH. They did however eat a snail, so I feel a little better...not so much for the snail

I am feeding them ReptoMin Turtle Food Sticks, that is what everyone has recommended. It does have wheat gluten in it...should I be worried?

Also, I have tried other live bait such as the mealworms and a couple others, they didn't eat anything except for the snail that I put in the other day. And it figures, I picked a very pretty snail because I assumed they wouldn't eat it, it didn't even make it through the first night hehe.

They love their red lettuce too.

>>
>>I am feeding them ReptoMin Turtle Food Sticks, that is what everyone has recommended. It does have wheat gluten in it...should I be worried?
>>

I tell ya what, I don't know if that turtle food is safe or not. I put mine away & went with Jurassi brand because it doesn't contain wheat gluten. I feed very little pellet and a lot of live food.

Now I can't find which website I read this on.. I think it was itchmo, but there's been melamine found in farm fish because of the food the fish were fed.
When I read that I thought you know, every day another dog or cat product is pulled, now a ferret food has been pulled.. that's on the AVMA website.
I am not going to take the risk. I put away every type of animal food I own that contains wheat gluten.. none of my pets are going to eat any of it, this problem needs to be resolved!
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PHRatz

i had the same problem but its kinda the oppposite.. my turtles loves to eat live foods but wouldn touch prepared turtle foods.. i just kept on putting some sticks and they eventually ate it.. now, i feed them a variety like fruits, live worms, gut loaded crickets and sticks..

As RES get older, they should eat more vegetable matter than protein. In my opinion, it would be better to give your turtles some water plants like Anacharis, water lettuce, or Duckweed. The might also enjoy carrots, sweet potatoes, mango, or berries. Giving them snails or crickets a couple times a month is probably good for them, but live food isn't nessesary on a daily basis. mine enjoy Rosie red minnows, but have more trouble catching them than guppies. If you can find feeder guppies, they seem to be easier to catch.

>>As RES get older, they should eat more vegetable matter than protein. In my opinion, it would be better to give your turtles some water plants like Anacharis, water lettuce, or Duckweed. The might also enjoy carrots, sweet potatoes, mango, or berries. Giving them snails or crickets a couple times a month is probably good for them, but live food isn't nessesary on a daily basis. mine enjoy Rosie red minnows, but have more trouble catching them than guppies. If you can find feeder guppies, they seem to be easier to catch.

You are right about the plant matter. I forget sometimes when I answer that my painted and especially my mud are a bit more carnivorous than RES are. In fact if I want the painted to have some plant matter it has to be mixed with something meaty or he won't eat it.
Aside from the aquatic plants you can buy dandelions and yellow squashes are a couple of other plants that are good for them. I've known this to work for some people, just get a collard or turnip leaf & float it in the tank for a few hours.. once they stop wondering what it is, sometimes they'll start biting at it.
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PHRatz

As the turtle become more mature they need more vegetables than protein. I've had my slider for 10 years, been to the vet for blood tests, and have a very healthy lady RES- and she does not eat feeder or any live animals-

I am also Buddhist and happy about this.

We keep leftover healthy food for her and feed her the pellets only every once in a while.

There are lots of sites that describe what to feed and not feed the slider. You can also try putting a piece of coral in their tank for calcium, and feed them sardines with bones. It's mostly the bones that the feeder fish are recomended for, not their meat.