Red eared sliders and goldfish

will a red eared slider turtle eat the goldfish in my pond?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 100.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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I have a pond and was wondering if I could add a turtle to it? It's definitely big enough- but I don't know how it would do with the goldfish. I've heard very mixed opinions so any advice would be appreciated!
 

Marshall

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I have a pond and was wondering if I could add a turtle to it? It's definitely big enough- but I don't know how it would do with the goldfish. I've heard very mixed opinions so any advice would be appreciated!
How big are the goldfish ? I know this may sound harsh but, if the turtle gets put into a new pond and he sees a bunch of fish he is going to be thinking one of two things. 1 Lunch buffet or 2 They wanna play tag... Neither are good for the fish. The more important question is whether the pond is good for the turtle rather than vice versa as you will need an enclosure fence as well as basking areas and to prevent the aforementioned scenarios also a place for the goldfish to hide in if they feel spooked or are genuinely being ambushed or pursued. Also use "Turtle - Fish Funk Covertor" formula that says 1 turtle will add a burden to your filtration etc equal to roughly 6 to 10 fish. Good to remember that one.
 
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Marshall

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PS: I am extremely serious when I try and educate people that if you built it it is not nature and therefore anything that may or may not happen to the critters is your responsibility meaning "well it's just natural" wont cut it if they kill/harm/harass each other as they obviously got there by a human intervention so just try and keep that in mind before you make even the tiniest change to either the goldfish or turtles new living area. I am always amazed by the vast divide between the way they behave in the wild vs. captivity. Also forgive if I sound bossy but, I just really really care about turtles so... :D
 
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PS: I am extremely serious when I try and educate people that if you built it it is not nature and therefore anything that may or may not happen to the critters is your responsibility meaning "well it's just natural" wont cut it if they kill/harm/harass each other as they obviously got there by a human intervention so just try and keep that in mind before you make even the tiniest change to either the goldfish or turtles new living area. I am always amazed by the vast divide between the way they behave in the wild vs. captivity. Also forgive if I sound bossy but, I just really really care about turtles so... :D
you bossy you!!!!
 
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PS: I am extremely serious when I try and educate people that if you built it it is not nature and therefore anything that may or may not happen to the critters is your responsibility meaning "well it's just natural" wont cut it if they kill/harm/harass each other as they obviously got there by a human intervention so just try and keep that in mind before you make even the tiniest change to either the goldfish or turtles new living area. I am always amazed by the vast divide between the way they behave in the wild vs. captivity. Also forgive if I sound bossy but, I just really really care about turtles so... :D
You don't sound bossy- and thank you :)
 

Marshall

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Doing well. I don't see much of them this time of year as it's so hot that they're only active mornings and evenings, when it's cooler.
The pond turtles are about the same as they will spend as much time underwater as the can when it is really hot sometimes only coming up for about 10 minutes all day to bask after their mid-day feeding :D
 
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I've heard that younger turtles tend to be carnivores and will eat any fish that look edible too them, as they get older they tend to be herbivores and will be more likely to eat your plants. We've tried turtles several times and the results were always they escaped come mating season, if not sooner. Some times you get lucky and turtles like your pond and stay, but we've never been lucky. There has been a wild turtle that stayed with us for a while. Turtles are notorious escape artists so it's always a "Your Mileage May Vary" thing
My wife bought some "Fairy Houses" for around the pond so when I get my water issues under control, I'm going to make some toad houses Fairies are rumoured to like to ride the toads. When the toads have nice comfy houses (maybe it should be called a toad stable) they'll need some ramps to get into and out of the water. Maybe I'll get lucky and a turtle will decide they like the pond now after that happens.
 

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@Mmathis I also have noticed the boxies seem to stay in the caves alot lately so probably for the same reason yours do to stay cool. The box turtle are cave is pretty deep at around 3 feet into the ground so maybe that is deep enough to create a natural cooling. They also like to go into the aquatic side of the rescue and get into the filter overflow pool lol :D and anytime I see the water backing up I can be almost certain it's them (boxies) piled into the outflow side sitting in the cool water :ROFLMAO:
img_6382_1_1.jpg
 
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The pond turtles are about the same as they will spend as much time underwater as the can when it is really hot sometimes only coming up for about 10 minutes all day to bask after their mid-day feeding :D
Not my turtle. He'll spend hours basking in the sun every day, the hotter the better.

As for eating fish, he seems to not bother to even try and eat the larger fish (>2 inches), but I've seen him chase newly hatched fry, which is a good thing because otherwise I'd end up with way too many little fish.
Now if one of the larger fish was to get seriously sick or die I'm sure the turtle would consume it, which is also good because being a scavenger like that he naturally keeps the pond free of rotting corpses that would otherwise foul the water.
So from my point of view having a turtle that eats fish in the pond is a good thing (y)
 

Marshall

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Not my turtle. He'll spend hours basking in the sun every day, the hotter the better.

As for eating fish, he seems to not bother to even try and eat the larger fish (>2 inches), but I've seen him chase newly hatched fry, which is a good thing because otherwise I'd end up with way too many little fish.
Now if one of the larger fish was to get seriously sick or die I'm sure the turtle would consume it, which is also good because being a scavenger like that he naturally keeps the pond free of rotting corpses that would otherwise foul the water.
So from my point of view having a turtle that eats fish in the pond is a good thing (y)
How big is your aquatic turtle ? The fellas in the outdoor areas are 8.5 to 12.5 inches and are at the youngest 3 years to the oldest who is almost 15 years old (Jeckle) so that might be why they are lazy :D also your turtle is a painted right ? I only have 4 painted turtles in the sanctuary and they tend to spend more time in the sun and one of them (Raphael) sleeps on the basking dock lol and then when the light hits it he moves to the floating island :sneaky: He is also a bit of a racist as he only chases the two koi that are black (w/gold spotting) :LOL::ROFLMAO::LOL:
 

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