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.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!
you bossy you!!!!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...
You don't sound bossy- and thank youPS: 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...
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.By the way, how are the boxies doing ? Have not noticed any posts about them recently so I am curious about their status.
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 feedingDoing 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.
Not my turtle. He'll spend hours basking in the sun every day, the hotter the better.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
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 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 He is also a bit of a racist as he only chases the two koi that are black (w/gold spotting)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
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