Feeding and Nutrition :: Eating from the floor

[taby88]

I posted in the urgent section about my baby not eating a few days ago. He finally ate today after around 10 days. But he ate canned shrimp (I know it's not a good food, but it's the only thing). The main problem is that he ate it off the floor of his tank. I have always read that turtles eat floating stuff not stuff off the floor. Is this normal? I can't throw shrimp in there every day. His tank will get horrible. And I'm concerned about if he will eat floating stuff

[sull324]

RES can eat off the floor as much as they can eat floating stuffs as long as its in the water they will eat it.

As soon as your turtle get use to his new environment you wont have any issue with floating stuff. My turtles eat anything that is eatable even if it float or not,even if its made of plastic or rock..

[Spike 7.62]

It's fine that he eats from the bottom, as long as he's eating. Eventually he will find the food where ever it is. How much do you put in? If you only put in as much as he's supposed to eat in a day, there shouldn't be much waste, especially if the water is properly filtrated. Once your RES becomes more comfortable, you can feed him in a seperate container, I find that they poo shortly after eating, which will help keep your tank clean and ammonia levels down.

Keep offering the regular pellets before the shrimp, as those are better for him. But if he only eats the shrimp, then so be it.

-Spike

[taby88]

Thanks for your replies. Just wanted to let you know that he ate pelets today in his feeding dish.