Feeding and Nutrition :: Anyone breed fish for their turtles?

[Muirner]

So just as the topic states, does anyone breed the fish for their turtles to eat? I have heard that breeding guppies is easy, as long as you separate the fry from the rest of the fish.

But with my turltes being so small they arnt able to catch a guppy yet, so i was looking up breeding of brine shrimp and it seems easy check it out
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/man ... hrimp.html

what do you think... Is it worth it? i have an extra 10 gallon tank.

[flutterby]

I never separated my guppy babies from the adults and never had a problem. When I had a tank with other more aggressive fish then I had to worry about them.

[missibsu]

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5310

I don't separate my fry either. I have provided a number of hiding places and I've never had a problem.

[Muirner]

Woops i guess that was an easy topic to find, sorry i made another one.

Now let me ask, how can you tell male from female? And would you suggest breading guppies for turtles of my size, or should i start with something like Brine Shrimp? I guess i could always take the fry and put them in, they are small enough...

And how many guppies should i look into getting? i'll probably start to breed in the old 10 gallon tank i have.. i dont need hundreds of feeders at this point.

[missibsu]

I don't know anything about breeding brine shrimp. My turts ate guppies at a pretty young age, and I've been breeding my own for awhile. Even if they can't catch them, they will chase them and it is good exercise.

With a 10 gallon tank I'd say if you started with a dozen you would be fine. The males are generally a little smaller and have some color on them. Females are a bit larger when full grown and don't have any color. It's best if you can have a good ratio of more females than males, but it won't remain that way as you breed them.

It's also good to have an outlet for them, as I've found, I sometimes end up with more than I need. There are usually plenty of people on freecycle willing to take them.

[Muirner]

Thank you so much for the advice, i wanted to ask how to tell the difference between a male and female... Sounds good, i'm thinking about going to go to the pet store tonight to pick some up, how many would you suggest getting? I wonder if they will fish male and females out... hmmmm

[missibsu]

I wouldn't start with more than a dozen. A 10 gallon tank is not that big and once they start breeding you are going to want a little extra room. Also, depending on the age of their feeders could depend on how quick they will reproduce. The younger females may only give you 3-5 fry, but more mature females can give you 20-50. The fry will all look like females at first, they won't get any color until a little later.

The store you choose may pick some out for you, but I don't know. It never hurts to ask. When I first got mine, they used a large net and just did one big scoop. They didn't even bother to count them. My dozen turned out to be more like two.