Feeding and Nutrition :: Best kind of fish??

[therizman1]

What is the best kind of fish to have in the tank for them to nibble on? and where do you suggest looking to get some. Thanks for the help.

Oh yea, what do you feed the fish, just regular flake fish food?

Mike

[shady1616]

Well, in the stickies it says that some fish you can feed him are the litte minnows(look it up in the stickies under what to feed yout turt; feeder fish) and guppies but stay away from any kind of goldfish(not good for them). You can find them in your nearest pet shops. Just look for small, fast, and skinny little fishies

You don't need to feed the little fishies becuz:
1. they feed off algae and crud
2. don't waste your money on a whole bottle of flakes and when you try to feed the fish, your turt will eat the flakes or the fish won't eat all the food and the water will get dirty.
3. The fish will die anyway and/or will get eaten by your turt. (I always feel bad for the cute little fishies)

[jenaero]

I've had guppies in my turtle tank for a few months now and they've never been fed. I assume they eat whatever they find floating around. The rosy red minnows are good at cleaning up the turtle poop...if they live long enough

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

I have about 8 rosey reds and a couple of red guppies( about 2 inches long), they were supposed to be food for my turtles but the turtles lost interest and now I have 10 more pets , I feed the fish their fishflakes, I know that the turtles will eat most of the flakes so I add a good pinch, later I will watch for excess and suck it up with a clear pvc hose that is about 1/2 inch in diameter into a bucket, then I just refill the tank to the previous level, I really don't like to clean the tank so I try to keep it as clean as I possibly can.

[therizman1]

What are rosey reds?

[kneecole]

Cheep little minows. I buy mine for .12$ each. The turts love them.

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

Rosy Red Minnows, they look like tiny versions of guppies

Rosy Red Minnows:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosy2.htm

Guppies:
http://members.tripod.com/guppy_vo5/

[therizman1]

Thank you very much

[judo42]

I too have Guppies that just seem to hang around. I bought 10 of them when I first got my greenies about 2 weeks ago and now I have 11 of them. Right after I brought them home, one of the Guppies had babies. The greenies have been eating them slowly. I kind of like to imagine that the fellas are in there thinking that they need to make sure they last as long as possible.
Friends tell me it's cruel not to feed the Guppies, but I REFUSE! to feed what is supposed to be the food!;)

[jenaero]

but I REFUSE! to feed what is supposed to be the food!;)

totally! If we fed the fish, they wouldn't clean up the turtle poop for us..hehe

[judo42]

My greenies are SICKO's! Ok, maybe it's not just mine, maybe there are others, but mine eat each other's crap! I almost feel like the fish are being deprived!

[jenaero]

They'll eat eachothers, they'll eat their own..it's natural..gross, but natural

[judo42]

I'm glad(?) to hear that others do that too.....I think.

[ellarn]

I have been to 3 petshops on the island so far -- no rosy red minnows to be had. The folks at the last pet shop told me they had turtles and black mollies were the way to go. Well, I brought them home and Nomer looks like he/she is trying to get out of the tank to get away from them. Could be that the turtle is just not hungry -- but since I haven't read anything about black mollies here, I'm afraid I may have screwed up. Should I remove them from the tank? Or be patient and let them be?

[marisa]

Don't know what black mollies are, but if they're intended to be food for your turtle, I'd just let them be if there aren't a lot of them. (How many are in the tank?) Some turtles don't care for live fish--in the wild they're eaten less than people think.