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Hey,

I was told that turtles eat fish and decided to put some goldfish in the tank with my red ear sliders. Unfortunately the turtles are still too young to eat the fish. I was wondering if there was a way that I could feed the gold fish and the turtles without putting any unnecessary additives into the water that could potentially cause harm.

Thanks!

well, i wouldn't really feed goldfish to turtles since their fatty and its best to use minnow's or rosy reds. but since my turtles got enough of rosy reds they only eat goldfish but i haven't bought them fish in a while since their soo bloodthirsty. but when their ready to hunt the goldfish they will probably eat them

Goldfish are the absolute worst fish to put in your tank, not only are they extremely fatty and lower your turtles life span when eaten regularly, they also put off way more ammonia waste than any other breed of fish. This means that unless you have an oversized filter for your tank with a well established beneficial bacteria colony then you are going to have high ammonia levels in the water. While this won't hurt the turtle like it will the fish, the turtle still drinks this water and it is basically the equivalent to making your turtle drink his own waste and reprocess it through his system which leads to problems with his internal organs.


If your just adding fish for feeders then get guppies or rosy reds or swordtails. If you want fish for aesthetic purposes, while any fish is at risk in a turtle tank, I could give you a few suggestions that could work out and have in my experience.

What size tank do you have? What kind of filter? Any plants or decor?

Since he asked the question though, I have 3 minnows in my turtles tank right now, the turtle has not eaten them. What can I feed the minnows without putting anything the turtle should not have in the tank? Normal flakes or something? First time Ive used live feeder fish.

Tropical flakes are perfectly fine. goldfish flakes will produce more ammonia after wasting

I have a 50 gallon outdoor fountain and put in my redeared slider and five feeder fish. My turtle ate one fish and now has four friends and they have lived happily for three months. I use a 40 Gallon Natgeo aquarium filter that goes on when I flip on the outdoor fountain. The fish are huge the turtle is happy, comes out of the fountain, basks in the zen garden and spends most of the time in the fountain. I feed the fish fish flakes and throw in round pellets of turtle food which is too big for the fish to digest. The turtle sleeps at bottom of tank and the fish swim around near the top. When the turtle is active at the top, the fish take the bottom. I really believe they are friends. In the winter, I'll use a pond heater. Yes, goldfish can live happily with a red-eared slider.