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I was looking back over some previous nutrition posts and i see that some people are anti-goldfish as food for RES. I recently added 50 small goldfish to my tank as my monthly treat/cleaners, and my 2 RES ate them all in about an hour! I know this is WAY too much protein, but what is the negative to feeding goldfish in moderation, and WHY would they eat so many so quickly?

General opinion is that goldfish seem to harbor more parasites and are more fatty. Why would your RES eat that many? They are opportunistic, some will eat until they vomit.

i find it odd, that most turtle food says "feed enough that your turtle can eat in 5 min"

I have read that RES are like labs (dog) they will eat, just because they can, nothing tells them to stop!

How can you tell what a good amount of food to feed is, when they are "never full"

^^Excellent question! I'm looking for an answer to this as well.

P.S. Wow is that a lot of goldfish. lol

How many pellets to feed, is covered here: http://www.redearslider.com/pellets.html

Have either of you been feeding/offering stuff besides fish and pellets?

My turtle ate 6 minnows and 1 goldfish in 5 minutes lol. He will eat until he drops dead if he could.

steve wrote:Have either of you been feeding/offering stuff besides fish and pellets?

I feed Sheldon lettuce and pellets, alternating days. Fishy was just a casualty of his own stupidity.

I guess Ranger's little buddy is just a fish maniac. lol

steve wrote:How many pellets to feed, is covered here: http://www.redearslider.com/pellets.html

Have either of you been feeding/offering stuff besides fish and pellets?

Steve, my current feeding schedule is Monday and Saturday i feed 5 cubes per turtle in a feeding container.
http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay ... B001IJMVGI

Then Thursdays i do half a cap full of pellets and half a cap(3-5) crickets
http://www.amazon.com/Tetra-ReptoMin-St ... supplies_1
http://www.amazon.com/Flukers-1-6-Ounce ... 134&sr=1-1

I was putting 3 dozen goldfish in my tank in the beginning of the month to keep the tank "cleaner" but i stopped at the beginning of this year because they ate them all very quickly!!! So this was the first time this year i feed goldfish, and will probably be the last as it destroyed my tank! (mess)

I read those "guides" and laugh, firstly they call for daily feeding, no RES owner who feeds in a seperate tank feeds daily it is just too time comsuming, also as RES age, you only need feed 2-3x a week. So by using the whole "size of the head and neck" per day, that is doubled if you feed every other day? once a week? trippled? It is very tough to have a SET "law" because all pets are different! I think a good guide is the 5min mark, except i have seen some RES eat a cup of pellets in 5min, so its just a crap shoot!

What you feed and how often will always vary from other people. What we use is:

"A general guideline used by most experienced keepers calls for the amount of pellets to be in proportion to the size of their heads (excluding their necks). Remember, pellets should be offered every day to hatchlings and only offered every other day for yearlings and adults."

I would even be more conservative than this method, though this is a good way to start out.

remember i am only feeding pellets/protein ONCE a week.

Also you didn't comment on the frozen food. good or bad?

It's supposed to be good. I couldn't find it locally, so I haven't tried it yet.

Mine won't eat the live goldfish, it has to be dead. They'll eat the goldfishes' food though! At this rate, I may have to seperate tank feed, it's hard to feed the fish appropriately if they're eating most of the food.