Feeding and Nutrition :: One slick Minnow.

[Pizza]

So I bought 10 Rosy Red Minnows today, and had them quarantined for a few hours (two died), and dropped the remaining 8 into my turtle tank. All of them, except one, were hunted within 15 minutes. The last minnow, about 2 cm, has eluded my four adult turtles for the whole night, and even now it's just swimming along, sometimes circling and going under my turtles' legs, my turtles have given up.

But for the time that it was fresh prey, my turtles chased it around for an hour and a half, and that little minnow was pretty fast and slick, it dodged all their snapping (I'd say it dodged 80+ attempts to eat it). I found it amusing, since all four turtles were spread out and huddled together at times patrolling the entire perimeter for it, and the tiny thing out ran and outsmarted all four of them in a small enclosure. They went back and forth, and chased it in groups, even hid in different corners, yet this one Minnow was very elusive,

Anyone else seen their turtles outsmarted by one fish?

[megcornell]

Hahaha, Leo always leaves one lone rosy red, I sometimes think he purposely does it so he'll have a tank cleaner, the minnows catch all his spare food scraps. But as soon as I add new minnows, that solo survivor from the last batch is the first to go-- so apparently Leo isn't as friendly as I thought

[MrRedmanbhs]

I've got a couple of feeder fish that have eluded my two RESs for several months now. At one point the feeder fish were smaller than the turts but now...the feeders are slightly larger.
I said it in another post that I'm kinda upset that they have lived so long (and now I've added a larger pleco just to help keep the tank clean and it has been doing well for 2 months) because now I feel compelled to feed them a few fish flakes as well...crazy turtles.

I have since gotten other feeder fish and none of them have lasted to long. However the original feeders are still alive and well...6 months later.

[SpotsMama]

I saw Spot chase minnows when he was outdoors in a relatively large pond. Because of the space, he could really work up speed and maneuver. He would stick his neck way out, put his front feet close to his sides, and paddle like the dickens with his hind feet. Boy was he fast! As fast as the minnows. I saw him get close on a straightaway many times but at the last minute the minnow would swerve and I never saw him catch one.

Eventually some of the minnows disappeared but I think it must have been because he snuck up on them while they were asleep or something.

Four of the original minnows survived and this fall I brought them inside to the aquarium along with Spot. They are still hanging on. I've put some smaller minnows in the tank and Spot will get them but so far he leaves the big ones alone.

But I know it's just a matter of time......