Other Turtle Discussion :: can i put ghost shrimp inside my tank?

[portsporting06]

can i put ghost shrimp inside my turtle tank? i dont mind if my turtle eats its. i just need the shrimp 2 clean up the sand from the leftovers. cuz my turtle only eats inside its tank and when i put it in another tank it wont eat

[theartbook35]

Ya know, once the turtle eats that shrimp, you'll have to replace them, and you'll be killing a lot of shrimp. On a financial stand point, this is a waste. On an ethical stand point, I find this somewhat inhumane.

[portsporting06]

i just have alot of left over food. any better idea will help me with this problem. i got 2 fluval fliters in my tank and 2 algea and 1 pleco never got eaten and became friends with my 2 turtles

[theartbook35]

If your turtle(s) is cool with it, I would feed it/them in a separate container of water. All three of mine won't allow this but it usually works with most turtles.

[happycamper]

What kind of food do you feed them? There shouldn't be that many leftovers... If feeding pellets just get the uneaten ones out before they sink.

[portsporting06]

i feed it pellets but they eat it and the scraps they spit out in little tiny tiny parts

[happycamper]

Aw that's lame, my turtle just wolfs them down! I have to use a turkey baster to get stuff out of another aquarium I have with axolotls, maybe that would help. What kind of substrate do you have?

[portsporting06]

what u mean?

[happycamper]

Do you have sand, or river rocks or what in the bottom of your tank?

[portsporting06]

sand

[happycamper]

I don't think ghost shrimp are a bad idea, they might be difficult enough to see that they could stick around a while. Have you had fish our anything in the tank before? If so, did your turtle eat them?

And if the leftovers are big enough you could try manually removing then with a turkey baster... With sand the food should sit on top of the sand long enough to get out...

[portsporting06]

i put minos and they were eaten so i gave it 2 my friends turtle. and then i got algae snails and plecko and there still alive and i kept those

[happycamper]

How big is your tank, and turtle(s)? Its the sand very fine?

[portsporting06]

20 gal for now and sands reapply fine

[happycamper]

With 2 small turtles?