Feeding and Nutrition :: fish + turtles..

[sleepyness]

I have a 55 gallon tank with about a billion guppies, which my 2 sliders don't eat. I recently got a pictus catfish, a striped catfish, and a pleco. I can still find the guppies/striped/pleco, but the pictus is nowhere to be found. Is it possible my two turtles ate it? My turtles are about 4" long, the pictus was about 2 inches long. I can't find any remains or anything. They could of completely devoured that bony of a fish?

[Tenodera]

yep, Usually nothing is left behind after a turtle eats it. Your other fish are probably too fast for your turtle to catch.

[sleepyness]

Heh. So the bones inside the fish shouldn't pose too big of a problem right? That's what I'm afraid of really. They seem to be acting normal on the other hand..

[Tenodera]

You sure it isn't hiding somewhere? They could easily eat a fish like that and leave nothing behind.

Although in the future try to get a fish without some many spiny bones since they might possibly pose a threat to your turtle if they eat it.

Carefully watch your turtles' condition for the next few days and check whether the fish turns up.

[Safdar]

Spiny bones might be a problem. Are you sure the fish is not there.

Incase he ate it
Look for lose of appetite, constipation, and other impaction symtoms

[sleepyness]

Hmm I do have decent sized river rocks...so I guess the catfish could of got squished? I'll keep looking. Tomorrow is feeding day so I'll see how it goes. I have a male and a female..and they're both aggressive eaters, but they don't eat guppies.

[Safdar]

You never know when a turtle might chomp at a fish
Some people had koi in their pond for years with the turtle
And one day he ate them

[scripta_elegans]

Turtles+Fish= fish dinner

[sleepyness]

mm quite possibly!

[untsmurf]

You should also stop adding things to your tank. Your two four inch turtles by themselves require at least an 80 gallon tank. Each inch of fish requires an additional gallon. So if you consider all that plus everything (non-living) in your tank, your turts are really squished.

[Safdar]

If fish move all the time, woulndt that not interfere with the turtle, My fish are always moving and never do they take up the space of the turtle.

[DavidY]

Well, it could still be considered crowding if the turtle is looking at fish every where he turns. More importantly I think is the bioload on the filter. The more living organisms in the tank, the more waste being produced.

[Safdar]

Ya the bio load, since fish poop alot (well my do)

I mean if you have 3-4 fish in a tank it would be fine right. I doubt he sees a fish everytime he turns, since they always are on the other side of the tank from him

[untsmurf]

Well, he said he has a billion guppies (obviously not a billion probably twenty or so) and the other couple of fish he just got. Mikey lives with guppies too and they have no problem swimming right in front of his open mouth when Mikey is trying to eat, so saying they are always on the other side of the tank, might not be true.

[Safdar]

No no i was talking about my tank