Your turtle can be quite the fascinating creature, these animals have a variety of diverse behaviors that will undoubtedly keep you intrigued, but one turtle behavior may keep you spooked and that is the reptile eating your fish
This article looks into what you need to know if your turtle ate your fish
Table of Contents
My turtle ate my fish:
Putting two animals together, whether they come from the same species or different species, will usually result in some odd outcomes, like one eating the other.
In this case, your turtle may eat the fish that it lives with, this article looks into why this happens
Turtle eating fish:
A turtle eating a fish is quite normal behavior, some types of turtles eat fish in the wild and the same will happen in captivity
Many turtles are omnivores, they eat animal protein and this includes eating fish.
If your turtle eats your fish then it will get a lot of healthy fats as fish are packed with healthy fats.
The fish’s body will also deliver a lot of nutrients to the turtle’s body like vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium, and iodine.
Chasing fish also gives turtles exercise and brings out their natural instincts to hunt.
However, if the turtle is well fed this likely won’t happen. Turtles chasing and eating fish is more work than them eating the pellets that have been left out for them so they may just eat the pellets and leave your fish alone.
What to do:
You may need to worry if the type of fish that your turtle eats is dangerous to the turtle.
If the fish doesn’t have any small or sharp bones that may damage the turtle’s internal organs then the turtle will be fine.
If the fish does have small bones then this may damage the turles internal organs. Fish with small bones include minnows, goldfish, carp, and gizzards shad.
How to avoid this:
If you want to keep fish and turtles living together you’d need to ensure that the tank is big enough, this will keep the two animals from running into each other. A big tank will enable the fish to swim away when it needs to.
The shared tank also needs to be big enough that both animals feel that there is enough space in the tank. If the turtle feels that there is not enough space in the tank then it will eat the fish to cut down on the occupants in the tank
You need to make sure that the turtle is given all the food it needs so it doesn’t go after the fish as food.
Also, make sure that the fish has a variety of places to hide away from the turtle this will ensure that it can keep itself safe from the turtle
What will also help is making sure that the fish that you add to your turtle’s tank are either very big, to avoid the turtles from trying to eat them, or you need to make sure that the fish are very fast, to avoid the turtles catching them.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: My Turtle Got Bit By A Dog, My Turtle Has A Cut On Its Leg, Can Turtles Live In A Fish Tank, My Turtle Is Getting Too Big, My Turtles Nails Are Too Long, Do Turtle Tails Grow Back?, My Turtle Bites My Other Turtle, My Turtle Can’t Swim, My Turtle Doesn’t Swim